For Real??

I got a chance to get out of the house, unfortunately it was the first night the kids got in the addition. Getting out of the house is great and a rare occasion, but wondering what the kids are doing can ruin the night too. Oh well, I still got out.

The month is at the end of it and I have to say that moving is really the only way to declutter some one's life. In just about three days we have accumulated a crazy amount of trash and we are still going. It is amazing how fast the trash can build but that is okay if we can live simpler. I can honestly say nothing is getting into this addition without my approval and our clutter is getting down there.

Next month is money matters and boy can you say money matters. In this economy every cent matters and furnishing this addition has drained any savings I have built, so in order to recoup some of that and get things back into perspective I have decided to go on a money "diet". Like my first month, I am going to have to keep track of my spending habits in hopes to figure out how to curbed it.

Also with this addition, I can get back on track with my first months ambition too. I can actually get back on the treadmill YEAH :-( So here I go AGAIN.

A Month In Review

It is hard to believe that February is almost over and I feel like I just started this month off. It is Tuesday and a day for updates. Like all ladies out there, the scale isn't always your friend. Today at my mother's for my weekly weigh in the scale read 143 lbs (up 1.5 lbs) but I am not too worried because of certain factors that have left me bloated and other fun things. So, I am not too worried about that and on the other hand. I have brought up 5 bags of donations to be picked up for Lupus tomorrow and everyday I am motivated to bring up more things. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get more upstairs because our water heater down there decided to take a leak and got a lot of stuff wet so now I have to let it dry out.

Now we are underway on the inspections again, but unfortunately Chris is running around the city as I type this trying to get a few fittings to finish up the gas air test for tomorrow or by the time I get this post done today. So I will let everyone know how that goes later on.

Follow Through

I guess that is something that needs to be worked on besides softball. Nothing frustrates me more than anything than if someone tells you that they are going to do something and then never does it. This happened to me AGAIN with Chris and this time it could have had some disastrous results. I think everyone remembers my rant when I got my speeding ticket this last fall and how it ruined my perfect record, well I guess Chris forgot that he was suppose to pay that ticket but some how remembered to pay his parking ticket.

Well long story short, I got a letter in the mail today telling me that I have not payed my ticket or appeared at my court date. Luckily I got the mail this time or who knows if I wouldn't have gotten the letter. So now in addition to running around all over the city paying bills that never got sent out in time on Monday, I get to run over to Stillwater and pay this ticket. I guess I know where this weeks grocery money is going to go.

Frustrating and somehow this is going to be my fault too!!!!

February???

February is coming to a close and what have I done? Not much but I don't feel so bad about that either. I did clean out my room and maintain some type of declutter in the addition. I haven't let too many things make their way into the new space yet, and hopefully now with the inspections happening we are moving in real soon. Otherwise I am going to lose my hair with the drama unfolding around here. Yup, I am going to do it. I am going to make that Lupus Foundation pick up date. When I originally looked at the next pick up time (27th) I thought to myself that it was so far away and I couldn't wait that long. Well truth to myself I never did make it to goodwill to drop off the bags of stuff I hauled out of my room so hanging onto it for another week isn't going to make a difference. Then for sure it is going to make it out of here because someone is actually going to take it away. So here I go making that deadline!!!

Update

Tuesday came and went and I am still at 141.5, which is nice since I had one heck of a weekend with Valentine's day and all. I am not sure how declutter month is going but for sure I am not collecting as much stuff as I use too. I am actually thowing a lot away here and there. I haven't yet tackled the basement and the poor electrical inspector got to see it at its best, but the day will come when we will have to move all the stuff. That is the good thing about moving into the addition it is going to force me to declutter one way or another.

Updates

Tuesday's Weigh In: 141.5 lbs (down 4 lbs)

I took the usual weigh in time at my mom's this week and the scale was nice and read 141.5, maybe this month I will be out of the 140s. I also can see myself rethinking what I eat. Last nights meal was pasta (my family loves that), but I know it isn't the greatest thing to eat either SO I fixed myself a baked potato instead. It was still good and I didn't have to feel icky after that. Plus tonight I have been craving a hamburger, not the icky greasy kind either, but an actual burger. So I went ahead and made burgers for the family and I am proud to say I only ate one and a couple waffle fries. Here is the kicker though...I am usually the human vacuum cleaner and I hate to see the left overs thrown away, but I threw the extra half of burger away because I asked myself...am I hungry? Nope and away it went in the trash, my former self would have ate it and then regretted it later. I have to keep asking myself those questions before I eat and not afterwards.

Now I just have to get motivated to do the decluttering...I think it helps to have a goal. So Friday when the kids are at school, I am going to drive by Goodwill and do a drop off after Jayna is in school. Okay, I know baby steps...hehe!!! As long as they are forward progress.

De Cluttering:-(

De Cluttering SUCKS....I never did get around to the kids room. I walked in and walked right back out. Instead I took Sunday to clean the addition in preparation for our carpet. I think we should just tear down the house with all the stuff in it. Don't they say if you haven't used it in the last 6 months to get rid of it. Well half of the stuff in the house we haven't used in like 6 years, so we should just junk it with the house.

Icky, Icky, Icky I am not going to let things build up next time. My motto is less is way better!!!

PROCRASTINATION

That is my middle name, the game I play. I'm still trying to get the motivation up to tackle the kids room and I can only do that one during the day because there isn't any light in the room. I looked around my kitchen and tally that one up as not going to do it until I move into the new kitchen. I pretty much use everything in the kitchen anyway. The living room is spoken for right now as the bedroom so I can't be moving anything in there too. So that leaves the master kids' room to finish off the first floor declutter. So hopefully this weekend I will get that done.

I am just going to go into the room with one big trash bag and toss it all out. I already did that really big clean back in June (remember the 7 bags of trash I hauled out of it) and that was when the kids stopped using it as their room. So everything has stayed the same in there minus a few pieces of clothing I can donate now and a whole bunch of stuffed horses. The question is....do I have to dust the place? Really since we are moving out of it right? Okay the next question is do I tell Chris that we need that dumpster now? In just that room we have two vacuum cleaners to throw out and who know how many things in the basement when I tackle that one next week.

Speaking of the basement, is it wrong of me to toss some of my husband's clothes without telling him? He still has a few boxes of clothes that he moved here from his parents' house that never got sorted out or all of his clothes down stairs that he claims he has to save because they are work clothes. I plan to be ruthless with my stuff down there so it's fair right? Everything gets slimmed down; 1 bin for winter gear -- minus the snowmobile gear, 1 bin for winter clothes, bye bye maternity clothes, 1 bin for shoes, 1 bin for summer stuff, 1 bin for books, 1 bin for school materials, and what do I do with all the "collectible" things I have saved? You know you have the same things I do...newspapers from 911, newspapers from the Twins World Series, yearbooks, but be proud of me I already burned the tin of notes from high school. I have to save my Korean memorabilia, but where do I put that?

Oh did I mention I have to clean out my pantry under the staircase in the new addition that now has become the store everything out of site spot. That is where all the extra cabinets, paint and tile got stored but that has to move to make room for food. Where does that go?

I see why people say you have to move at least once in your lives to simplify everything otherwise it just collects.

Project #1 of Declutter Month

I tackled the first project of the next month's resolution...decluttering my bedroom. Here are just a few pictures to show you the mess I was able to accumulate in 6 1/2 years in a 2x6 sq. ft area. Has anyone watched the show Hoarders? I am afraid that could be me some day. The only good thing is that I am ready to part with things. I was able to say bye bye to 1 bag of clothes, which will be more for sure once I wash all the dirty clothes from the pile of clothes you can see from the picture below. Well actually all of the them are not dirty but have been in piles since we don't have enough space for them and have fallen to the ground over time. So I am forced to wash them again.

The next picture is the shoe pile that I am going to get rid of too. My problem isn't necessarily shoes but purses and as you can see I was able to get rid of a few of them too. I am proud of my willingness to get rid of stuff. That means when I need something again, I get to go shopping!!!

My only problem is Chris...he doesn't want to take the time to look through his stuff but at the same time he doesn't trust me to get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit or work for him anymore. REALLY....we still have a few boxes of stuff that he moved out of his folks house that he swore he would look at but they still sit in our basement. Does he really think he is going to fit into those high school T-shirts anymore? I love him dearly but seriously!!!!!