MORE EMAILS

I realized yesterday, after I posted that it was not 9932 emails in the deleted items folder but 9932 UNREAD emails. So it must have been quite a few more. The annoying part was that twice emails that I had deleted downloaded again. fortunatley only a little more than 1000. Sigh. Yes. ONE. THOUSAND. MY desire to declutter the whole house has vapoized. Might have to do witht hte fact that I was busy with laundry all day and that the hosue is cleaner than it has been in a long time thank to my housefairy Heather stopping by to use the potty. She has a key to my house and before Christmas she wanted to escape a visitor and help me get ready for my trip. as I left sonner than she thought we joked around that she could come and let ehrself in and clean. Well. Guess what. She did. She was onthe way home and really needed to go so instead of a rest stop sheswung by my house and decided as she was here already to vacuum, mop the floor and clean a bathroom. She had her kids with her and put them to work in the kitchen and the girls's room. She said they all agreed it wasn't bad at alland that I should stop complaining. Well. They did stay out of my hoarded room (didn'T know what to do with it hahahaha) and it was awesome to come home to a sparkling house. She is the only one that can actually get away with that!

Today, drum roll please, I went through the Christmas decoration, picked out a few rather sentimetal items that the kids made at school, took a picture and asked the makers what to do with them. We threw out 4 and kept 2. Totally unheard of just a year ago. I am a hero. 

7 a day: 7 Christmas decoration, 2 torn items of clothing.

surface of the day: sideboard in the livign room, nativity put away, dusted and redcorated with original items

10.000 EMAILS LATER

Okay. So it wasn't exactly 10.000 emails. Only 9932. I totally forgot that I had set my account to "save all as long as there is room"(I download on a daily basis).I almost died when I saw the number of emails in my inbox going past 1000 after setting my computer back up the other day. Of course I was able to delete in bulk, but sometime in the middle I realized that I had deleted all the email addresses, too. I was tempted to look trough all those emails to save them but then I decided to be be smart and to just DELETE them all and if I happened to come across one I needed I would copy it. So. I ended up with 9932 emails my "trash" folder. 

The good news is that I got rid of 2 folders of "importet files" storing the files I wanted to keep in the proper spots and by deleting an armload of old files nobody needs any more. 

Tomorrow I will be back home and I finally get to start my end of the year CLEAR OUT!

THE END IS NIGH

Every year, right before New Years I have a very strong urge washing over me. I want to decutter and clean the whole house. It usually starts around the 30th of December and lasts all of 2 days, I pull eveything out. Make a big mess. Get frustrated. Stuff everything back in and then feel bad about it. This year it obviously started sooner. But I am also smarter. So was able to supressed the feeling, but ther is no way  around it. I will give in, but this year it will be a success. Or rather, many little sucesses! In as little as 2 days I will back in my own home. The trash can will basically be empty as we will have been gone for more than a week. Anyone care to send me a reminder to fill them up all the way? I can and I will do this. 15 min every day. And the new declutter approach. My hint for you are the letters M and K. Maybe you can figure it out yourself!

VIRTUAL DECLUTTER

Just because you don't see all that data clutter doesn't mean it is not there. As I am visiting family for the Holidays, I can't really declutter. So I decided to sit down with my laptop and really sort it out. As my husband James and his brother in law swiped it clean and set it back up, this is the perfect time to start. My files are all there, but they are in "imported data folders" so it is time to look through them all and come up with a storing system theat helps me find things without the search function! More important even, to get rid of all the old files nobody needs anymore! Lets see how much MB I can get rid of!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014

I hope you all had a very good Christmas, Chanuka, Yalda, you name it! I hope you found a moment to sit back. Let go of the things that trouble you and simply enjoyed being with family and loved ones. (I sure hope most of your family makes it into the second category! hahaha)

Here are my excuses of why I left all of my 3 readers hanging.

• stomach bug
• head lice
• mal ware
• pre christmas stress
• traveling

Pick any or all of the reasons above and I  am sure you will see why I negelected the blog and decluttering. But I am recharging my batteries and a fellow hoarder friend and I are fully motivated for our new 6 month decluttering project. I won't give it all away just now, but rest assured it sounds rather promising. The best part about it in my opinion is that she will call the shots and I will just tag along! I do so much better when I have a working buddy! So much for my little preview of 2015! See you then at the latest! 

AVOIDANCE

I have been avoiding the blog. Why? So I would not have to report on my book project. I am afraid that was not the smartest approach, but hey. By now you are probably already guessing that it did not go all that well. You are right. I only got 2/3 of the shelfs sorted and the girls were willing to part with about 15 books. OF those 15 books  I was only willing to part with 2. Now here is were I get to claimit was a succes anyway. I looked at those books for a day and decided to rehome them. 2 people were REALLY excited. One, because she is a foreigner and was excited to have 2 childrens books to learn the language. The other one was excited because with both of them being students their is no money for books and my girls tossed stuff that are considered children's classics, like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Love You Forever". The third new owner doesn't even know how lucky she is as she hasn't gotten her books yet. 

So after all I think I did well. 

Surface of the day: kitchen counter

7 a day: BOOKS

THE BOOK PROJECT

Okay. I will be honest with you. I thought I picked a really easy project. Matter of fact I thought I could pull it of in just 2 or 3 days and feel like a total hero. Turns out the first 7 days are up and I have done nothing but put 7 books on a shelf. And I am not very happy about the spot I found. It is in my wardrobe and lets face it. Putting something IN FRONT of something else is never a good idea. That is one way to start a hoard. Cramming too much stuff into too little space. And on top of not getting any books out of the house 2 new ones arrived by mail. How can something that looked so easy turn out to be so hard?


7 a day: the usual little things like kid's art and rock but no serious effort ongetting more tangible stuff out

surface of the day: dresser tops in the hall

NEW PROJECT

I have decided that I need to start a new decluttering project. I am just not sure what, and most for all WHEN! Seriously. Taxi Tuesday was as challenging as very with 2 additional appointments. Fortunately one of the rides was canceled, but lets faced it. Logistically I am doing a great job. I know, it is just one day per week, but I have 2 more days with rides for kids and of course there is homework, household, cooking and all kind of other things. Decluttering? Uhm. No. I do a lot better not hanging onto every little thing. And I can tell a difference. But I can tell without a project, a plan, a CHALLENGE and a deadline progress is so small it is not really visible. 

I would love to have "declutter every Saturday challenge" but that is simply not going to happen. The attic is too cold by now, I would hate to bring the stuff down. I know. Excuses, excuses. Books. I think I will declutter books. The kids have 2 huge shelves full of books that nobody ever seems to read. That'S what I'll do! I will go through all our shelves this month. Wish me luck! 

Surface of the day: Are you kidding me? It's TAXI TUESDAY!

7 a day: How d you feel about 5 matches and 2 burnt down candles?

CAKE'S THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS

Cakes's therapeutic effects lie in making it, not eating it. It is most effective when the cake is made without occasion. For the pure joy of making one. That is what I did yesterday. I finally made a cake that I've been wanting to try for years. 

It turned out better than I expected considering it was a first try. Let's face it. Nothing sophisticated. Just a layer of yellow and a layer of dark dough, with some cherries, then once it is out of the oven, a layer of pudding and a top layer of chocolate ganache. 

The pudding was a disaster in my opinion. The consistency and taste just simply didn't match my expectations.  

But do I give up now? No. So the pudding didn't work for me, I'll just come up with something else. 

How does this tie in with hoarding?

Quite simple. Even hoarders have a life and some times things just have to be about something else then decluttering. Something like making cake.

TOSSING THE PIECES!

The nice part about deciding to get rid of something like the puzzle book is having made ONE DECISION that affects MANY PIECES. In this case 289 pieces to be exact. I am afraid only a small part of them have left the house so far. But every time I find one, I just re-experience that feeling of relief. "I do not have to deal with you! You go in the trash!"

Today's loot just doing normal household chores. And I know, there are a lot more to come!

surface of the day: insides of 2 kitchen cabinets

7 a day: well, count for yourself!

DELEGATE

Who says you have to do it all by yourself? Oh. The hoarder in you. Because the little hoarder wants to be in control. Well, tell the little hoarder to hush it and learn to delegate. Nobody says you have to delegate the sorting process. But at least stay out of other people's stuff. If they want to get rid of it, let them.

Delegate taking out the recycling, delegate dropping off things for charity. Delegate selling stuff on eBay. You can even pay a a little commission. I am sure your kids are dying to make a little money. My hope is, that by delegating jobs I will learn to give up control. My ultimate goal is to let James make decisions on stuff in the attic. Okay. Maybe not in this life. HAHAHA!

surface of the day: 1 kitchen cabinet

7 a day: a monkey, puzzle pieces, paper, paper, more paper, homework (don't ask)

THE PUZZLE BOOK

I had a major break through today. A few years back I bought a puzzle book. On the right pages of the book there are puzzles. In this case 6 of them. With 48 pieces each. Usually those pieces stay in quite well. But not with this book. Every time you attempted to turn a page puzzle pieces kept tumbling out. The boys hated the book and refused to use it. I tried to push it, but they simply ignored it. The girls kind of liked it, but the pictures to look at, the puzzles, were always gone. Kind of stupid. I know. Each puzzle had a different colored back side so you could keep them apart more easily. As the puzzle pieces had two layers the eventually started falling apart. As I collected the pieces for the umpteenth time, telling myself that I better glue those backs on, so I could pass the book on, yup, the book that nobody liked, I thought:"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! TOSS IT!!!"

And I did. Felt good!

Surface of the day: 1 dresser top in the hall

7 a day: 4 coloring books, A PUZZLE BOOK, a bucket, a Halloween costume

MAKE IT MAGIC

9:34 am

No, I am not talking about Christmas already. It is just that today is one of those days when I lack the motivation to get started. It just simply sounds like too much. I haven't done my my 10 min in a long time and it feels like it is time to revive it. It worked well when I did it. I can do it. 10 min of work 10 of play. Lets gt started! 

10:27 am

The first 30 min are done. The baby is back in bed, I talked to a friend on the phone, I had breakfast. That sounds okay for an hour, doesn't it. Let's see what I can do in the next hour!

11:27 

40 min taken care of. Washer and dishwasher are running. Kitchen is almost done,I am trying to talk myself into going up to the attic. Well. Maybe once the kitchen is taken care of. 

16:57

I got a total of 2,5 hours done. I cooked, I got Halloween costumes out. I did some yard work. I sorted out a costume that is too small for any of my kids. 

16:58

Picked 8 things off the patio to throw away. My inner "Monk" kicked in and made me find 2 more to make it 10. I will declare myself a hero and put dinner in the oven that I pre-made yesterday.

7 a day, 1 costume, 1 shoe, 8 pieces of trash of the patio, 2 more from the living room, 5 piees of clothing out of my husband's wardrobe

surface of the day: girls' room floor

I FELT LIKE WHINING

Today I was going to whine about how I don't ever get around to decluttering anymore and how there is no progress. But guess what. I got rid of what seemed like a cubic meter of baby clothes today. And a baby hammock. And let us not forget about the old bike trailer that a neighbor claimed to have use for. The reason non of this feels like I got it done is because it took weeks and weeks to bring that mountain of baby clothes together. Every time I found a random piece some where I put it in a bag in one of the towers of doom. Yes. They are still in the living room. But back to my success. I AM making progress. It might be slow. it might be barely visible at the moment but in the long run my hard work is definitely paying off 

7 a day: mountains of baby clotes, bike trailer, 1 shoe

surface of the day: the inside of one of the towers of doom

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Believe it or not, I have my very personal Bermuda Triangle. The whole house is one stinking Bermuda Triangle. Things have become a lot better but just today,I spent at least 2 hours looking for something that I as willing to bet knew exactly where it was. On the dresser, in the hall. IT was right there. On the dresser, for the last 2 weeks. The second I need it. Gone. Okay. I haven't seen it the last few days I guess. But, can you believe it? It evaporated. And ever person living in the Bermuda triangle claims they have never seen him. So obviously it sucks up memories, too. Downright tiresome. I need it by Monday. It better resurface. 

7 a day: cheap toys, paper, paper, paper

surface of the day: top and 2 drawers of the the dresser it has been sitting on

CHILDREN'S CHORES

Let's face it. A lot of the daily disaster is created by the kids. Why not let them clean it up, too? I have heard from people that my poor children have to work quite hard. Interestingly enough that comment usually comes from moms whose kids are spoiled rotten in my opinion. They call it child labor. I call it raising responsible adults.

If you had asked me 15 years ago if I thought that a 4 year old could unload the dishwasher I would have said:"NO WAY!" Yes way. A 4 year old can unload the dishwasher, and will be proud of being given such a responsibility. Sneaky me rearranged the kitchen so the kids could reach everything easily to set the table. Positive side effect is, they can reach it all, too, when it comes to putting the clean dishes away. I didn't really want them to handle the glasses, so the glasses stayed up high.

When one of the kids had difficulties at school, we talked to a specialist. The topic of household chores came up. She was delighted to hear that our kids had responsibilities. The only thing she would have changed was to teach the kids to take a chair to climb on, so they could put the glasses away. I had mixed emotions about it. I decided we would stay with the "put away what you can reach" rule. 2 weeks later the very kid we had been talking about came to the living room with a proud smile on his face. "Mommy," he said, "I put the glasses away. I got myself a chair and when I climb on the chair I can reach the shelf."

Problem solving skills, self esteem, responsibility. And an empty dishwasher. All in one. Awesome! Now if only I could get them to pick up their toys!

7 a day: enough paper to fill up the recycling. I am not sure where it all comes from. SERIOUSLY!

surface of the day: I attempted a shelf in the livign room and failed miserably. At least I picked out everything that could be thrown away. The rest is homeless stuff and I don't want to deal with it today!a

"CANDLES"

Why on earth would I keep this? Beats me. I really don't know. I guess I was under the impression that one could make his/her own candles out of stumps. Right. Very likely.

NOT! Well. No worries. The stuff is gone. The big achievement is not in throwing it away, the big achievement is in noticing that it is trash and making a mental note, so next time things like that will make it to the trash with out a detour to the attic!

7 a day: candle stumps, a pair of pants, 3 socks, 2 pairs of shoes

surface of the day: no surface, sorry, it's SATURDAY!

I LOST FOCUS

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make the choice of being happy. Yesterday I noticed that I lost focus. For the last week feelings of overwhelm and dread started to wash up my happy little shore again. So today once more, I chose to be happy. I also started taking vitamin B. Last week was crazy, but lets face it. This Monday morning there was less left to do than on after a normal week. So I am doing great. I will not let myself be defeated by minor things.

One of my bigger accomplishments is sorting more game pieces into their original boxes. I am not sure why I dreaded this so  much. Maybe because it is one of those tasks where every time you think you are done one more piece surfaces. But you know what? I don't care. I found the instructions to a game, that I gave to my sister. I scanned it, sent her an email and threw away the instructions! Okay. So it took me 3 days, but I finally did it!

Surface of the day: basket full of random

5 a day:game instructions, kid' art, game pieces

"CRAZY" DOES NOT DESCRIBE IT

SOMETHING. EVERY. DAY. I am not made for a schedule like this. It's been going on for weeks. Something basically every day. And the next 2 weeks are no different. How on earth is one supposed to stay sane?
I have a friend who thrives under those circumstances. I don't. I feel like a rabbit on the run. It stresses me, and wears me out. I tried to maintain the house and failed. Things could be worse of course, but I still feel like I should have done better.

Thanks to James things didn't completely fall apart.

THURSDAY IS THE NEW TUESDAY

How does Taxi-Thursday sound to you? Well it sounds horrible to me. But it looks like it might turn out to be just as terrible as Tuesday with the amount of shuttling kids back and forth. If I am lucky I can work around it still. I feel like I got absolutely nothing done today. The phone rang all morning and I was going all over the place all afternoon and a friend stopped by at night. The laundry I took care of in the morning feels like it got done a week ago. Tomorrow will be crazy, Saturday will be crazy. My life has been crazy for a few weeks and it doesn't sound like it will calm down any time soon. I am not sure how decluttering will go during this time, but I refuse to give up. 

The last few days I did well putting parts of games back in the original box, a task I have avoided for months. I guess if I managed to keep up with maintenance. not forget any of the 27 million appointments on the calendar until the end of the month and get 5 days out of the house every day I will be a happy woman. 

surface of the day: a basket full of ironing

5 a day: uhm. Well. hm. nothing. Tomorrow. I promise!

I READ A WHOLE BOOK

Today I gave myself permission to simply read a book. More or less a whole book. I did start it yesterday. My friend gave it to me yesterday. She got it for herself to read, but gave it to me first, saying:"you'll be done with it a lot faster then I will be." True. But I am already reading a book. And I abandoned that one to read another one I got from a friend last Friday. (Yup. I finished it and returned that one already.) No wonder she ever has time to dig through her stuff you will say. I guess it is a way of decluttering for me. This way, the book is read and returned in less than a week. One more thing off my list. I think it would be easier to just say:"Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I really don't have time for this book right now. I'll get back to you."

Well. The book is read. The 3rd load of laundry is running, the dishwasher was loaded and is read to be loaded again, 2nd load in the dryer, 2 loads folded and one put away. It is not like I was idle. I even got all the kids to do a chore around the house. And got a hold of the repair man for the washer finally. And music lessons sorted out. Most likely I am doing a lot better than I think,it'S just hard for me to give my self credit for the things I do get accomplished. 

Surface of the day: kitchen counter (always a surprise how much stuff ends up there)

7 a day: indoor trash can (Ironic, I know, throwing out a trash can, but the thing was old AND broken) 2 plates

VISITORS

Nothing like a bunch of visitors to get you motivated. I even had nightmares about them coming over. But. The downstairs is clean. At least something. I even spend some time on my miscellaneous drawer in the living room. It's a tiny drawer and it mostly contains cards and other game pieces that lost contact with the mother ship. Not only did I get a lot of it back into the original box, I also found 3 things to throw away I must say just getting started on that drawer helped me feel better. It might be one of my least problems, but it's been on my mind for a while now.

7 a day: 1 pair of shoes, 5 socks, 3 random items from the game pieces drawer

surface of the day: lets count that drawer

BACK TO THE BASICS

I had a hard day. Just overemotional, and a few insensitive people crossing my path telling me I must do this and I must do that. I am sick and tired of it. I feel stupid when they do that. They don't make suggestions. They don't offer solutions. They say:"Katja, you must change your attitude, you must do this, you must do that." 

By 2 pm I was in tears. When I have meltdowns I don't get anything done. And then I feel bad. I finally got myself to drag myself and the little ones to the fair as promised. Now they are all asleep and I decided to go back to the basic. Not 10 magic minutes, no , too demanding. 1 by 1 is the solution for tonight. Immediate success, as even I can put away one thing. Or even 2. 

surface of the day: area by the front door

7 a day: I know the kids need to write and draw and cut to exercise their fine motor skills but why am I the one who has to throw out all those pieces of art?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

1 year of blogging about my hoarding. Here are a few things I have learned:

• sorting is just a nice word for churning
• parting with things makes you feel lighter
• if you haven't used it in 5 years, why would you need it still?
• giving things away makes other people happy
• it's nice to have space
• it's nice to be able to let people in without having to shut all the doors
• it's nice to find things when you need them (and not 5 months later)
• you don't have to take things people want to dump on you
• having less things gives you more energy to do other things

I could tell you quite a few more, but I will leave it at that. I am not cleared yet, but I am well on my way. I also recognize behavior that gets me in trouble. And even if I still fall into a few of the hoarder traps, it is a lot less often and most of the time, I get rid of the stuff before it takes up permanent residence!

I will continue dehoarding and hope you'll stay with me for the journey!

THE CARDBOARD BOX

Today I threw away a card board box. Why do I fell the need to tell you about this? Well, because it is a huge accomplishment. I got the box from a friend, with children's clothes in it. It was emptied in the sorting process and has a new owner. Now the box sat in my house, empty. For days I have been telling myself that I should throw it away. But what if I needed it? To store things? ARGH! Guess what. I  will not need the box. Because I don't have anything that I will put in a box. Especially not anything that will go into a card bard box that used to have diapers in them. I had to tear up the box to go through with throwing it out. But I did. And if felt like the sensible thing to do. I can and I will do it. 

7 a day: my cardboard box, paper, lots of clothing items

surface of the day: 2 boxes out of my brand new hoard room

1 BAG OUT

I got one of the 2 bags out, that I shouldn't have in the first place. But hey. The receiver was happy and so was I! I've noticed that some of the measures I have taken to improve my life are working well. Like my folder where I put things for school. Each child has his/her own section and anything of importance, like address lists, instructions for school projects or anything else goes in there. It might all be in there helter skelter, but at least I only have to look in one place (the folder) and don't even have to look through all of it, as each kid's section is divided from the rest. I used to search the whole house (and every single box) for phone numbers and things like that. These days, I get the info, punch 2 holes (the hole punch is right next to the folder) and file it. And when I need it I know where it is. Maybe one day I will fulfill my need of perfectionism and sort the individual sections, but until then I will be happy, that my system works and that it makes life easier. And that I have more time to help myself get the rest of the mes taken care of!

I JUST KEPT WORKING

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I talked about just how stressful that first week was with 27 million different other things to take care of, family visiting and orientations to attend. Getting the kids to do homework and starting all the extracurricular activities again. She told me of all the things she had to do and then she said:"But  I simply kept working day after day and I got it all done." I am not sure I wanted to hear that. But lets face it. It boils down to work. I can spend years blogging about all the things I plan to do, but unless I actually get to work, nothing will ever get done. 

I am taking life one day at a time. I refuse to get upset about things that are left undone. And I focus on accomplishments. One of my biggest accomplishments today was taking care of 2 little things. Putting the laminating machine away and taping a  squished puzzle box into shape. It took less then 5 min but those are the little things I like to do "tomorrow". Eventually "tomorrow's" things are so overwhelming that I want to stay in bed. 

My hope is that focusing on the little tasks right in front of me will help me stay on track and not let little jobs pile up again until you need a month to work of your to do list. 

My neighbour went through her children's closets and dumped her stuff on me. I was stupid enough to take it, but I already found takers for it. I will be fine. And one day I might simply refuse to have stuff dumped on me. 

5 a day: do clothes that I got yesterday count? A pair of socks (extra dirty with a hole), paper, paper and more paper

surface of the day: I started a few, but didn't finish a single one.

FORGIVE YOURSELF AND START OVER

Seriously. Sometimes that's the only thing left to do. Some things you can't fix, you usually don't get to do things over so one thing I have to learn is to move on. And moving on means to not fret about it anymore. Today I wasted my morning dropping something off. It was supposed to be a trade, but the toys I would have gotten in return where no where to be found(and obviously hadn't been looked for). Maybe I just shouldn't trade things with a potential hoarder, but I was going to buy some toys of her and it would have been a great deal. Except for wasting at least 3 hours on it. And not getting what I wanted. 

But here is were the real trouble starts. I was annoyed with myself when I came home and went off to pout. As if anyone cared. Not even I did! SO I spent the rest of the day telling myself that I was stupid and never could get anything right in the first place. I also assumed that it wasn't even worth it to at least try to make use of my afternoon. 

So all in all I wasted an entire day. Lets face it. The morning was at least partially out of my control, but I have to take full responsibility for my wasted afternoon. TO make sure I will not make the same mistake tomorrow and waste ANOTHER day I decided to forgive myself and move on!  

WORK, WORK, WORK

I did really, really well today. I worked and worked and worked and got a lot of things done. I admit, no dehoarding, but I feel good about myself for getting maintenance done, cooking delicious meals and thanks to James the downstairs is cleaned up. This week, might not be as busy as last week, but new things keep popping up and next week is filling up already, too.

I figure the only way to stay sane is to take my friends advice and simply keep working until things are taken care of. Ohm and read a chapter of a good book in between jobs!

THE PICNIC BLANKET

I watched an episode of the US show "Hoarders". The hoarder insisted that nothing "new" was to be thrown away. New was the equivalent of "in the box still". No matter if the stuff was ruined. Mouse droppings on it. And it was so obvious it had to go. not to him, but to me.

Interestingly enough I had a picnic blanket on the patio. Basically new. Used twice. Ruined by mouse droppings. After 4 weeks I finally threw it away. Why is it so obvious when I see other hoarders and so hard to do the sensible thing when the things are mine?

surface of the day: basket full of kids' clothes in various sizes

7 a day: picnic blanket (obviously), old swing, kids' clothes, 2 books

I THINK IT'S MONDAY

It is, isn't it? The last week brought enough excitement and appointments to last me 3 months. It also brought some anxiety. Anxiety brought her friend "trouble falling asleep" who brought his brother, "waking up in the middle of the night". So when it was time to get up (which it wasn't necessarily just because I woke up) sometimes it took some serious concentration and a few seconds before I knew which day it was. 

This week still brings more excitement then I want to handle, but in comparison to last week it is pretty tame. I spent the morning staring at the ceiling and cleaning up the laundry room so the service guy could stare at my washer and tell me it is fine. 

I spent the afternoon trying to get a few things done at least. I did. Not a whole lot, but enough to have made a dent. 

I am happy, because I got a few things out of the way that were blocking me mentally and are taken care of now. I do believe that by procrastinating we are wasting a lot of energy that could be used for other things. Now if only I could get myself to stop procrastinating to stop procrastinating.

Tomorrow is another day that is already raising my anxiety levels, but I made a plan on how to survive it, so as long as I can get myself to stick to it, I should be fine. Wish me luck! 

SLOW MOTION CLEAN UP

Today the 10 min sounded way too long. Even putting away 10 things felt like too much. I finally got myself to do 5 things. I am not sure how many times I did it, but I ended up doing it often enough to see a difference. And I cooked twice. And best of all I got a few things done that I really needed to take care of that I had been procrastinating for weeks. I am learning to be okay with days like today. When all I did was to keep going. 

surface of the day: kitchen counter top

5 a day: out of date school stuff

WAY TOO EARLY

I woke up some time after 4:30 this morning. By 5 am I was getting restless, by 5:20 I gave up and got up. I dreamt about moving house and the previous occupants were still there and the 3 of them had a running commentary on how I did things and how much stuff the kids had thrown around in the living room in the few hours of our living there.

As I was lying in bed trying o fall back asleep I started cleaning up the downstairs mentally. I started at the front door and thought of what I would do with every single item lying there. It was a little scary. I simply imagined a spot and could pull all the things out of my memory that are lying there. Maybe that'S what prevented my falling back asleep.

I eventually gave up. Got up. Realized there is not a whole lot of things you can do at 5:30 am with 6 people sound asleep. I folded some laundry, started the washer and dryer. Checked my mail, continued the mental clean up, read a little. By now it is almost 8 am. I am happily picking away at my mess.

I have started the slow painful progress of simply putting away one thing after the other. I am hoping that I won't come across to many things that need to be thrown away today. I just don't feel up to it.

MONDAYS ARE OVERRATED

All of last weekend I told myself that on Monday I will make a new start. That everything will be better. That I will be more efficient, that the house will be cleaner, that it will be easier to part with things. Because Monday was the day to start over. But hey. The house is still a mess, I accomplished less then I planed to, I started yelling at the kids around 5 pm. So yes, Mondays are overrated. Maybe everything can be new tomorrow. Uhm. No. Taxi Tuesday. Not really the day to work miracles at home.

I did take care of a few things that I have been avoiding over the last couple of weeks. My 10 magic minutes still work for me, but I think I will have to add a little twist to make them more efficient. Of course I will let you know what it is once I implement it. Now I am thinking of just dividing up the rooms over certain days and to have a weekly focus room for decluttering. We will see. That's the problem with being a perfectionist. Things can always be better!

surface of the day: kitchen counter (twice!)

5 a day: truck loads of paper with kid'S art, a bagpack, a single sock with a hole in it.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

There is this hoarder forum where I hang out and get my spirits lifted when I am low. Today a new member joined. Very dispirited, asking for advice on how to get started. One of our experienced members among other things said that everything takes practice. And when you sit on the couch doing nothing you get better at doing nothing.

OUCH!!!!

That hit home. Really. I mean, how true is that!? I never looked at it this way. I am practicing AVOIDANCE! I am practicing the very thing that I know has kept me from being successful all those years. I got all fidgety, jumped up from the couch, ran around in circles and finally allowed myself to calm down. Time to practice something else. Our coat room, my very personal nemesis, as all the things that come into the house kind of find a "final resting place" there,was my training turf. I decided to just go and deal with one item after the other. Kind of a slow motion clean up I guess. So I cheated a little. A few things simply got transferred to the third dresser but all in all I did a good job. 

I found Christmas cards, a 7 month old birthday card, I found things the kids had told me they wanted to keep in June or July and they were still lying there. I decided if it has been lying here for 2 full months now and nobody cared to retrieve it, I can just as well get rid of it. Nobody will ever miss it. I went through 4 of the drawers. Cleaned them out. The only things allowed back in are things that actually belong in there. I also realized that I have an EMPTY DRAWER in that chest. Can you imagine? And empty drawer in a hoarder's house?

I am not done yet. But getting done was not the point of the "exercise". The point was to DO something. To be active. All in all it went well. I'll have another "work out" tomorrow!

surface of the day: 4 drawers, top of 2 dressers

7 a day: kid's art, paper, admission tickets for all kinds of places, 2 rings,

OUT IT GOES

I have a big trash bag full of baby clothes going to a new home. I also have some cleaning supplies out. With it went a few bowls and a baking pan. Volume wise more is going out that came in. Plus, the stuff coming in is being used, the stuff going out hasn't been used in a long time. 

I am am 100% back to normal health wise. (Ignore the nagging pain in my jaw, will you, I guess that is normal by now) and I feel the need to get back on a functioning schedule. I know routines help me stay sane. Sanity is precious. 

I might even get back to blogging regularly once my routines are back in place!

I'M STILL HAPPY

It's a challenge when you step into a pile of sand in a room that you vacuumed 2 hours earlier, or when your clean bathtub is covered in mud. Gets me back to feeling that none of this makes sense. But hey. The kids have done well doing little jobs. And I am getting better at throwing things away. Left over food, usable paper and other little things.

Doing my 10 min routine, I can tell that I am making good progress. I have returned to the original version of it. Start with morning routine (sort laundry, air out house) 10 min of laundry (washing, folding, what ever is necessary) then start at the bedroom right of the stairs and work counter clockwise.  The reason this works so well for me is because I keep my clean areas clean. And I can easily see if I make progress. Today I made it all the way through 2 bedrooms and the bathroom and was 15 min ahead of schedule, even though I only worked a little more than 1 hour for the last 3 days instead of 2. Once more we can see that persistence is key.

I have identified and gathered a few things to leave the house, and also packed them up. I will now happily go to bed. Stayed up way to late again!

BEING HAPPY

Some say being happy is a choice. I agree. It is. It just sometimes is a choice that's hard for me to make. Today I decided to focus on being happy. That for me included to not judge. Not judge the kids, my house, myself. Going back to no expectations. Ah. So hard at first. It becomes easier with a little practice. Today I feel light and happy. I have a good book to read, the washer is running, the kids are happy (for the moment). And I feel like throwing something out. Hm. Let's go find something to get rid off!

MY FAVORITE DRUG

We all have a "drug" we turn to when we feel overwhelmed. Mine is computer games. Pretty much anything. Candy Crush, Farmville, any kind of Bubble shooter. I'M IN! I also know WHY they are such a comfort to me. Playing those games presents me with a chance to prove myself. When I finish a quest or pass a level I get told just how awesome I am and with some games you even get a little reward.

But lets face it. They just steal a lot of time. Sometimes I try to justify and tell myself that I will only play at night when James and I are watching a movie. Wow. Multitasking wasting time. Try to beat that. Well. Guess what. I have tried putting together photo albums or ironing while watching TV at night and it works just fine. I know we all deserve a break, and it is perfectly fine to take them, but if you end up not taking a break but running away from life you have a problem.

Today I decided to just stop it. I decided that more than once and never really did. But today is different. Different because I deleted every single game app from my FB account. That was an hour ago and I am already showing withdrawal symptoms.  I know I am in for a few really hard days. I will just have to keep myself busy.

I CAN DO IT! If I use all the time I spend gaming on decluttering this place should be spotless in just a few weeks!

RUNNING AWAY

Today I feel like running away. Like it is al useless anyway. That no matter what I do it's never enough and it doesn't get me anywhere. Oh, and no matter where I go free stuff is calling my name. Today I caved. I took it. Man, who can say no to a practically new trailer for the bike to haul the kids around in. Especially when I have been telling myself that the old one has to go and I need to just bite the bullet and BUY one. Now, as long as the old one really goes I am fine. But back to never getting anywhere.

A few moments, when I walked into the girls' room I stopped dead in my tracks. What a shock. The room was clean! Right! We cleaned it! And it was still clean. So much for never getting anything accomplished! I CAN and DO make a difference. It doesn't need to be done all at once and in one day. I still feel to tired to believe that the silly playroom will EVER be clean again. But guess what. I am going to clip onmy timer and go at it. 10 minutes at a time. And then I will goon break for 10 min. Iwill not use 10 min per room today, but instead will allow myself to use all 12 of my 10 min blocks to go into the playroom. The 2 kids that are home at the moment and are able to help get to tag along. We can handle 10 min. Let's se if we even need the full 2 hours! I don't think so!

surface of the day: playroom floor (no, we didn't get around to shelves and surfaces)

7 a day: paper, more paper, still more paper

REGAINING CONTROL

Not having to do it all at in one day is a great relief. One thing I really like about my 10 magic minute is that once my 2 hours are up I am done. No matter how bad the rest of the house looks. I am just simply awesome. Today, I was awesome. Very awesome. And I feel so good about myself, that I feel ready to tackle the mountain of clothes that need ironing that has grown in a corner of my living room over the last couple of weeks. Shifting it to the bedroom did not help to reduce it. Big surprise, I know. Well. The TV is on, my movie has 80 min left. Let's DO THIS!

7 a day: handful of expired coupons, 1 toy, 3 books, kid's art

surface of the day: girls' room, yup, the whole room

I'M FEELING BETTER

I know, you are absolutely thrilled. I was just so tired the last 2% weeks. I slept at least 9 hours every night and took 3 hour naps during the day just to survive. Today is my 4th day without a nap, but I did lie down during the day. Needless to say, no decluttering took place. Nothing happened. I am just glad the laundry is under control and the kids love cereal. Today was the first day I felt kind of back to normal at least. I was able to make an organized effort with household chores and the kitchen and downstairs bathroom are back under control. So is the master bedroom and Mt laundry shrunk to a rolling hill. Okay, so half of it was easy stuff, but trust me, it was hard enough picking easy chores. Looks like I will be first one asleep yet another night.

THE BRINK OF DEATH

Oh, so I like drama, deal with it. Dr. "This-herb-will-cure-you" gave me antibiotics without blinking. Tells me something. If you want to know just how poorly I felt, I was too sick to whine about it online. I know. You are SHOCKED. Now, day 7 I am feeling a little better. My muscles are sore from coughing. The upside is, I wasn't really able to eat anything for 4 days. Hehehe. We shall see what the scale has to say! James did well saving the world without me. He better be careful or I will stay in bed for another week because things run smoothly without me. Decluttering? Come on. Be SERIOUS! I told you I was on the brink of death. I will definitely still take things slowly next week. 

The tomatos are alive and well, the beans are tall and beautiful, for the first time I managed to grow peppers, and there is a baby pumpkin in my backyard. Live is wonderful.

LOCKED OUT

I am not sure what I did, but I locked myself out of my blog. I was about read to throw my laptop. I gues that will teach me no to mess withmy google chrome settings to increase privacy. I am not even sure how I got back in, but hey. Here I am. I have a google headache and nothing to say but:"It's good to be back!

THE CROWDED BED

You know you have a problem when you get a laundry basket full of things out of a bed that has been cleared out 3 days earlier. So the truck does take up a lot of space, but still! How can you sleep in a bed that is full of books and toys? And dirty laundry just to name a third category? I guess it works out okay when you are short enough, but I think he simply doesn't care. My goal for the summer is to get rid of everything he doesn't use, and provide a home for everything else. 

ALEX

Remember my friend Alex? The one with the exotic dish? Well guess what. She let it go. And with it went 7 big black trash bags full of other stuff to be donated, sold or simply thrown out. She was able to let it go for a garage sale as she felt somebody would buy it. I am sure it was hard. But she didn't share how hard it was to let it go. She shared how good she felt AFTER she had let go of all those things. She said:"I'm on fire. I can't wait to get rid of more."

See.. We can do it!



surface of the day:Surface? What surface? Oh. That surface. Well. Uhm. None.

7 a day: handle bar to a stroller long gone, swiffer handle extention (swiffer long gone), multiple pieces of paper, a piece of wood, torn zip loc bag

THE ATTIC CHALLENGE

The attic is so challenging that I don't even dare have a challenge that calls for its complete make over. Instead I am challenging myself to do a little bit up there for 4 weeks and to see just how far I get. Things up there are a totally different story than things down in the house. 

Everything that went up there I either owned all my life, am keeping for the moment I need it, or am keeping because it is still useful and I want to pass it on. Parting with Ms Sweetypie gave me the courage to even consider that project. 

It is down right stupid to do this in the middle of the summer, as you could basically bake a cake up there, that's how hot it gets, but I have learned from experience, that once you feel ready to go through a certain pile of things you better do it, because if you don't, by the time circumstance feel right, you might have lost your courage.

The attic fairies are on my side, the weather is grey and rainy, so it is cooler. I WILL DO IT! NOW!

surface of the day: 1 box from the attic (I only cheated a tiny bit)

7 a day: infant toy bar, half a picture frame, elastic band, torn trash bag, box of stationary, time table, a 12 year old road map

WHERE IS THE WITTY HEADLINE?

I am too tired to even come up with a witty headline. I am not tired. I am TIRED! I got a doctor's appointment, a cake, a kid's play (Alex participated and the whole affair took 4,5 hours out of my day) and 5 loads of laundry out of the way. I kicked into superhero mode at 10 pm and cleaned up the kitchen. My 10 magic minutes saved the day. Again.  

I might not have decluttered actively but while I was waiting in the dentist' chair, I mentally went through a box of old school books. I envisioned myself keeping one or 2, and recycling the rest. Maybe I will just take a picture of them. That would be even smarter, and easier to file. 

I will now put my tired head on my soft pillow and refuse to dream about decluttering.  

SNAIL'S PACE

Have you ever watched a snail cross a street? It takes forever. It take so long that you forget about the snail and get distracted by all kinds of other things. Birds, flowers, puddles, you name it. Then you look again, and all of  a sudden the snail is gone. Unless a bird picked it off a street, it actually made it. 

I feel like I am going at a snail's pace at the moment. But guess what. I am going. It doesn't matter how long I take to cross the street, as long as I do. 

YES, I CAN WORK LIKE THIS

Well yes, I can work like this. I don't consider it ideal but I make do with what I have. Other people would have probably just cleared the counter, but that is boring. I am not sure if I learned to work this way because I am a hoarder, and my surfaces tend to be cluttered. Maybe I am just to lazy to clear it? Or maybe I am to focused on what I want to do now, to bother with trivial things like clearing off the counter. That day it wouldn't even have been that much work. But it would have interrupted the flow of things, so I just turned the pan over and used it as a surface. 

Oh and if you want to know what I was making. It is so simple, so delicious. Take a baking pan, cut, cauliflower, slice it, about half an inch thick, put some butter on top put in the oven for 20 min. In the mean time slice tomatoes and Greek cheese. Take cauliflower out and stack the tomatoes, cheese and cauliflower horizontally. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic, basil and bake for another 20 min. If you want to go all out, you mix the seasoning with butter and breadcrumbs and crumble it on top. YUM. Now you know why I didn't bother the clear the counter. I WAS HUNGRY!

surface of the day: one bag of clothes from the attic

7 a day: several pieces of clothing from said bag (~20 in case you wanted to know), 5 books

LIQUID DETERGENT

Have you ever spilled liquid laundry detergent? If you did you must know how it feels to clean a whole shelf covered in it. When I reorganized things back in April, I must have punctured a container as back then things definitely where in order. And for a few days I had the barbecue fork on the same shelf. Not very smart obviously. I am just glad I found out. I got some powdered detergent out as my dark stuff seems to always be smelly when I wash it with the liquid stuff. I pulled a new box off the shelf and eeeewwwwwwww! Everything was slimy. Pink and slimy. It was one of those moments when I was glad that I didn't take my trash right out. Mind you, it was just an empty bottle of liquid detergent in a clean waste paper basket, so nothing gross. I got most of the detergent into the empty bottle and as the punctured bottle had the hole on the bottom, I put it in the waste paper basket, upside down so it wouldn't leak and I would be able to use the rest over the next few days or weeks. When I told James about it, he gave me a surprised look and asked:"You threw the rest away?" That made me laugh out loud. "Of course not, I am a hoarder," I said. Well. at least I am a hoarder conscious of her actions!

And just in case you ever try to wash liquid detergent of your hands. Don't use soap. It's kind of redundant and won't work. Best way is water and a little patience.


surface of the day: nothing to report in the ssall print section I am afraid

7 a day: same here

BYE BYE SWEETIEPIE

Today I said good bye to this little one that I've had every since I can remember. She spent the last 20 years of her life in this box. When I took the picture the word "coffin" popped up in my head. It's hard to tell with the small picture, but the filling is coming out in many spots, she is filthy and torn. I literally loved her to pieces and it's time to let her go. 

It wasn't even all that hard. I admit that it was hard enough to not even go back up into the attic to find more things to part with, but I wasn't sad, I wasn't feeling wasteful. Maybe I was a little sad for myself. Because I had kept her so long, turning her into a burden. Every time I came across her, I thought:"I really need to throw her away." Then the little voice in m head would whisper:"You could fix her!" So I kept her. 

I've had her all my life, and she doesn't even have a name. 

BYE BYE SWEETIEPIE

surface of the day: started on the dresser in the hall, never finished it

7 a day: Sweetiepie and lots of kid's art

TOO BAD!

Too bad I decided not to whine about Taxi Tuesday any more, or I could have told you that, forgetting about a piano trial lesson for 2 kids, and a canceled ballet ride due to sickness could make for a very hectic 60 min. Add to it your usual rides AND a trip to the store and you end up going back and forth on a 5 mile stretch for a total of 4 hours. 

But as I am not whining about Taxi Tuesday anymore I can't tell you all of this. I got new sheets for the kids' beds. It was about time, the old ones are starting to unravel. The big thing now is to let the old ones go. I am seriously considering dumping the Lightning McQueen ones on my Mom for quilting. I know. It's not fair, but it is VERY tempting.

Weather is hot and humid, just the thought of moving has me break into a sweat. I did get rid of the wrapping material form the new sheets right away and also filled the recycle bin all the way to the top. 

Surface of the day: I am afraid I skipped that, oh wait, lets count going through all 3 drawers of my night stand

7 a day: 4 plastic guys from a game I thing was tossed a while ago, 3 batteries that looked old recycled properly, 1 book out of the nightstand that I will probably never read

I LIKE MONDAYS

I can't believe I am saying this. But today walking home from the preschool pickup I really felt that way. I like Mondays. I thought about it some more to find out what I like about Mondays that are often hated by many. (I was no exception.)

• I like Mondays because they allow you to make a fresh start.
• I like Mondays because they bring with them loads of laundry.
• I like Mondays because I don't have to take kids anywhere.
• I like Mondays because a new beginning always brings new hope. 

Mondays and I are friends now!

Surface of the day: a bag from the attic

7 a day: a sweater, a single slipper, an unfinished craft from 3rd grade, a bag full of candle stumps, 5 books

NOTHING LIKE A GOOD CRY

The perfectionist in my wants things, well, perfect. That adds quite a bit of stress to my life, especially because I want other people to be perfect, too. And when they are not it is hard for me to restrain myself and let them be. I guess I have to learn to be patient with them, but it would be so much more efficient if they just learned to get things right. Don't you think?

There is a lady in my social circle that I have know for years, but not very well. From the moment I met Tracy I was drawn to her, but unfortunately our paths haven't crossed often. She oozes serenity and her sheer presence has a calming effect on me. Lately we see more of each other and on one occasion she said she is good at simply watching. Today I asked her if she had any insights for me on how to learn to just sit and watch. By the time she told me that she thought it was a personality trait, I was bawling.

Tracy simply put an arm around me and let me cry. She made a few gentle inquiries to find out what bothered me so much. When I told her, she said she thought it was okay to improve things. That it was okay to be frustrated, but that I should make sure I don't get angry. Good point. I'll take her advice. Not getting angry is harder than it sounds, but being angry is such an aggressive, negative energy.

So I cried a little more, she said that was okay, too. I cried even more some time later on when I told James about our conversation.

Mental note to self: You don't need to be perfect.

COMPETING AGAINST MYSELF

I read over old posts today. Correcting a spelling mistake here, changing the font to bold, little things like that. And of course reading over things makes me see how far I got in the last 10 months. I cam across this post:


BE NICE
Especially to yourself. I don't know about you, but I am my harshest critic. It is hard to be a better person if, no matter what you do, it's never enough. Calling yourself to stupid/lazy/unorganized to EVER get a grip on life will not help. And even though I know that, I do it again and again. Especially when I am not feeling good about myself and what I achieved. On days like this, it does help me to at the end of the day list my accomplishments And I will list everything. EVERYTHING. And then I remind myself I can do even better tomorrow!

Let's face it. By telling myself  I can do even better tomorrow, I somehow imply that all the achievements of the day weren't enough. Because if they had been enough, there would be no need to improve the next day. Competing against others all the time is hard enough. But competing against yourself is even worse. If you can't beat yourself, you obviously didn't work hard  enough, and when you do beat yourself you could have obviously done better last time. 

Goal for the next 3 months. Enjoy a day as is and celebrate the days achievements without looking back!

MY ALOE VERA

I love my Aloe Vera. It has cured more than one nasty burn and I have applied it on a few sunburns that I manged to get despite sun screen. Because I love my Aloe and the Aloe is a dessert plant, I let it sit basking in the sun on my patio. When fall came I kept telling myself that I needed to bring it back in. I told myself on a daily basis that it was really time to get it in today. As it was a horrendous task that would have taken at least 30 seconds I never got around to it. The first frost hit and it took me another 3 days to bring it in. One night colder than the next. By the time I had my Aloe in 80 % of it

were frozen solid. And I was royally annoyed. I kept it in the hall and refused to throw it away. Partly to punish myself with the simple sight of it and partly hoping that it would survive. With each piece that fell out of the middle my hope sank. Until one day those cute little green tips started showing. They are big and strong by now. One more time when holding on to something that looked like it should have been tossed, paid off. I just have to learn that it doesn't always work that way. That some things really need to go. But not my ALOE VERA! 

surface of the day: started the upstairs landing but got sidetracked

7 a day: lets not go there, shall we?

BABY BLANKETS

Dear Nicole, 

even though you might not remember making this, I am absolutely positive you made this. I am as positive as I am that I already posted about this blanket. (Not that I have found this post.) But I didn't have the picture back then. Now I have it. Here you go. The blanket left. Off to a better home, with a single mom and her darling little daughter. She was excited, I was relieved. WIN-WIN.

What do I throw out next?


Surface of the day: family bulletin board

7 a day:paper, paper and more paper, fast food toy, a rock

MAKE LIFE BEAUTIFUL

I am not sure if I have made the "I can't resist office supplies" - confession yet, but here we go. I love paper, folders, pens and pencils and I make sure I stay out of office supply stores. But  every now and then the stuff crosses my path. And then it is very hard to resist. Almost impossible. Today all I can say in my defense is that I only took one each of the 3 most pretty designs out of 8 or so to chose from.

When I saw them, I knew I needed to have them. I walked away and came back. Picked one, put it in my cart, walked away, came back picked more, put them back, decided I didn't need any and settled for 3. I was trying to came up with things I could use them for. I decided that the "Roses" could be used for my pictures, that the "Kiwi" could be for my recipes and that I really needed to come up with a use for "Tomato and Mozzarella".I was chewing myself out for buying them the whole way home. I reminded myself of the ones I have in the basement. And I did point out to myself, that I was down to 3 and that getting new ones was probably a good idea. I still felt bad at night.Around 9 pm I realized the only way I could feel better about this was to put them to use. I sat down with my pictures, and sorted them. Got my recipes folder. Came up with the grand plan of putting desserts with kiwi, and savory with t&m. 

The old recipe folder felt kind of sticky and gritty, and I did get rid of about 20 recipes I have had for years but never used. There was a critical moment when I wondered how to put the folder to use from now on. But guess what: That folder might look okay from the outside, but the inside is filthy, and the outside feels filthy. So I grabbed it and stuffed it in the trash. Are you proud of me? And you know what. The shelf with my new recipe folders looks so much better! Beautiful makes me happy.

I DESERVE BEAUTIFUL!

surface of the day:

7 a day: recipes

I WILL NOT WHINE

You my dear reader will probably hate Taxi Tuesday more than I do myself by now. I have made a resolution. I will not whine about Taxi Tuesday for the next 4 weeks. Or probably never again, but lets start with 4 weeks.

I am a little bit under the weather today, but I am happy to report that the house is cleaner than it was in the morning and that I was brave enough to go into the attic and not worry about how far I would get, but to simply spend 10-20 min up there, which I did. I found a few things that actually have a home that I put away and threw out a few more and am happy that I was able to cope with the feeling of overwhelm and anxiety and simply go to work. 

So far it doesn't feel like the most efficient way to tackle the attic but NOT going there at all will definitely get even less done up there. Best part of going up there? Finding a recipe book that belongs to my sister that we have been looking for for years, that they don't sell anymore that we figured was lost for good! 

7 a day: random pieces from the attic, old toys, paper and 2 items of clothing, 5 books

surface of the day: I really need to get back to that, I did start clearing some clutter of a side board but never finished it.

FREE KNICK-KNACKS

I know, this is exactly the kind of little gadget that should tempt a mother of little children to buy this product over that, but guess what. I didn't buy it. Grandma did. When we were at her house my sister wanted to throw it out. Hoarder me decided that it was still wrapped in plastic, therefor unthrowable and I pocketed it, when she wasn't watching. Sure enough, when I unwrapped it at home, not only did I realize it wasn't an eraser as I thought, but a pen, but I also realized it wasn't working. I was annoyed. And TOSSED IT! So please. If you want to coax me into buying your stuff by adding free knick-knacks, make sure they work!

surface of the day:night stand

7 a day: broken knick-knack, fast food toy, broken decorative banner from kid's room, random pieces of lists and diagrams the boys come up with non-stop and are of utmost importance for 24-48 hours

MY NEW WASHER

If you wonder how I survived a whole week without a washer, let me assure you, things went just fine. I must admit though, that when the new one arrived at my house yesterday in the late afternoon, I did hug and kiss it, even before it was unpacked. 

I ran the cleaning cycle, but as we were all over the place again yesterday and barely home, I only got one load done last night. With one child puking all over her bed in the middle of the night, it will definitely be running again today, even though it is Sunday, my day of true rest from anything household related.

Now here is the bad part. The old washer is still here. Mostly because we thought that it might be fixable. And things have been pushed back and forth to make room for the new one. My perfect laundry room is starting to look hoarded again. I think besides doing laundry nonstop for the next 3, days I will also work on getting that room back into good shape!

THE SHINEY POT

A while back I got a new kitchen. With an induction stove top. Except for one all of my pots and pans had to go. I was rather excited about it, as it meant a well organized and clean start. Being the hoarder I am I found one more pot in the basement months later. I remembered that it was one with a fancy lid (that I had broken) and was in the process of discarding of it when I saw a little stamp on the bottom that labeled it fit for induction. It is a tiny pot and comes in handy to warm up vegetables. Well. if you want to WARM UP vegetables, you better not hit the "power" button and leave the room. Otherwise you  might end up with a quarter inch layer of coal topped off with some very dead peas. I tried to clean the pot. Soaked it, scrubbed it, soaked it some more. See for yourself. 

I decided it was time to let it go. Well. It sat on my counter for quite a few days. My friend Nicole came to visit. She is very understanding and supportive about my hoarding. I told her I needed to toss the pot. I was glad she was there, as I knew, under her watchful eye I would be able to let go. She said:"Do you have a magic eraser? I'll take care of it." I told her it was a waste of time but she would have none of it. 10 min later my pot looked like new. How on earth will I ever stop hoarding seeing things like this? 

surface of the day: random shelf in living room

7 a day: various pieces of kid's art, pair of shoes, broken toy car, plastic toy,

THE COOKIE SHEET

When I moved in after marrying James, he was the proud owner of one tin cookie sheet. I was sufficient for our needs. ITS' major problem was that the ends tended to bend up if the stuff put on it was too heavy and every know and then, they bent up so far that it wouldn't be able to hold itself up on d the oven rack and it would crash down and take everything with it that was on it. Of course that makes quite the mess and it is no fun to clean out a burning hot oven.

Over time I got additional cookie sheets. 2 years ago I had so many that I could have easily retired the tin cookie sheet. Did I? Okay. That was a rhetorical question. OF course I did not, I came up with every lame excuse available why it would make sense to keep it. I used it as a cooling rack, as a dripping pan, I even used it the intended way every know and then to be able to keep it.

So celebrate with me, this moment when I finally decided I could let it go. I had to be fast about it to not change my mind and to really make sure it would leave the house I did this:

surface of the day: bed room

7 a day: cookie sheet, 8 glas jars

DEAR BATHROBE,

I have a confession to make. I never liked you in the first place. I love your dark blue color, but to be quite frank, I could do very well with out the red trim. You are warm I must admit, especially if you've been draped over the heater before a long, hot bath. But you are heavy! SO HEAVY! Your weight drags down my shoulders. Your thick material might soak up a lot of moisture, but it also adds at least 50 lbs to my already too big physique. When I put you on I feel fat, blown up and exhausted. Worst is catching a glimpse of me, wearing you, in the mirror.

Why did I get you? Trust me. I didn't seek you. You were given to me by my bank. That's right. I do hope their financial decisions are better than their style choices. You are the first bathrobe I ever owned and after our time together, you might very well also be my last. 

Why did I keep you for so many years? Beats me. I am not even sure how long we've been together. Too long if you ask me. My only excuse for imprisoning you here is that I am a hoarder, who has a hard time letting go of useful things. Despite of all my negative feelings for you, I did see you as a useful item. But it is time to set you free. You will get a fresh start. Hopefully with someone who not only sees you as useful, but will also grow to love you!

I sure hope there will be no hard feelings.

Best wishes for your future,

Katja

PS:If it makes you feel any better, you weren't the only one who had to go. I sent a whole bag of other "useful" pieces of clothing along with you. Hope you all enjoy your trip and arrive at your new homes safely!

SO LONG DEAR WASHER

I had to officially declare my washer dead this morning, although I am afraid it already went quietly last night. The laundry was wetter than usual, but it was way late and I didn't even make the connection. I know, the washer couldn't have timed it better. To kick the bucket on a Monday, which is the official day for things like that to happen, but to not let me find out until TAXI TUESDAY.

Ah well. The upside with being a hoarder is that my whole family can easily make it through a week without my washing a single item AND last nights load, the washer's last one, had me all caught up with the laundry. 

How did TAXI TUESDAY go? Do you really want to know? Well besides an additional run and squeezing some shopping in, I forgot that we are attending a BBQ tomorrow and are to bring our own meat. So 2 hours after my shopping trip James had to go again. To make TT perfect, it rained and I got wet a few times. 

surface of the day: 2 drawers in the kitchen, silverware and plates decluttered and cleaned

5 a day: 1 plate, a sippy cup lid, at least 20 random thins up in the attic, it might be time to bump up to 7 a day again,

11 MAGIC MINUTES

I did it. I bumped up daily working time to 2 hours and 12 min. It being Monday, the extra time was definitely needed. I simply added 1 min to every 10 min block. I figured this way I won't even notice. I really didn't. It's not much but if I do it on all 6 days it will get me 1 hour and 12 min more every week. If that doesn't do it I will either have to add another block (of 11 min) or bump it up to 12. Or go all out and do 15 blocks of 10 min each. Woah! That sounds horrible!
 Although on the other hand. Today I got 16 11 min blocks taken care of, so I guess I can handle it. As I did so well today I figured with it being Taxi Tuesday again tomorrow (no morning appointment can you believe it?) I might want to get some work out of the way. 

James has been at the office a lot lately . They are finishing up a project, and the deadline is looming over them. Actually, the deadline is past but now they have a little more time to fix things. It's getting kind of old that he is gone 12 hours or more a day. 

I think I need to get back to the surface of the day project. And really make it a SURFACE, not count random rooms I cleaned up. I will go clear the dresser top in the living room. That will also help with getting the living room off the left over room list at last!

surface of the day: fridge

5 a day: various forms of expired medication

I LOVE DESSERT

I love dessert and quite contrary to James I am fond of puddings and all kinds of creamy desserts. I assume this is why I thought these "bowls" were a must have when we got married. We put 8 of them (2 packages of 4) on our wedding list and got them. A decade later, after using 4 of them once (very inconvenient for ice cream) I got fed up with re stacking them in the basement for later use and posted them on my FB wall for free. Within minutes they found a new home! A home they deserve, where they can sparkle and bring joy to the people eating out of them. No more hiding in the dusty basement! What do they say?

If you love it, set it free!

HAPPILY WASTING AWAY

I will save the world another day. Today is about saving myself. Yes, I still try hard and recycle but I just refused to re-home or make use of a roughly 10 piece stack of post its that I found lying on the floor. The bottom one was gritty and the adhesive part full of sand and non-sticking by now. I know the rest were just fine, but I CAN NOT KEEP IT ALL! I have more post its that I will be able to use in this life's time, especially if I keep going at the current rate of 3-4/year. The only way to part with this hoard is to let go of things that seem useful to me and to refuse to be responsible for re-homing them.

surface of the day: kitchen counter

5 a day: 10 pack of greeting cards, tupper ware containers, photo album, can opener (all off to homes where they will be loved an cherished)

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

I am not quite sure what was wrong this week. One day I was down and crying, the next one I was happier than in a long time. I had a few moments that let me see the light. Some I have shared, some still await being told. Today was hard. Very hard. I felt unheard and unseen. Part was due to kids being kids, part was due to a simple misunderstanding because I misread an email. What do I have to show at the end of the day? 2 major breakdowns and my first ever flag cake. On day, I will celebrate my very personal independence day. When hoarder-me will be able to be happy and independent of all the clutter!

Thank you Nicole, for teaching me your cake tricks!

THE TOWERS OF DOOM

Oh my. What did I get myself into? It stall started with a call from my sister. She was worried about my Grandmothers furniture. Mind you, my Grandmother has passed a way a few years ago. She lived in a really small apartment and there was no room for her furniture. She was always very proud of them and and took good care of them for decades.Coming from a family of people who keep just about anything it was hard to believe that my Dad was willing to just give them up. Especially as he had kept all her other furniture. Well. Guess what. My Dad preferred to throw out his Mom's sturdy wardrobes because he wanted to keep 2 wobbly ones that he built himself about 30 years ago and that I think will fall apart soon enough. Granted they are in the basement and rarely ever get opened but still. 

So my sister and I started plotting. I was going to tell my parents that I wanted them, but unfortunately wasn't able to pick them up right away. As they needed to be moved out of the apartment ASAP they should store them for me in the basement until I was able to pick them up. We figured once the furniture was there, it would be incorporated with the rest of the basement hoard and I could just leave it there for eternity. Yup. That's how hoarding works. Well guess what. My Dad, who always whines about how far it is to my house and who can't be convinced to show up here more than once a year, packed up my Grandma's bedroom furniture and was at my house less than 20 hours after finding out that I wanted it. 2 wardrobes, 2 nightstands and half a bed. Yes. Half a bed. It was one of those really old beds, that can work as 2 single beds. Somehow the second half "went missing". James and I really considered using it for ourselves, but I was not willing to mix and match again. As there was only one bed I wasn't willing to do it.

The bed and nightstands went into the attic, the wardrobes into the garage. Well. After blocking 40% of my garage for months lying on their side as they were to high to fit in standing, they almost had disappeared under stuff I had piled on top of them. James and I finally decided to put them into our new guest room in the basement once it was finished. This room was far from done. So as a physical reminder to keep working on it, and to have them out of his garage, James put them in the corner of the living room. Right were Jack & Jill's dressers had been parked. 

What am I to tell you. They are still there. Threatening as ever.