Hey, hope everyone is well!
I'm going to be honest, the move is moving slower than expected. Between my knee acting up and work picking up, I haven't been able to move at the pace I wanted.
Another issue is the house in Greenwood. Richard's ex stepson lived with him to finish out the school year, and, well, left his old room an absolute wreck. Nothing is really salvagable, and so we have literally been taking huge trash bags and just throwing everything away. He moved out in May, and never came to get the rest of his stuff, so I don't see a point in hanging on to any of it. It's been a daunting task going through things, as we have to have both of the back bedrooms done by the end of this month. The other room is pretty much done, and after we dump everything that's in the closets, it will be ready to be inhabited. The other room, however, may require a hazmat suit to finish.
I guess I just don't understand how people can live in clutter. And I don't understand why people would just leave their clutter for someone else to deal with. Laziness? Lack of responsibility? Never held accountable for actions? I don't know, but I will be SO HAPPY when it is done, because we will never have to deal with that issue again!
The reason I say that is because a friend and former co-worker of mine reintroduced me to the FLY lady. Becca and I worked on a SubAcute unit for about a year together, and she always talked about following the rules of the FLY lady to help declutter her home, and would use some of the organizational stuff to help us have a system with the clients. It worked really well, and once I left the facility, I kind of forgot about it. About a week ago, she posted something on her Facebook, and I checked it out. It's amazing, and it's how I've decided I'm going to finish cleaning up the bedroom.
FLY lady stands for Finally Love Yourself. Her website is full of ideas to help you clean and declutter your home in small steps. The site is free to join, and you get several emails a day on various tricks and testimonials from other FLY members. It also has things about weight loss and everyday life. It's really neat, and I think an effective tool to help Richard and I not feel so overwhelmed about getting the rest of the house completed. It has come a long way from the beginning, but I can feel our motivation start to wane, because we have worked so hard to get the front of the house to look respectable. Once you get your home de-cluttered, there's several tips on how to keep the house picked up and not spend hours of your weekend doing it. Richard and I have started that (dishes right after dinner, sweeping nightly, etc.), and I think we enjoy being at home more because of it. I'll let you guys know how it goes. If anyone has any tips on house cleaning and decluttering, please share!
www.flylady.net
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wasted
As many of you know, I have been moving from Terre Haute to Greenwood. I took a few weeks off, and spent part of that time just going through stuff.
I have a lot of stuff.
It's not just a lot of one thing, like a lot of books, or clothes, or shoes. I have a lot of those things and more.
I have a few theories of how I have accumulated this stuff. One, I have lived in the same place for nearly 10 years. So I've had lots of time to add to my various collections and not really notice it. Secondly, I have lost a lot of weight, and have had to buy smaller clothes, and never really got rid of the bigger things simultaneously. Finally, I buy stuff when I'm stressed, unhappy, happy, etc. It used to be I would eat, but since my pouch (bariatric term for your post-op stomach) just doesn't hold what it used to, I turned from that to just getting stuff.
I would like to clarify that I'm not a hoarder. All of my stuff has a place, and I know where (mostly) everything is. I just had no idea how much I had accumulated, and how much of it is wasted.
That's right. Wasted. Waste of space, money, and so on. I have things that I swore would be a great purchase, and ended up being in the back of a closet or cupboard, never to be used. It boggles me how many boxes of clothes, shoes, food, and toiletries that I never even touched, and resulted in going bad, out of style, and out to the trash. Some of my friends have benefitted from the closet purge, and that's a great feeling that those clothes will be used again. But I was ashamed at the amount of things that went into the trash!
This has led me to have a new rule: I have to use what I have. No more of going to the store and buying an item to come home and realize it was hiding in the back of the fridge. I am keeping Richard and myself to go to the store once a week, and to only buy the amount of food that we will need for the week, and that's it. No more, no less. I have also really tried to pare down my clothes, as my closet space has diminished greatly. If it's my size and I hadn't worn it, it was out. Same with my makeup and toiletries. I had 5 BAGS full of makeup. I love cosmetics, but you can only wear so much makeup on your face at a time and not look like a clown. I still have enough makeup to where I won't need to buy eyeshadow or lipstick for a year.
Pretty much it's a need vs. want situation. If I want it because I'm in a blah mood, then I'm going to get myself back into this vicious cycle, and that's not an option for me.
To help with that, I have decided that whenever I successfully don't purchase something that's a want, that money will go into a jar. Once I get so much, I will either save it for the wedding, or do a splurge (like a massage, pedicure, etc.) I don't believe in depriving yourself, so if you do something nice for yourself when you reach your goal, it's worth it.
I believe that this Purge has been helpful. For one, it has helped me see how much progress I have made with my weight loss. I hesitate to use the term "success" since you have to have kept the weight off for five years to be considered a successful case in the bariatric world. It has helped me see how my mood affects me, both monitarily and space wise. It has also made me feel like I am de-cluttering a lot of things symbolically, as well. It's putting me in a better place mentally, which has been noticed by friends and co-workers, who have made comments that I just look and act like I'm happier. I'm sure being done with school has something to do with it, but every time I go to the apartment I look at the progress that has been made, and how this new stage of life is scary but exciting at the same time. I thought I would be a wreck moving out of the apartment, but it's been pretty smooth so far. I hope it stays that way.
Anyone else realize how much "waste" is in their life? How are you handling it? Sticking to your goals? How? I would love to hear your strategies/tips!
I have a lot of stuff.
It's not just a lot of one thing, like a lot of books, or clothes, or shoes. I have a lot of those things and more.
I have a few theories of how I have accumulated this stuff. One, I have lived in the same place for nearly 10 years. So I've had lots of time to add to my various collections and not really notice it. Secondly, I have lost a lot of weight, and have had to buy smaller clothes, and never really got rid of the bigger things simultaneously. Finally, I buy stuff when I'm stressed, unhappy, happy, etc. It used to be I would eat, but since my pouch (bariatric term for your post-op stomach) just doesn't hold what it used to, I turned from that to just getting stuff.
I would like to clarify that I'm not a hoarder. All of my stuff has a place, and I know where (mostly) everything is. I just had no idea how much I had accumulated, and how much of it is wasted.
That's right. Wasted. Waste of space, money, and so on. I have things that I swore would be a great purchase, and ended up being in the back of a closet or cupboard, never to be used. It boggles me how many boxes of clothes, shoes, food, and toiletries that I never even touched, and resulted in going bad, out of style, and out to the trash. Some of my friends have benefitted from the closet purge, and that's a great feeling that those clothes will be used again. But I was ashamed at the amount of things that went into the trash!
This has led me to have a new rule: I have to use what I have. No more of going to the store and buying an item to come home and realize it was hiding in the back of the fridge. I am keeping Richard and myself to go to the store once a week, and to only buy the amount of food that we will need for the week, and that's it. No more, no less. I have also really tried to pare down my clothes, as my closet space has diminished greatly. If it's my size and I hadn't worn it, it was out. Same with my makeup and toiletries. I had 5 BAGS full of makeup. I love cosmetics, but you can only wear so much makeup on your face at a time and not look like a clown. I still have enough makeup to where I won't need to buy eyeshadow or lipstick for a year.
Pretty much it's a need vs. want situation. If I want it because I'm in a blah mood, then I'm going to get myself back into this vicious cycle, and that's not an option for me.
To help with that, I have decided that whenever I successfully don't purchase something that's a want, that money will go into a jar. Once I get so much, I will either save it for the wedding, or do a splurge (like a massage, pedicure, etc.) I don't believe in depriving yourself, so if you do something nice for yourself when you reach your goal, it's worth it.
I believe that this Purge has been helpful. For one, it has helped me see how much progress I have made with my weight loss. I hesitate to use the term "success" since you have to have kept the weight off for five years to be considered a successful case in the bariatric world. It has helped me see how my mood affects me, both monitarily and space wise. It has also made me feel like I am de-cluttering a lot of things symbolically, as well. It's putting me in a better place mentally, which has been noticed by friends and co-workers, who have made comments that I just look and act like I'm happier. I'm sure being done with school has something to do with it, but every time I go to the apartment I look at the progress that has been made, and how this new stage of life is scary but exciting at the same time. I thought I would be a wreck moving out of the apartment, but it's been pretty smooth so far. I hope it stays that way.
Anyone else realize how much "waste" is in their life? How are you handling it? Sticking to your goals? How? I would love to hear your strategies/tips!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)