All the best to you !!

2006

will be the year all my photos are in albums

will be the year where I do the final decluttering of all my papers and organize a simple filing system where I can find things in seconds....

will be the year my storage area is totally decluttered and well laid out

will be the year I have days and days when I don't feel guilty about not organizing or decluttering something somewhere

amen.

Happy New Year!

January will be the month that I will weed through the kids' elementary school papers/piles (hopefully down to a binder or two) seeing as they are now in Middle School and High School.

This will be the year that I tackle one project at a time, start to finish -- then move on. I'll decide on the next project after the kids' papers are weeded.

Wish me luck!

I will start my small business and be selling my product before the year is over.

I will be ruthless when I get the garage back in order. This is one of those "I can't believe I have to reorganize again!" places. I will give away or throw away everything I don't need.

I will put anything that's worth storing in plastic totes instead of corrugated boxes and label them correctly.

I will go through my upper kitchen cabinets and put the momentos I have up there in my "must keep" plastic tote.

I will continue to go to the heath club on a regular basis as well as watch what I eat.

Walk for 15 min a day. (I need to start somewhere lol)

Purchase the shelves I need for my craft room so that I can get stuff up off the floor.

Gloria

I will de-clutter for 15 minutes EVERY weekday, taking 2 weeks off for vacation. I'll start with the main floor of our Cape Cod-style house, then move to the upstairs, then the basement and finally the garage. I really, really, CAN spare 15 minutes each weekday.

Even with taking weekends off, and the 10 days I've granted myself for a vacation, the 15-minute sessions add up to 62-1/2 hours. Just think how much I will accomplish if I stick with it! I think I'll take FlyLady's advice and give myself a sticker on my calendar for every day I do my 15 minutes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love your idea SadieSadie. I think I will follow it too!

Many thanks.

Happy New Year to all!!

Hmmm ...

- I will finish my remodel. All the painting, all the flooring, all the other little projects (install the GCFIs, replace some ceiling fixtures, etc.). And not purchase anything else for the house until the items I have already are in place.

- I will reduce my work time 10%. I risk serious burnout if I don't do this. And I have enough other worthy commitments for my time. 45-50 hours (plus prep time and commuting) on a regular basis should be enough. Continuous overtime should not be a substitute for poor management planning.

- I will be more active. I was for a while and then some other commitments I had got in the way. Okay, I let them get in the way. I have to become more active or I will be paying dearly for that down the line.

Next?

-I will continue to scale down (I started the new year right by taking a truck-load of stuff to Goodwill today!)

-I will continue to use Flylady's system

-I will go through all of the kids' stuff (I have boxes of their artwork and school stuff in the garage).

-I will keep my "hot spots" in check!

-I will have a master bedroom closet to be proud of!!!

Sheryl

I will go through the final 2 boxes of clothes. I'll also finish clearing out the recycling and returnables, so my DH can haul it to the big recycling bins. My DH has agreed to take out the recycling from now on every garbage day, so it doesn't pile up anymore. My part of the deal is that I have to have it ready for him. The recycling comes early in the morning and I'm usually up too late and miss it. We can't put garbage and recycling out the night before, because people tear everything apart looking for bottles or whatever, and then the crows spread it around.

Yeona

We have all put our goals in writing, so now we've made the big commitment!

I suggested a friend's wife try FlyLady yesterday. She said she had been watching "Mission Organization" on TV looking for ideas on how to organize her overwhelming house. She said she had the "Sink Reflections" book but hadn't tried it. I explained how the FlyLady system had helped me, so hopefully she'll give it a try.

I ,too,am going back to Flylady. I had been getting her emails but got bogged down and un-subscribed. I also bought her book Sink Reflections, read about half of it, then laid it down or put it away. Now it's lost. Like about a million other things. . . Anyway,I am going back.

Jannie,

You can re-read the Welcome Letter at the www.flylady.net site without re-subscribing. I generally delete all the FlyLady messages except the missions. I know what the reminders say so the subject line is enough to remind me, and I only read a few of the testimonials every week.

SO who is going to kick all of you in the behind if you don't complete these ambitious resolutions??!!

My resolutions:

To continue forward on organizing all closets (mine and DH's are well on their way.

To find our garage. My silly DH actually thinks you're supposed to park cars in there!! I am moving all the furniture in there down to my antique booth I have and DH plans to install some shelves. I'd love to get the garage systems Coleman has, but they add up.

To level a spot in our hilly yard so we can have a shed brought it. Right now there is nowhere flat enough. This is spendy though, so it may have to wait.

To loose the 10 pounds I gained this Fall.

To keep up on the junk on a daily basis so it never gets out of control. It is amazing how a few minutes each day can eliminate a disaster later.

Brenda

Brenda said, "To keep up on the junk on a daily basis so it never gets out of control. It is amazing how a few minutes each day can eliminate a disaster later."

This is where I'm going with the "Less is More" theme, trying to have less stuff to MAKE a disaster, LOL.

My husband drove me to the drug store this morning. He keeps encouraging me to buy 75% off Christmas wrap and knick knacks. He KNOWS I de-junked our Christmas stuff... what's he thinking?? I, of course, said NO (and reminded him the idea was to have LESS junk in the house forever, not replace it! ).

I have a few resolutions related to organizing/cleaning this year:

- Make the bed every morning (I've gotten away from this lately)
- Donate all the old aquariums in the storage room to charity (our local Zoo needs them)
- Donate all extra blankets to our local animal shelter
- Use the yarn in my "yarn closet" to crochet scrap afghans, hats, and scarves to be donated to the Women and Family shelter, and dog blankets to be sold at craft shows (cleaning out all that yarn I've been given by well meaning people, but don't really want because it's not colors or types I like)
- Clean out my closets again so that all remaining clothing fits and is worn on a regular basis, aside from a few nice dresses/suits for "dress occasions".
- Clean out the coat closet and donate to the fall coat drive
- Re-organize and maintain a funtional filing cabinet

Just little things that I always *say* I'm going to do, but never quite get around to...so they've made it onto my resolution list this year. :-)

OK, I'm going to aim small. This year we need to buy a bigger place, which means selling ours. So I'll be spending Jan. trying to get the place looking good enough to sell.

So, for the year:
-keep the DR table clear, and empty the crate of DR-table overflow EACH NIGHT.

-get all the bills electronified so they're automatic; and stay on top of paying any non-electronic ones.

-spend money on getting organizing systems set up in the new place--no more living with it just for a while.

I started this, but have the fewest resolutions! LOL

Good news: I said NO to my first request of 2006 to serve on a new committee! Hooray for me!!!

Yep, I'm into the "less is more" thing, too. I've been tossing like crazy lately! I have been feeling rather anxious and uptight lately...and once I started decluttering, I felt so much better.

I love the phrase, "Don't let any room get more than 15 minutes worth of messies." This is my main resolution, not to let any room get that out of control. It should only take 15 minutes to get it back in shape.

Sheryl

"Don't let any room get more than 15 minutes worth of messies."

Sheryl,
Thanks for the reminder! I think that's one reason it is so important for me to cut back on outside obligations this year--there are too many week nights I'm not home until bedtime. I do have two versions of my evening routine (one when I'm home, one when I'm not)so that helps me keep from getting totally frustrated.

"Don't let any room get more than 15 minutes worth of messies."

I'm going to have to point this out to my kids. (although 15 minutes is time enough to accomplish really quite a lot!)

Talley Sue,

I find it also helps to mention to the kids that they can do a lot in 15 minutes IF THEY WORK FAST. I have one kid who will spend the entire 15 minutes sitting on his bed sulking. He's easily overwhelmed by small tasks that look big, and would often rather whine about how long it's going to take to do ____ instead of just doing it and getting it over with.

Julie, I keep telling them this--Mine won't sulk--they'll wander around with one thing in their hands and whine.

I've been trying to get my son to "do a dozen" in a time frame--grab 12 things, throw them in the laundry basket (so they're corralled off from the rest of the mess), and see how many you can put away in 5 minutes. Frankly, 3 minutes is enough, usually.

Talley Sue,
I did exactly what you said when he was younger... but he's almost 15 and has that moody "teen" attitude now and mama has less patience.

I'm trying to convince him to trade out his double dresser (a major eye sore) for a tall chest of drawers (less room on top for things that don't get put away).

My kids are 14 & 16. The 14 year old has become a neat freak who can't stand clutter and disorganization(a HUGE change from when she was a messy queen at until age 11 or 12). But the 16 year old will spend 15 minutes complaining and making excuses and saying some of this is her sisters (She'll find one scrap of paper under her huge pile of junk, and go on and on and on about it - no kidding). Meanwhile, it would have taken 2 minutes to take the pile upstairs to her room. I just get worn out fighting with her.

Progress report:

This past week I declined serving on another committee, and declined extending another committee for 3 more years.

Hooray for me!

I also went to a church committee meeting Thursday night after work (that had been confirmed the day before) and found out it had been postponed that day via email. There's only 8 of us... couldn't someone have called? Church meeting or not, I was so aggravated I also declined the make-up meeting this coming Thursday. The committee has a standing date of 1st Thursday of every month, and NO I'M NOT FLEXIBLE just because the wishy-washy chairman gets a better offer! (I should also confess to cussing in the church parking lot as I left, LOL)