Last Few Days of 2008 Organization Challenge

[AmyBoz]

I want you to pause for a moment and look around your house. Is it the way you want it to be for the entire next year? Is this how you want to enter 2009? Is all of the holiday trash gone? Cardboard broken down, tied up, and outside, ready to be recycled? If so, then good for you. If not, I have a mini-challenge for you.

By 11:59 pm December 31st, 2008, I want you to have cleared out all of the clutter left over from the holidays so that you can be ready to start 2009, clutter-free.

Obviously, you can feel free to de-clutter some non-holiday clutter as well, but let's really work to get it all out so that we can start 2009 feeling a bit lighter and not so burdened by yet, another thing to do.

I've started this morning by taking trash bags around the house and picking up all of the little twist ties and plastic and small pieces of wrapping paper that escaped me on Christmas and in the days following. I've taken every toy out of its box, whether it is being played with at the moment or not, and broken down the cardboard and have it ready to be picked up tomorrow so that I don't have to do it later.

I have an empty grocery bag that I'm going to continue to walk around the house with today so that I can get rid of everything that could make me feel burdened in the new year.

Who is with me?

[ilovechocolate]

ME!!!

Today I'm packing away Christmas. I'm also catching up on laundry and loading up the van with some recycling to turn in. That will help free up some space in the garage.

[missyali]

Me, too! I am running to the post office later to unload some packages and then to the recycle bin to get rid of some of this cardboard. We are having a house full on New Year's Eve and we will need all the recycle space available with this crew

[MoonMommy]

I am with ya gal.
I have started with the holiday clutter. Most of it is in the garage ready for trash day. The decorations won't come done until after the new year, but I really need to take a day or two to go through a lot of my other clutter. As soon as Dh comes home tonight, I am going to hand him kid duty and get to work decluttering.
Thanks for the challenge.

[JanieD]

Yesterday was a great day to get my gift boxes packed up & into the attic. I talked DH into helping me go through the cardboard boxes up there from when we got a new whatever. We like to keep our boxes until the warranties expire, but sometimes the boxes stay a bit longer. We had a lot for the recycling bins. I also gathered the shipping boxes left over from when items arrived that got pushed into closets in case I could reuse them.

Now, if only decluttering my clothes & christmas decorations were that easy. I'm planning to work on those areas later in the week when I off work. I actually tried to start on those area Thanksgiving, but they still need a ton of work!

[champagnium]

I'm so glad I took a few minutes to have a peek in today. This is exactly what I'm doing!! I've been working away from home for the last 3 months and on the trips home I was more into time with my husband and dog and jsut BEING home and as a result things got a little out of control. From today until it's time to get ready to party New Year's eve I am cleaning out the clutter..organizing what I'm keeping, and making the most of the storage areas here in our little 2bdrm apt.

Thanks for the challenge!! I'm definitly in Wish I'd taken some before pics!! LOL

[Mom23boys]

I am with you! I have taken down some Christmas decorations and have them in a pile on my bedroom floor. I need to take them out to the shed and put them back in the storage tote they belong in. There are also some big cardboard boxes sitting by my front door that was waiting to go outside. I will break them down today and take them out. Sometimes I need that swift kick to get motivated. Thanks, Amy!

[monkeywrangler71]

I've been working on this for about a week, and the clock is quickly ticking down to that 23:59 12/31/08 deadline.

I have most of the Christmas gifts away, but still haven't put away the tree, etc. because I've been busy in the rest of the house. I'm heading to ikea this morning to get a new little table for the kids, and I'm setting up the back of the livingroom as a little work/learning area for them. Since that is where the tree is sitting right now, I will work on getting that area cleared up after they go to bed tonight.

I'm still working in my (flooded) messy basement, but think I may be able to finish that up today after we get back from ikea.

If I can get all that done today, then it's just tidying/dusting/vacuuming, freecycling, laundry, and a few little jobs left for the next two days.

Oh, I wanted to get the bottles returned this week, too. That will depend on the weather though, I'm not doing anything outside (they're in the garage) if it's snowing or freezing. It's a bit embarrassing though to open the garage as it is over a year's worth of bottles.

[madhen]

I'll jump in on this, as well. I decided to store my Christmas stuff upstairs this year, instead of down in the dogs' room, because it gets very dirty down there. So I have started clearing out an area upstairs, which has become a project in and of itself!! So by the end of the year, the Christmas clutter will be stored away neatly, AS will the clutter it is replacing (which is currently in boxes and piles in my hallway and study).

[stinkbug]

Dh helped me take down all the Christmas stuff yesterday. It's all in totes and on the patio ready to be taken to the shed. Dh has been cleaning the garage, so all the cardboard is broken down for recycle on Wed. as well as both tress ready to be set out for recycle on Wed. The only thing left for me is a good vacuuming around here. All the wrapping stuff is put away and the craft room has been organized. I have a couple of boxes in my trunk ready to drop off at the thift store.

[madhen]

I am breaking it down into two stages: get the Christmas stuff stored; then get the other displaced stuff put away/reorganized. It isn't terrible, just a bunch of boxes of stuff that need to be gone through and re-ordered.

Today, I have packed all the dishes. I now just need to go around the house and pick up all the Christmas paraphernalia (wow, I spread that stuff all over!) and corral it into another bag.

The tree is still up, because I'm still enjoying it. I'll save it for last.

[Jeanna]

I just got up and took down my Christmas tree. As you see I say I am sick on my emotion, well by the time I got done I was running a fever and about to pass out. I so hate getting sick. It seems as the years go by I get things easier and easier. I don't know if it has anything to do with the other health problems I have, but anyway I hate it. I will hopefully be better tomorrow and get more done.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

We are overrun with trash! Our trash picked up Christmas Eve and won't pick up again until Wed. I can't believe how much trash we have generated. We have burned a lot of boxes in the fireplace, but it is just crazy how fast it accumulates when you are dealing with so much new stuff. We are also sorting through the kids rooms and repainting and I am throwing away a lot of stuff from that too. I can't wait for pick up day on Wed!
Jennifer
My blog.

[McD]

I'm in!! I have all my Christmas decorations packed up, I just need to take them to the basement and put them out of the way down there. Then I have to get all of the Christmas toys reorganized.

I'll post back with my progress.

[madhen]

Paraphernalia corralled and stored!! Tonight and tomorrow, I need to go through all the other stuff that got pulled to make room for Christmas stuff and figure out what is essential, what is recyclable, and what is trash can fodder!