fluttering qualms, learning lots and getting confused Options

[bikerbooker3]

I’m still having trouble with my desk, as I have shared many times before on this site. I have a huge old desk which I love, but which provides lots of piling space on top, and clutter seems to accumulate there. No one else uses this desk, so I have decided it must be me doing all the stacking! Lately, though, I have started to do a little bit every time I’m near that desk.

As my computer boots up, I take the little stack I place on the pull out flat space for writing, and start filing. Amazing how a little bit of filing clears a stack quickly. This is not a tall stack; it just represents things I’m not sure what to do with and things I don't take time to file right away, like paid bills. I mark the bill paid and date and any details, and throw it in that pile. (The unpaid bills were in another pile elsewhere on the desk! So the filing pile stays smaller now, and I am further encouraged to figure out a place for the ones I don' know what to do with. Also, I am once again using the only method I have discovered that really helps to keep my desk clean - my four action files for things I need to do something with. These are in my bottom right desk drawer, rather than on top of my desk scattered around. There was a time when bills and even checks got lost for a month or two on that desktop and went late or uncashed. Fees were charged in some cases due to my disorganization. It cost me money and time and frustration, that messy desk. I tried files on top of my desk in a stacker tray, but once things were in there, I never looked again. Just a neater way to lose stuff. Finally I tried putting it in that deep drawer to my right and that worked. It was off my desk, so was the tray, and I was looking at a little more empty space on top. I liked that, and I liked pulling that drawer open to see what I had to do. I have four files there - holding files sort of. One is PAY - bills I need to pay. I usually pay them pretty quickly now, whenever I get to my desk. Unlike before! Another is marked ACT - these are things I need to follow up on. Two in that file now are bills I have questions about - refunds not showing up, a credit card that requires contacting all my contacts to list a new card. I just did that when I had my purse stolen last month, and don't much want to do it again. I wonder why they sent me a new one after I just got one. So I need to call. Another to call invoice, and a couple of invoices for things I’m waiting on to arrive. Once they do, the paper will be pulled and shredded - actually burned. I wore out my shredder and don't want to buy another one to wear out. Third file is PENDING. I really like this one - actually that's where I put things I’m waiting on to arrive, and events I’m waiting on to occur. Directions to houses, instructions for something I need to do later, etc. And the final one is READ. I don't use this one too much as I never get around to reading them. Usually much later I discover them there and throw them away. That’s a confession, and a sign I shouldn't be keeping them in the first place.

The best thing about this system is that it keeps all these things off my desk, makes them much easier to find, and gives me a procedure to follow when I’m at the desk. Pay, act, and check pending.

So my desk is a little cleaner. Also, since I sold one file cabinet, I have reorganized a little bit in what I’m storing in the file cabinet. I’m looking for places to keep active things, like materials I need to take to a regular class I’m teaching on the constitution. It’s easy to keep those things together, and then I just need to pick them up to work on them, or to go to class. some of those things tend to land on my desk when I come home tired, and having them all together makes that less likely to happen. So that makes my desk a little cleaner still.

I still have lots of electronic stuff on my desk - computer, keyboard, mouse, phone, lamp, adding machine, speaker for computer, backup disk for computer, a wooden file box my husband made for me and which I don't use, but it makes me happy when I see it. A box of photos and a presentation that I have done in the past about starting plants from cuttings. I don't know where to put that, so it stays there for now. I probably should throw it away, but I haven’t gotten the courage to do that yet. I have a box of gum on the desk. It helps keep me from snacking. It shouldn’t be on top the desk, though. Usually a few pens and pencils which I occasionally gather and put away in the lap drawer. And a couple of pictures of my grandkids and one of my son and daughter in law and grandson. There are still usually a few stray papers that need to be dealt with, but I try to do those as the computer boots up or when I sit down. Thinking about using my wait time as organization time has helped a little more. I feel more organized and clear-headed when I sit down to a clean desk, and I get more done.

I learned from flylady that if my deep storage is crammed, things get out of control, primarily because there's no place to put things I need to use. In the office, that means files and cabinet space. So when I am in my file cabinet, filing, I try to thin out papers so that the drawer stays easy to use. A crammed file drawer is not fun to file in! For example, my telephone company file was full of about a year's worth of records, so I thinned that down to a month or two. I was keeping them because I have reduced our services twice this past year, and wanted to see how much the bill had gone down. I’ve done that, so I cut down the paper. Also cell phone file. Some things you have to keep, like home records, and tax records, but those are pulled out annually (except the home expense records because I need them when someday we sell the house to determine profit from the sale for taxes and capital gains. I try not to save things like pet bills but old habits die hard. I have taken out several files that I really don't need to keep. But filing things away has helped me substantially in the past, when I jot down something someone promised on the phone, and it doesn't come to pass. I can quote them and the date they said it. I can look up whether they removed that service as requested, etc. It all takes time, but it's worth that when I can tell them details about the conversation. Especially if I jot down the name of the person I talked to.

So - keeping files is important, but only if you can find them when you need them. And discarding files is important, too, so you have enough room to file new things. Otherwise you'll have to buy a new file cabinet every year, and build a room on your house to hold them. Garbage in, garbage out, just like on the computer.

I guess all this is paper clutter issues. I am more likely to consider it organization issues. Its information I sometimes need. Proof of payment, etc. Eventually it does become clutter, though, and then it has to go.

I hope this helps somebody. I’m sleepy and need to go to bed so I can enjoy church tomorrow.

God bless.

Tomorrow I want to share about my Christmas job I took, and how it's affecting my home.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

i like this new forum! thanks flylady!

the thing i've had on my mind the most recently - for months now - is our finances. we finished paying a very large assessment on our condo last july. it took 9 months of pinching pennies without diving into our savings and generally worrying if we could make it thru to the end without adding to our debt. i am proud to say we did. big relief.

however, once that was over, it was easy to see that we had a backlog of things we needed to do financially. dental work - very expensive - that had been put off, plus some work on our cars. once the school year started, DH began to substitute at school and that brought in some income. I needed three crowns in my teeth - replacement for old fillings. my mouth hurt a lot so i knew it was time. i started looking for work - found a christmas job at a local womens' clothing store. i knew the job had a finish date, and that was good, because i didn't have a long-term commitment. i wasn't sure how i could handle it physically, so that was important to me. also, a selfish motive was that i had let my clothing dwindle down to t shirts and jeans. i had very few things for dressing up and it was time to change that. i figured that hanging out at a clothing store would give me tips for beefing up my wardrobe, and it sure has. best of all, i get a 50% discount.

we had reduced some bills again AFTER the assessment was paid, so i was seeing a surplus in our checking account every month. i immediately increased our payments to our equity loan by $100 per month, and increased our deposit to savings by $150 per month. That made us both feel good. our equity loan is primarily the house that we bought to rehab, and our renter is supposed to buy that home if he can by december of this year. if that happens, the only balance left on our equity loan will be the used car we bought earlier this year. DH says he wants to get out of debt, and i agree. so we decided to put every penny of our part time job salaries on that debt. last month we doubled our payment to the equity loan, in addition to the extra $100 we were already putting on it. it will still be slow progress, but at least it will be faster than before. the interest fee will be much less without the house debt, and it will go even faster because of that.


other than reducing our costs for telephone, cell phones, and satellite tv, we also decided to lower the temperature on our hot water heater. we turned the dishwasher to heat up the water before it runs so that we don't have to keep 80 gallons of water heated constantly just to run the dishwasher every day. the only other place we need hot water is in the shower. all my laundry is done in cold water and has been for several years. as the hot water heater is our biggest electrical expense other than our geothermal furnace, we figure it will save on electric bills. anything that brings minimal pain and savings is up for discussion in this house, including turning down the temperature!

the prospect of $4.00 gas and world market crashes is pushing us to get out of debt. if we don't, we won't live long enough to do it!

everyone's situation is different, but we all would benefit by not paying the bank hundreds of dollars every month for interest - or worse, credit cards! think what you could do with that money - retirement, college, donations. what is your motivation to get out of debt? are you willing to make some small sacrifices to get there?

god bless.



bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

i am proud to report some consistency in my desk! that's been the hardest point for me in the house. and now, i have a dark brown desk!!!! before it was hard to tell. LOL. the file pile is down to 3 or 4 things i still haven't figured out to do, and i consistently file the things i finish with. i have found places for all but one large item still on my desk. i keep up with my pending and pay and action files. still ignoring the read folder.

also saturday i spent a few hours in my sewing area (same room!) finishing a big project that had been laying out for a couple of months. all the items being used for that project were also put away, and i did the beginning steps on three sets of napkins im intendng to make. washed and pressed the fabric, cut one pice into sixteen pieces of fabric which will be embroidered and put together back to back and roll hemmed to make some beautiful printed fabric napkins. i have two more pieces of fabric to make into napkins as well. havent used paper napkins for two years, and i need to have some nice napkins for company. they're kind of fun to make, and especially to monogram.

this morning i dug a bunch of fresh veggies from the frig and some chicken thighs and cut them all up and put them in the crock pot. also some leftover rice. im calling it minnestrone! it's starting to smell good and im feeling a little superior today. plan to wipe out the frig where i've emptied some places, then make up a grocery list. having company for dinner thurs evening, and need to figure out what to fix for that. right now im resting - but a load of laundry is ready to reboot, and i need to go.

im thinking about all of this. am i getting better at the basic routines? little bit every day. ive been wtih flylady for three years i think, and some habits are part of me now. some i still struggle with. but i can tell you that this house and DH and I are much better for flylady. friday night we were expecting 6 friends for dinner. i had forgotten that i had to work 12=-5 that day (still not used to this christmas job) and decided to make taco soup in the crock pot. did it that morning and had all the toppings ready to use. DH got a little frantic saying we need to clean the house! i said the housse is clean - relax. he said but yesterday you said you wanted to clean the house and got interrupted. i said yes, but all i was going to do was run the dust mop - the house is good enough. he relaxed too. he ended up going outside and sweeping the leaves off the deck. frustrated housecleaning i guess.

we used to do that when someone was coming - have things to put away, delayed cleaning to finish before starting on stuff for the guests. no more. i enjoyed the evening, coming home 30 minutes before the guests arrived, dinner mostly ready and house sparkling. what a great feeling.

so the desk and the soup today represent a better handling of the food i have on hand, and keeping a desk rather than cleaning a desk. flylady says housekeeping is lots better than house cleaning. i agree.

what are you doing today?

god bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

have you ever made the mistake of pulling the drain stopper out of your bathroom sink? this week i did, accidentally while doing my S&S. cloth caught on the stopper and pulled it out. on the white part that protrudes down the drain was a coating of black gunk, probably mold or mildew. it was ugly. having seen that stuff before, i knew the best way to clean it was to run it through the dishwasher. so out to the kitchen i went.

arriving back at the bathroom sink, i looked down the drain to see what was there. there i saw white globs of stuff stuck to the sides and various spots around the drain. hmmm. now what. certainly notng to use my bottle brush on that. something made me think of baking soda. i have a box in the bathroom i use for cleaning the toilet occasionally, so though, well it certainly won't hurt anything. i poured some down the drain - a healthy clump - and started running hot water down the drain. i ran it a few seconds and looked down the drain. SPOTLESS! no effort whatsoever. i assume the white clumps were collections of soap coating the walls of the drain, and apparently the basic soda dissolved the acidic soap. just a theory. you can tell im no scientist.

baking soda and vinegar are my favorite cleaners for lots of things. and they are CHEAP!!!!

God bless

bikerbooker

[Looking for Peac...]

Hi BikerBooker. I read your thread occasionally. I'm envious of your desk! Mine is in the master bedroom and it's a big mess right now. I miss getting to work at my desk. Right now my desk is serving as a big flat shelf for lots of stuff that does not belong there. It's the room that has been neglected the most, but it's my zone for the week so I'm determined to restore some order there. Keep up the good work!

~LFP

[bikerbooker2]

thanks LFP! it's not perfect, but there is a definite improvement the last month or so. im filing things faster. im putting things away better. and im using my four file system! that helps keep the desk top clean too. right now i have on my desktop - some coupons that are still good till dec 31, a dvd i want to list for sale on amazon, a couple of pictures of grandkids and daughter to want to put up on the wall behind my desk, another coupon (need to get rid of these!), a couple of plastic boxes with stuff in them i still haven't found a home for, another dvd to sell, --- on second thought it's not very clean, but it actually is free of all the "papers on hold" i was waiting to do something with, like bills to pay, letters to respond to, etc. or most.

guess i was bragging too soon. going to list those dvds NOW! and put up those pictures.

god bless

bikerbooker

ps - mine would be much worse if it was in the bedroom!

[bikerbooker2]

my grandkids are visiting the last couple of days. today we return them to their parents, and i am washing their clothes and putting away the air mattresses from their rooms. i want to have it neat and tidy before we leave. and their clothes ready to put away when they get home. and all their things gathered together so we don't leave anything. DH is helping them make a couple of Christmas ornaments to take home, so im free for the moment and writing these notes.

hope everyone has a Merry and Blessed Christmas, or Hanukkah, or whatever season you celebrate this time of year. i am lightening my loadand enjoying it much more.

god bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

Hi there! The holidays are over and things are returning to normal. so the other day when i walked into my office/sewing room, i was a little surprised. Suddenly i saw it with new eyes. A little history first: I have been slowly working on this room for a couple of years. it has been my most difficult room. I have removed a tall bookcase, a big horizontal file cabinet, some storage boxed around the room, etc. Also, I have been fighting clutter on my desk and sewing areas for a very long time. As i looked around, I saw about three sewing projects scattered around the machine and cutting table. Some leftover wrapping paper and supplies. Stuff laying on the file cabinet, briefcases and bags sitting on the floor, yoga mats (2) stuffed in a corner (we took a couple of classes maybe two years ago!), a camera i no longer want and cannot sell, binoculars, blister pack envelopes in two boxes sitting on the floor by the file cabinet, the kitty litter box, wood for the stove, a recycling wastebasket and a "burn" shopping bag for items with personal info on them, three storage boxes on top of the tall wardrobe type cabinet which i use for sewing supplies, and stuff gathered on top of the metal frame, plastic drawers i use for my quilt fabric stash.

after all the work i've done in this room, it's still a mess. The desk itself is better, but still has things on it that don't have a home and i am forever having to move things to be able to use the keyboard.

i have been kidding myself, or as flylady says, i didn't see it anymore. i was embarrassed. i certainly see the clutter in DH's garage when it's there. Mine - nope!

I had two hours before i was due to start a teaching day with private students, so i dug in. i put away the projects, stuff on the sewing table around the machines, and took a look at what was in the boxes on top of the cabinet. All stabilizers for embroidery. Where could i put them out of sight? Opened the sewing cabinet, and at the top of the closet area is a long shelf. I removed, discarded most of the things there, and moved the boxes to that shelf. two areas improved. i removed the extraneous stuff from the cutting table, and left the one project there. the sewing area was better, but a long way to go. I had to leave to get to work, but i promised myself things were going to change.

When i got home that day, I told DH i was planning to make major changes and sell more stuff to eliminate things we don't need/use. we are trying to cut down our debt, and selling things is a great way to reduce that without cutting further into our budget. Apparently he got the bug and started looking for things he could sell from the garage or other places. We still haven't listed the backpackers' tent that we decided to sell before christmas. Of course, it landed in my office waiting to be photographed and listed. After supper, DH informed me he was willing to sell one of his saws that he uses the least, a miter saw, and his very large air compressor (he can get a small one to replace it), his too-large workbench, a set of antique brace and bits, and a few other small things. He photographed them and i listed them all the next day, plus a stack of books i had eliminated from the sewing room/office. Within a few hours, i had sold three books and the brace and bit set at $200! wow. big chunk on the loan in a short time.

I plan to finish the remaining project for my daughter today, mail the items sold, and work further on that room. I will keep you posted on my progrees!

What area bugs you the most?

god bless!

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

update - bulletin - news flash - all the news that's fit to print!

MY SEWING DESK IS CLEAN!!!!!!! the projects are DONE. The leftover supplies are PUT AWAY. it is a CLEAN SLATE.

Desk is better than before. i put a box of materials away in a drawer. I threw away some things, filed some things, and listed some things for sale that now have a home in a plastic box that i use to keep track of books, etc, which are listed for sale. Sold four already - in about two days - and mailed all but one which will go out monday. Still have a few items in the file pile (i know - it should be a folder in my desk!) but i haven't decided where to put those items yet. need to file them but can't determine where that should be yet.

my CUTTING TABLE is CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no piles of extraneous stuff there. a little bit of fabric left over from the project i just completed for my daughter in law this evening. might use it to make some cording for the pillow i just finished for her - has her children's initials on it - each initial loaded on a train car that looks like a circus train. very colorful. hope she likes it. we are going up to babysit on tuesday and i want to finish it by then. it's all done except for hemming the cover onto the pillow. cut out and pinned ready to go.

i listed four of DH"s treasures on ebay four days ago and already sold one. another has a hot buyer right now - he just asked a question and sounded very happy with the answer, so that one will probably sell. I hope the other two do as well. that will open up substantial room in the garage for DH - room for a workbench that's narrower and easier to use.

my desk right now has a pamphlet i need to put away, a coupon i may use to finish a project, two pencil sharpeners (who needs TWO?) one's going to DH's desk. Two remote controls which should be in the drawer, a paper punch, a photo, a stapler that belongs in the drawer, my mp3 which is charged but not put into my purse, an address for a lady whose husband just went into hospice and who i want to send a card to, a notebook, book that need to be filed, my spent flylady calendars which i don't know what to do with but i want to keep, some embroidery designs i want to do, and a piece of scrap paper with items of embroidery that i want to put on some sweatshirt jackets i plan to make. Another project that i bought some time ago and never completed. They're still good ideas - i just need to do them.

still have the yoga mats, an extra small tv we moved out of the bedroom - need to give it to recycling - these sitting on the floor, some boxes folded up - think DH movd them out of the pantry when he cleaned it yesterday. some blister pack envelopes in a dispenser box that i use to mail books and cds and dvds when they sell (these can NOW fit in my cabinet since i've cleaned some of those shelves of non-essentials.)

in other words - it's better. but still a long way to go. I can attest that it's a more pleasant place to be already. DH said the sewing desk looked much better. High praise.

I am happy to have made progress in a couple of days. Also made some money! Can't beat that.

God bless!!!!!

bikerbooker

[GoSalGo]

Hi bikerbooker, I was just catching up with your thread. Go you!!! For clearing your desk and your cutting table. I was thinking about what you said about taking a fresh look - that you don't notice the clutter so much when you see it every day.

You have inspired me to get going again with my own home office. It's better than it was (ie you can tell what colour the floor is - bit like your desk!). On the other hand, there are a lot of random boxes, random piles of paper, and general "stuff" lying around on the floor and the surfaces. Also it is out of order because I moved things when the window cleaner came on 20 Dec and haven't put back *hangs head in shame* I will start to tackle it!

sal x

[bikerbooker2]

Thanks sal! or Go Sal Go!!!!

how did you know i couldn't see the color of my desk? my random "Stuff" is laying around too, all postponed decisions i think. don't know where to put it? set it HERE and fix it later. Later never comes!

I am still admiring my sewing table and cutting table. they are so neat - not perfect but soooooooooooooooo much better. makes me want to sew. and the desk looks a little better each day.

i finished another sewing project today - the pillow for my DDIL. taking it to her wednesday. Hope she likes it.

Sold two more books and they are at the launching pad for tomorrow to go to the post office.
The garage items won't be finished with their auction for 3-4 more days, so don't know if they will sell or not.

made several extra payments on the loan again this month, all different amounts. i feel great every time i send something in to pay on it.

next goal is to list backpackers tent and deliver tv to recycling. that will be two more items out of this room. meanwhile - i want to start another sewing project. a set of towels i've had for a couple of years in my sewing cabinet was purchased to embroider. finishing that task will do two things: give me more towels for my main bathroom, and remove that set of towels from my crammed sewing cabinet.

so - sal: what did you get done today? That window cleaner (hangs head in shame) was your inspiration. now you can have clean windows AND a clean room!

keep me posted on your progress sweetie!

and God bless.

Bikerbooker

[GoSalGo]

Hi there!

I have been out and about, and then struggling with some computer issues so I am about to turn the darn thing off and see if that fixes it Going for low-tech solutions!

So I haven't put back my room yet - still aiming to get it done soon but I have been focusing on de-cluttering in the kitchen which is technically the zone of the week. It is hard! I have got rid of quite a lot of stuff though, and DD20 came over today and took a whole set of pots and pans, plus a George Forman electric grill - woo hoo!

It sounds like you guys have done so well with paying down your debts! I guess it does kind of snowball (in a good way ) once you start paying off more and more. Plus selling things too - double benefit!

Sal

[bikerbooker3]

Sal - turning the thing off is a low tech solution that works occasionally, and i agree is very satisfying too. Running a disk clean and defragmenter regularly helps too. On a PC, you go to all programs, then accessories, then system tool and click on either disk clean or disk degragmenter and they will run and keep your computer free of extra stuff you don't need, and straighten up the files so it's easier for the computer to find them - ergo FASTER. Sort of like decluttering your desk. As if i know how that works.


Congratulations on decluttering your kitchen. sounds like you are really accomplishing a lot. It's almost addictive, isn't it? Everything works so much better when you have more room to put things. They get put away more often. Your DD was blessed, and so were you!

We have a long way to go on our debt, but it is moving quickly right now, and at our age, we need to get out of as much as possible. It just feels great to be starting. We have already reduced the loan by about $3000 in 3 months. that's so much more than we were doing, and i keep checking the balance constantly to admire it!

one tip: put your room back to order before starting on another. otherwise, you'll have a partially done house and things out of place all over. you can't appreciate what you've done until you finish that part. Then when you get discouraged one day on the kitchen, you can visit your room to see what the kitchen will look like when it's finished! So put everything back in that area every time you do it. That way progress is obvious, and progress begets progress.

Take it from a senior citizen who took many years to learn that herself.

God bless. and GO SAL GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

Hi gang! I'm looking out the window at a mix of ice and snow we got last night, wondering how my 1 hr trip will be today. hopeful it will be clear by then.

an update: my desk is continuing to improve. I am filing most often every day i pay bills, answer mail, etc. im collecting anything for taxes in a folder in my desk this year, instead of in an accordion file that stays on my desk for three months. DH and I helped our DBIL add up his deductions last night and that got me ready to pull records from my files and get them ready for doing the details for our accountant. so im ahead of where i usually am at this point. my desk is staying cleaner than ever before. still not P....... of course.

I started working on another area this past month or two without even realizing i was doing it. Menu planning when i have done it has worked beautifully. saves me money at the store, we have much better meals and more interesting ones (because i plan ahead and have everything i need). what's not to like?

I bought a couple of new cookbooks early december, primarily because im trying to improve my diet, reduce carbs, and lose weight. i liked one so much i ordered two more for DD and DDIL. after christmas holidays, i started looking for recipes to try, i put down on my shopping list what i needed for those, and had to write down which recipes i was planning for so i wouldn't forget what i bought those things for! also, just before christmas i bought a pressure cooker on craigs list, and have been using that to make recipes that take a long time to make and i don't have time to do it. im tutoring students in the afternoon sometimes, and that brings me home too late to cook something that takes hours. also, we bought a small freezer to save money on groceries and i have more selections on hand, and more space to store the things we commonly use. I can buy those on sale, and actually started doing that even before the freezer arrived. I admit my refrigerator freezer was crammed when it finally arrived! now i have a freezer with a few lonely items there.

so all those things gently moved me into menu planning. last night we had a chili that was awesome! a mixture of cubed beef and hamburger, no beans, tomatoes, green peppers, and some hot peppers, including some from our garden this summer (dried) and one ancho chili i bought at the store. My husband said it had some bite. (his word for spice!) he loved it, and it sure smelled good when we got home. I had it in a slow oven while we were gone to BIL's doing taxes. we've had more fish this week than usual (salmon patties, cod, and salmon salad!). all were delicious and healthy.

can't say what the financial benefits have been, but i spent about 200 at the grocery for these items which covered almost two weeks (we're leaving town next week for five days and i bought meals for that trip too.)

I was sold already on menu planning, but i just didn't do it. my cooking is improving every time i do this - search out recipes and plan ahead. Im learning a lot about cooking by trying new recipes. after 50 years of cooking, i know - it ought to be. and it is!

god bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker3]

DESK REPORT

we are enjoying a much needed rest in west virginia, and i am proud to report that my desk at home is totally FREE of paper. that's probably a first in ten years. i am ashamed to report that DH helped me finish it. i was very busy doing bills and details at the computer before we left, and DH came by to see how i was doing. i said you could help me! and he filed the last few things on the desk. all it took was making some decisions as to where to put them and making a file and putting them there! presto! NO PAPER! of course, i've been working on this for a since Christmas a little at a time. btw - i didn't say the desk is EMPTY. only empty OF PAPER. still some objects there that i need to make decisions about. Most are electronic devices, speakers, cords, phone, adding machine, backup drives, etc. all computer and finance stuff. i wish i could accomplish a nice clean desk, but i may not be able to with all that equipment. maybe i can move the big speaker under the desk, which would allow me to move my computer farther back and open up some writing space in front. That would make it seem larger, which is why i love the desk in the first place.

i have a check coming for 62.75 for books. pretty amazing. a few books crowding my bookshelf that i never use. turned into cash. just takes a little effort, a few items at a time.

for our trip to WV, i actually bought stuff last week per my menu created at lunch in town one day. so far in WV, we've had leftover chili, frozen for the trip, turkey salad with grapes, onions, and celery. (turkey frozen from thanksgiving turkey!) grapes bought for the menu. still left - another soup frozen as leftover, and a chicken breast still thawing in the frig. it was easy to pack the food this time, mostly because decisions had been made already. i forgot one package of meat in the freezer and something else, but we sure haven't starved. it's been very relaxing and healthy food. when we eat out here, it's very expensive, and usually too much salt and fat for me. i don't feel well after that. i don't mind spending a little more for special times, but only salads seem to keep me out of the salt problem.

one more thing: i have made i think four sewing projects in last two weeks. i have another ready to go, fabrics selected for quilting onto a sweatshirt jacket. i've had that one waiting for maybe two years in my sewing room. two years. what does it say when things sit for years unused in my space? it means i buy too much stuff!

God bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

This week and last I picked up four more tutoring students, which will give me about 15 hours per week plus travel and prep time. about half time i would guess. that's a stretch for me, as i haven't worked that much for years. it is keeping me on my toes mentally and physically, and improving our income. my husband has increased his hours as a substitute teacher as well, and i noticed how much difference it made over the holidays. incomes dropped substantially, and not much extra was left over to put on the loan, only about 300 dollars above the normal payment. still something, and shows our commitment to doing that out of our regular retirement income. But i sure liked seeing the balance go down more than that. work is picking up again, so will be back to larger amounts.

today i am actually putting away papers i just dealt with NOW! not six weeks later!!!! as my young friend says, WOO HOO!!! so THIS is how it's supposed to work! hmmm.

my sewing tables have a project on them which i should have put away last time i worked on it. i thought i would get back to it the next day, and you can guess how that went. so every time i looked over there, a little bit of guilt creeped into my day. im going to work on it today and PUT IT AWAY when I stop.

my new students range from kindergartner to sixth grade. They sure are cute. Im used to 16-25 year olds who have opinions usually not like mine! The other day the Kindergartner said "Bye Tootuh!" It sure was cute, especially with four teeth missing in front!

God bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

Since i've started tutoring four students four days per week, my time has been crunched. Not used to working that much, especially four days per week. It's not full time, but adds up to 12 hrs per week, plus 7 hrs travel time, plus another 3-4 hours of desk time for planning, preparation, and reports. that is a half-time job. So my routines are having to change right now. I've not been able to do a load of laundry in the mornings before i leave, so i do one later in the afternoon, but not always. Sometimes i'm tired when i come home, and sometimes i'm rushed to get dinner on. So often i do laundry on saturday or friday when i don't work. I don't like it as well.

I also noticed my desk started piuling up again, due to dropping things there to wait till "later". Eventually i caught myself and consciously tried to put things away rather than drop them. It's back again to semi-neat. That's good for me.

of course, it didn't help that i was in the middle of taxes at the same time. We were trying to do our taxes ourselves this year to save the several hundred dollars for a CPA to do it, as we've done for quite a few years. DH and i spent hours trying to get it together. We did manage to collect and sort all the necessary items, and start to try to decipher them. We had to stop one evening because we needed to go somewhere, so it sat on the desk for a couple of days. I got back to it one day when DH was substituting at the local vocational school, and i quickly discovered some things in our previous tax form that i didn't even have a clue how to do. There was no way i could do this return with a computer tax program. I told DH when he got home and he agreed. We put the report together and he dropped it off at the CPA's last saturday. One huge chore off my list!!!!! and a big bill too, but worth it, in my book.

Our onslaught on our debt is going well. We are putting all our extra salary on the debts - two to be exact, both mortgages. We decided to keep doing the same payments we've been doing, and to split the paychecks half on each loan. These will not be paid off soon, but every payment reduces the interest on the loan, and puts more on the principal. Those totals are going down by about a thousand extra per month. We can't always do that, but will do it as much as we can.

I continue to declutter = every month we take a big box of things to Good will, and we are still selling items on amazon and ebay. It's hard to imagine that i've been doing these things for over five years, and still have things to declutter. How many things do i have in this house that i don't need or use? it must've been thousands to date that left this house. I don't miss any of them. Not one. and how many more are here? probably thousands more.

scary thought, isn't it?

god bless.

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

ok - so i got off track. I've been blaming it on working more hours and traveling as many hours as I'm working. Not so. I've also had a virus - or several - in my computer which gradually sucked all the life out of the most frequent emailers i communicate with. One of those is flylady, which i just realized. I haven't been receiving those emails that keep me on track. No i don't always read them. sometimes my days are really packed, and those days i delete them. But most days I do read them. sometimes all they accomplish is to make me feel guilty that i haven't done it "all" (anyone want to say perfect?) Other days one of those items hits me right between the eyes enough that i get out of my chair and go do that thing right then. That leads to getting back on track. summary: without the emails I get off track. Pretty simple, isn't it?

I got the computers fixed last week, with many hours of removing programs, running anti virus, reinstalling antivirus, backing up the data, etc. then i hired a tech to come and erase the hard drive. he didn't have to - he just ran an antivirus that actually worked. I tried to save money by using a cheaper program, and only cost myself more. I also learned that Microsoft now offers a free anti-virus program called Microsoft security something. you can download it free at the Microsoft download page.

Today i am getting a cold and am recuperating from a trip three hours away yesterday to see my grandkids and visit the doctor there. I am tired today, so am resting. I need to get some seeds in the garden, but am sitting here relaxing.

My DD and I agreed yesterday to meet and her house and mine each week to share in chores that might be too much for one of us, or just something we avoid doing because it's a big job. We both plan to get some exercise that way, and perhaps lose weight. Our houses and yards might look better too! i am looking forward to visiting with her while we accomplish something together. Will let you know how it goes.

God bless

bikerbooker2

[bikerbooker2]

Hello all. Hope your desk is clean. Mine isn't. SIGH.

went to the doctor last week. He recommended some tests, which i did, changed a medication, which has helped somewhat, and as a result i got motivated to change some of my behavior. after thinking about things for a few days, SIGH, i decided i should force myself to do a little physical activity each day. So i started by doing several laundry loads, which i hadn't been doing daily SIGH, and found that to be pretty strenuous. I go up and down stairs to reach the laundry room, hang some things outside, take them down, etc. maybe three loads in one day - that's a lot for two people i think. I finished them, washed, dried, folded, put away. Things have been working better ever since. Yesterday i did one load and put them away. Right now i have one load soaking and washing. will hang them outside or dry the permanent press ones.

today i found my desk piled with things. unfinished computer program installations (most done - just a few left), unfinished filing (paid bills, etc), grocery flyer, etc. However, all my unpaid bills were in the PAY file, and i checked it. I paid a bill i received yesterday, and was able to remove one bill from the PAY file as completed. I changed one regular automatic payment that has gone down (can you believe it?) by $7 per month recently. I sorted out some things on the desktop that i no longer needed because the contractor has been selected. I notified the others who bid that they had not been selected. I plan to file everything after i am finished here.

Two days ago i also tried to get the mower started but couldn't. when DH came home he started it for me and showed me how to do it. This is a mower we just bought used and I'm still learning the controls. It wasn't the controls however. It acted like the battery was dead. He said to just keep the ignition going until it started, rather than shutting it off and starting again. It worked and I mowed half the front yard. I got tired. So he finished and i fixed dinner. The next day i started the mower by myself (yippee!) ran it around the hill and the lower field a couple times, but it seemed to not be mowing. Just then he came home and said, "did you know the mower deck is raised up?" I didn't. He showed me how to lower it (very stiff pull on the lever) and i mowed for two hours. He mowed another 45 mins and i fixed dinner. today i will finish the field. I also too the cat to the vet, sprayed some weedy stuff to kill it in the flower bed i volunteer to maintain there, and then did the mowing.

Each day i have felt more energy. Could it be the change in meds? Or the fact that I am actually forcing myself to move? I think both.

Early on this week, I planted some seeds in the garden. I got very tired doing that, but it motivated DH to plant some too. Yesterday he finished that while i fixed dinner. They are slightly late in the garden, as they are plants for cold weather. I also planted my Christmas cactus in a new pot I had bought a month ago, and repotted my flowering pot i bought after Valentines day for $2. It's had beautiful flowers on it since. And the Christmas cactus is thanking me by blooming on a couple of stems. You're welcome!

Today I plan to finish the laundry, have already studied my Bible study lesson for sunday, have my guitar lesson (practice first!), and go to a meeting tonight.

This week a project is coming to fruition that we have been working on for a couple of weeks. We are trying to fix a spot in our driveway that stands in mud or water most of the winter. Putting a drain tile in, scraping down the driveway so that it drains better, adding gravel to the whole thing, and enlarging the gravel area to cover the wet area next to the driveway that is always muddy and weedy. We also have recently had about 14 pine trees removed from the slope just above the driveway, and it's looking pretty bare. Soon the stumps will be ground up, the slope leveled some, and the driveway complete. The money is sitting in our checking account waiting to pay the contractor when the work is done. Would i rather the money be in our savings account? yes, but someday in the not too distant future, we will have to sell this house and that eyesore at the head of the driveway wouldn't help. We will need all the help we can get at that point, so doing it now relieves us of the pressure to change things at the last minute. It also gives the ground a chance to recover and heal. That's important too.

I love to mow and fix things. They look so much nicer when you're done.

God bless!

bikerbooker

[bikerbooker2]

PS - it was the church flower bed i sprayed for weeds. I have ordered some shrubs for that area and need it cleared when they arrive.

My DH is very helpful, as you can see. I am blessed!