Lila, I have read your posts but not everyone's, so forgive me if I duplicate what others have said. Since I'm so far behind, I decided to read one person's at a time.

First off: you are doing great! It is a pity that the loveseat didn't go before your husband returned. I know he's piling stuff on it but don't focus on that. As soon as loveseat goes, you'll take the stuff off.

Let's look at your bedroom. One thing I want you to know that all your "keepers" right now won't be your "keepers" tomorrow. They are today. So you will be seeing more go. For now, you are working on easier stuff. Trust me, and trust others. I am shocked on a continual basis of what is imperative to keep becomes a, time to go. So trust the process. It gets easier. You are building muscle.

So I am going to suggest you decide to get rid of one piece of furniture in your room. NOT BEING HURTFUL. You have three nightstands. Would a nightstand be a good place to start? I know all three are filled. I would venture a guess that if you took one drawer of one nightstand, you'll find you can get rid of half of the stuff. Even if you've gone through it recently. I won't judge you if you go into the drawer and decide it's all keepers. But try it. I have a sneaking suspicion that's there's at least one pen that no longer works that you can get rid of. Or maybe a highlighter and let's face it, no one uses highlighters. No one. (Don't yell at me, teachers!).

Let me know if this sounds like a good idea and if not does this idea help you think of some other goal to set? I'd like to think that the goal of getting rid of one nightstand will help you cope.

If you had told me when I started that I'd get rid of 20 boxes of books and still have too many, I'd call you nuts. But here I was , this summer, making more and more decisions on books with the help of my friend. She offered no input on what to keep in terms of books. She showed me them and told me to decide. And I was amazed and pleased with myself. Remember that I am eight years into this journey at this point. So it does get easier.

Let me know your thoughts. Here for you.

Hey everyone I just started to read these threads. Road, you are awesome. I hope your husband is doing well. Thank you for shoring up SubC. Okay back to reading.

I am here and I am safe and well! Thank you everyone!

My promotion in April has changed my availability and my stress levels. I had a good day Friday but a hard day Thursday. A victory on Thursday, though: I was melting down at the office (rare for me, a lot of things were going wrong and I had a new laptop that was not working properly on top of it) and someone offered me Halloween candy and it didn't even sound like something I would want. Sweets weren't going to be my coping mechanism. I did have a small container of apple cider, so I enjoyed that instead. Also, earlier in the day, they were handing out individually wrapped cider donuts and I didn't take any. I love cider donuts. I wasn't overly stressed at that particular time in the day. So essentially my relaxation tapes (now that I'm listening to them) have sunk in. I had two opportunities for some treats and it didn't even feel like a struggle. It was just an automatic "no, thank you." Last night when I was the last person in the office at 7 PM, I didn't need touch the various candies etc. that were around. so I'm feeling better about myself.

The promotion is hard. My unit is a mess. I had a new temp this week and so far, so good. I have posted a full time position for my unit and I am also interviewing interns for January. So that is going on. I am hoping to see some internal candidates for my full time position and I also hope my temp works out and is a viable option.

Earlier this week I started to put something in an "interim position" instead of just putting it away and I realized the foolishness of handling it twice. So I'm being more mindful. I'm busily doing laundry today (soothing) and will put away
one of my summer thin quilts and I think it's time to bring the comforter and duvet out. It's chilly here. I have to figure out if I should put both summer thin quilts away for now. Generally one stays on my bed as an extra layer year round.

My disposal broke. Did I tell you this? It's been here since I bought the place 26 years ago so I'm having it replaced instead of fooling around with it til it works. That will take place on Monday.

I am going to switch it my laundry, then make a cup of coffee, and settle in for some reading so I can see how everyone is doing!

Tired, overwhelmed, over scheduled , and worried about Tatoulia.

Lila, you can do this. The most important thing is to just start somewhere. Anywhere.

How are you doing on the inflow? Have you managed to stop it or slow it to essentials? For example - don't buy dog food until you are out of dog food samples. Don't buy dog treats until you are out if those, don't buy any more dog toys. The dog will slowly help you clear space.

Nest your empty bins as much as possible. Is there an awkwardly sized one that can be the next donation box?

You say your closet is sorted and full, but you can't get to it - so you are not wearing the clothes in your closet? The goal is to keep clothes that you wear in your closet. When you get to it, you may want to purge some more items. Or purge items so that you can reach those clothes in your closet and wear them.

Can you hang some of the art? If there is nowhere to hang it, realistically what do you think will happen to it? Do you see a new hanging place being made, or will it be in a box forever?

It's fall, can you fold a blanket on the foot of each bed?

Unfortunately if all the clothes space is full and you still have clothes everywhere, you only have four options - donate some of the clothes that are not put away, donate some of the clothes that are put away to make space for the piled clothes, donate something that is less important than clothes to make space for the piled clothes, or decide you are actually happier living in a pile of clothes than you would be if some of them were gone. It sounds like you have come to the place where you realize you can't pick the 4th option, so you will have to chose one of the other three.

Yes, clothes cost money. But that money is already spent. Do you wish you had spent it on something that would make your life easier and more organized instead of on clothes? Guess what - if you get rid of the clothes, it will be as if you did! The money will still be gone, but instead of clothes, you will have an easier and more organized life!

hello again. So dh came home and loveseat is still there. Unfortunately no one took it. The rest of the room is pretty good though. He is already piling things on the loveseat, so I guess if someone answers my ad and wants it, I will just move it all off and get that thing out of there and put the exercise machine down there without any discussion. If he wants somewhere to put his suitcases he can clean his room.

So I moved two empty tubs into my bedroom so I can work on that area next. Today I went in there, folded a few summer shirts and put them away and then got totally frozen. I just stood there looking at everything and muttering "I can't do this, I don't know how to start, I don't know how to do this." It is unbelievable to me that I have, over the past year, already taken out tub after tub and box after box of things from my bedroom to donate or move to the garage, and several bags of junk to the trash, and YET it is still a disaster. I cannot see much of the floor.

Please help with any and all suggestions. You all have helped me before (remember urging me to get the weights out of there, and to donate those cute fruit plates?) So please give any ideas or encouragement.

My bedroom is about 22 by 14. Furniture, which all needs to stay, includes queen bed, 3 tall dressers, one wide dresser, a cabinet, 2 bookshelves. I cannot believe I have all of those and they are full... ugh! And have been sorted! I also have 2... no 3... of those plastic drawers filled with stuff.

Closet is full of clothes. I purged it already and put in a shoe rack to get it organized. Closet shelves are full. All shelves and tops of dressers are full. Also 2 nightstands I forgot... no, 3! All full.

Rocking chair covered with piles of clothes. Small folding table with lots of prescriptions. Many empty bins that have nowhere else to go. Boxes of books that have no home but I feel I need to keep. I pulled one bin out from under the bed, it is sitting in the middle of the floor with summer clothes piled on it. There are piles of clothes everywhere but I cant get to the closet. Dog toys, dog food samples, another bin of dog treats. A huge stack of blankets (I gave some away but these are the ones I kept for cold weather, company etc but they have no home). Bins of photographs. A box of framed art that I am keeping (I donated many). The floor is just strewn with small bins, piles of books and shoes, dog toys, random items. There is no space left in the garage or any storage areas to move any of this stuff. It is stressing me out. And there are boxes of glass items in there because my autistic kid started throwing and breaking things again.

I cant walk to the closet or the window or the dressers. I can't handle this!

Just checking in...

Got booster vax today. 0 side effects this time other than barely perceptible stiff bicep. I'll take it!

Little self care tonight... found my bag of cosmetics I've piled up from a subscription to whatever the hell that thing was. I just did it for a year and it was nice but I don't really do make up so ... but now I have a stash and my mantra is going to be consume consume consume til it's all gone. I'm sick of finding shoeboxes of dried up toiletries that never got used. So I moisturized everything and did some eye serum... I'm still a total mess but now my hands smell good.

Finished printing out another ancestors record... (about 4 hours!) I sat down and did some more paperwork including using my daily schedule worksheet which always helps me with productivity. Am starting to feel like I'm actually gaining ground on this room. I cleaned the floor again and got all the laundry out. I took out the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen garbage. I started rewriting my master list pages that disappeared... and posted a bunch more stuff on my door. I finished clearing off the front third of the desk all the way across. Now the standing desk is worse but my goal is to start using the desk for paperwork instead of my bed. I sorted through some paperwork in the process (from the desk) but not much hit the garbage this time. I called my sons drs office to deal with a repellent <?- (major exaggeration) situation. It was a little awkward but I got the job done and smoothed some feathers... I have at least 4,927 of those tasks still to do but one thing at a time. I kind of feel like I was spinning my wheels and now the vehicle is actually moving forward. I even put back all the binders and paper that goes along with printing that genealogy record. There's once again a place to put them and I put them there. The H walked by and again made a comment about the floor space. It really annoys me when he does that but I think I should feel that it's his dorky way of being supportive (but it still annoys me) .

Tomorrow I may take another stab at getting to a store for some lamps... I'm nodding off so I better quit.

Reading about the storms in New England - Tatoulia, I hope you're ok!

haha, thanks Road, I appreciate the encouragement!

Husband is coming home late tonight and I feel desperate to get this loveseat out of here. Even if I could move it to the garage while I try to give it away... but there isn't room. Praying that someone who needs it will show up today! I posted it in more areas. But the bed, mattress, box springs went out the door yesterday and that makes me happy.

I took everything to the donation place. I do have one large box half full to donate, that needs to get filled and put in the car. I am determined to get the family room finished today. I had meetings this morning and more tonight so I have about 4 hours now to get it done. I can't do a lot at a stretch so I am resting now. Then will go down, see if there is anything else that can be consolidated, find places for the remaining tubs. Donate what I can. And try to make enough room for the exercise machine to get put down there. I know if it isnt moved before he gets back he will balk and say not to put it in that room, so it needs to get moved. But ugh there is just so little space unless that loveseat goes!

Wish me luck!

Good morning!

Thanks road. I have a shiny new thread with good things on it!

Yesterday I dropped off my mixed recycling, the bags at the grocery store, and a small bag of trash, so my house is better today. I even ran the dishwasher last night.

I love your long newsy posts!

I am so sorry about your sister's classroom. That is my worst nightmare. I have a medically fragile diabetic student and when my Dh accuses me of being overly cautious I tell him that my decisions are formed by the need to know I have done everything possible to keep that child safe. The thought of her being in the hospital because I wanted to eat out.. No thank you.

I hope the fleas die quickly.

Lila, you are doing a fantastic job! It sounds like the tubs would be very useful in you DD's room. Go for it! Divide and conquer!

I hope your loveseat goes quickly! You are clearing out so many big things, it must be making a difference! I am proud of you for letting go of the dishes.

CM, I know that feeling all too well. Everything gets out of control and your brain tells "something new! Something different! Distract me!"

Can you pull focus and attack some small area in your room that has been neglected and will give you that "new" hit? If you can create just one area - make one shelf or one drawer perfect, create a small, flat, clear area to work on your computer, even find a new, unused notebook and a consistent place to keep it and start journaling your ideas so they stop spinning in your head. anything that feels like a point of order and control from which to confront the chaos. Just don't add anything from outside of the house.

Hi tatoulia! Don't be a stranger!

I have a whole page of good things in my journal from yesterday (I double spaced so they will jump out) still struggling with getting my school stuff in order. Today is the end of the first quarter! It is flying by!

Hot dog! It's a shiny new thread!

Hi everyone, I am going to TRY not to write a tome. (Can she do it?)

Puppy got spayed yesterday so naturally she is supposed to be calm and not run or jump or bother the stitches and she is doing all... also she has fleas 🙁 so that's a whole hairy project added to the plate this week. 1 dog dosed and 1 to go, and piles and piles of things that have to be washed now. Blurgh.

The H spent the evening in the ER yesterday. Same symptoms he was having when he got dx with pulmonary embolisms last spring, but this time they couldn't find anything wrong. Mystery! More insane emergency room stories.

Good and bad news with my sister. Good news is she got the monoclonal antibodies treatment and said she felt like a wilted flower who got a good watering... brought her back to life. Bad news is all three staff in that class are + and now two of the kids. There's been almost NO spread within the schools, but in this classroom full of kids with disabilities, there's now an outbreak. After all three teachers tested + they did not shut down the classroom or consider anyone in there a close contact. Then two of the kids got it or already had it and continued to spread it because they weren't quarantining people the way they should have. The boy my sister works with is in a wheelchair and she has to do transfers and toileting and feeding assist. It's a medical environment with none of the safety protocols of a medical environment. My niece and her bf are + too. I forget if I said that.

Now that rant made my post too long. Lol

So anyway, subC, you listen to me and listen good. You are one friggin awesome person, friend and mentor. Youve had a positive impact on me in the short time we've known each other so you be nice to my friend subC !

Lila, great job on the bins and the donations. I was just gonna chime in and say screw that box spring because it's a future "if/when" and it's a very large thing. If it can fit in a match box or shoe box I think it's a little more forgiving of scrutiny, but large objects ?show no mercy! But I blinked and you already got the job done! Nicely done! I'm impressed and taking notes...

COVID boosters scheduled for weds,thurs, fri for the three of us...

ohhh good ideas for the tubs, SubC and CM. I just went and nested 3 tubs and put them on top of some things in the garage. I will take your ideas and move things from boxes into tubs, and then take the tubs I like least and fill them to donate. Good ideas.

I managed to consolidate the kids' books into one tub (donated extra and brought a few upstairs to read with grandchild).

I am really antsy to get this loveseat out of there so I can put the exercise machine down there. No one has asked for it yet. If it was not going to be rainy I would stick it outside so I can work. Maybe with a FREE sign on it out front. Son could take it to the dump for me on the weekend if no one wants it, but I worry DH will come home and be angry and want it back in the house. So better if it is gone before then. I just listed it free on a few more pages. It's in good shape so I hope someone wants it.

I will go into dd's room today and continue sorting her floor (piles of stuff). Hey, maybe I can use some of the empty tubs for that!

I hope everything is going well with you guys.

Ooh, finally get to taste some virtual SubC homemade ice cream! 🍨 Yum! 😋

At least this way it's calorie free. I have been back to monitoring the scale and it looks like tightening up on my food intake is helping to re-re-re-re-re-re-lose my weight that has come off and come back on umpteen times. 🙃

I just want to feel confident that it's going down nicely before I have to start living in jeans for the winter. All summer and into the often warmer than normal autumn I have managed to keep wearing shorts, and this year even sandals longer. I run warm anyway so I can do this down to 40 degrees with a hoodie and socks and shoes.

Lila, one thing that I do like so much about tubs of the same size is that the empties can be nested if you may need a few again but not right away.

I was at my storage unit last night briefly just to pick up my copy of Dune since the new movie has come out. Didn't do anything else, but maybe there'll be some mild weather days before the worst cold hits and I can just at least get things less strewn about, whether there's time to go through it in detail or not.

I'm ridiculously behind on many things, and in my crazy "pursuit" pattern. Like going to the library and feeling intrigued by many books and my mind just buzzing with ideas. ADHD dopamine cravings, I haz them. 🐝 Can't take Adderall or any of those, though, because of anxiety and some physical considerations.

Getting good sleep and having less stress would help too. Sleep is a little bit better, but morning always comes too soon. I did get the cat in my bed first time of the season last night, and he stayed almost the whole night. He is long haired so he gets too hot in the summer and prefers to sleep elsewhere.

As for less stress, well, I have no idea how to make that happen...

Lila, that is terrific!

You say you have nowhere to put the empty tubs - do you have things stored in boxes or otherwise that would be better in tubs? Can you tidy your dh's hoard into tubs and just slowly wall off his room? Are the tubs being saved for some other purpose? or do they just need to go? Imagine labeling a tub "donate" and just tossing things in until it is full and then donating the whole thing!

I left off one more good thing yesterday - I cleaned up Bean's toys as soon as he left. Dh appreciates that.

I think I am going to try to put lists of good things in my journal. I haven't bern journaling much lately, and I tend to write all the bad, stressful stuff.

So far today I did yoga, made Dh breakfast, packed his lunch, and emptied the dishwasher. Now finishing my breakfast and then I will start the ice cream maker, put some sweaters in to soak (Dh scrubbed the sink for me last night), and do chores.

Not up to date at all. Sorry to hear of SubC accident. Just stopping to say thank you for making the new thread CM. Very fancy with the hyperlink. Goodnight all.

I like your list of good things you did today.

I managed to sort a teeny bit more. Got my son to help me, and loaded into my car for donation:
big box of toys, books, and misc
big bag of clothes
3 bags of clothes a friend gave me
that box of pretty dishes from the garage
a small bag of more books
a toy that my grandchild outgrew

One big thing is that I now have 6 empty tubs in the family room. There is no where to put them, so I will have to take them to the garage and put items in them until I am ready to donate more.

I also listed the loveseat for free (no bites yet) and the bed/mattress/box springs for free (someone is supposed to come get that before Weds).

There is a big, thick comforter in my room taking up a lot of space. I'm going to offer it to my dd and if she doesn't want it, it is getting donated as well.

Tired but I did get some things done, finally.

I'm bringing ice cream. Just cooked up another batch to freeze tomorrow.

These are the good things I did today:
I took good care of Bean and we had fun.

I put the wagon away after we used it.

I put clean underwear away in the drawers plus some other clean laundry equaling two baskets.

Bean and I picked peppers I grew for dinner. (I also grew the basil)

I unloaded, loaded, and started the dishwasher.

When dd called and asked if she could finish off her work day at my house I managed to clear one end of the porch table for her to work in privacy.

I washed and hung a load of laundry.

I set up the coffee for tomorrow, i remembered my vitamin, and I made the ice cream.

Way to go, SubC!

Guess we better set out the snacks before the others arrive!

Found it!