My Tireless Retirement – Week 168

 

Oh my gosh you guys!  I had another great week.  I was fresh off of a fun and very productive staycation.  My tank was full and my heart was happy as I headed into work on Friday (my BFF flew back home that morning).  It felt good to hear that I was missed at work and it was so nice to see everyone.  When I got home from working all day I reheated leftovers for my supper and then found myself working on and completing a gift for the gift shelf.  I watched a little TV while I worked on it.  By the time I was done I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  It had been a great day!

 

I still have a lot of socks, but now I can easily get my drawer open and closed

Saturday morning I awoke still feeling charged up and itching to do a bit of decluttering.  I needed to get back into my closet and pull out a few things that I haven’t worn in well over a year, possibly two.  I also went through my socks and undies drawers and pulled out some items there as I was a bit overstocked.  In fact, I could barely open and close the sock drawer and I keep a bin in the laundry room on the shoe rack with all of the socks I am currently wearing.  I may have had a bit of a sock hoarding issue.

 

Well not anymore.  I put ten pair of socks into my donation bag, four pair of undies (brand new, but I don’t like the material), a pair of shoes and a pair of boots.  I then tossed out my “project pants” that I paint or work on the vehicles in and replaced them with a pair of faded ones I no longer feel are good enough for work or anything else.  I have kept one outfit “for good” and a pair of Clarks shoes to wear with it.  I took one pair of trouser socks and tucked them into the shoes and donated the rest of my dress socks.  When I was done decluttering I gathered up all of the donations and put them in my car to drop off on my way home from work on Monday.

 

One of the things I decided to declutter was my coin jar I kept in my undie drawer.  I no longer want to save change and I no longer need to hold onto all of the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars, half dollars and two dollar bills.  They aren’t worth anything other than their face value and my kids aren’t interested in them, I’m sure.  So I am Swedish Death Cleaning them by putting some of them in my wallet to spend and the rest in my savings account.

 

After all of that decluttering and some lunch I was able to get back into my sewing room and made up three more gift items as well as that extra apron I had cut out.  I love that I was able to use up scraps and supplies I already had on hand to make the gifts.  It makes me even happier that I was able to make the apron with fabric I had left from another project I had done several years ago and it is no longer in my stash waiting for a purpose.

 

A big project to complete was listing all of the vintage Pyrex I am ready to sell on eBay.  I didn’t even get a twinge when I did it so I’m thinking I was ready to let it all go.  After a quick little coffee break I wrapped it all up in bubble wrap and added cardboard to protect it even further.  I was able to get all but two pieces ready to ship before I ran out of boxes.  What a job!  I not only emptied the box I had been storing some of  the Pyrex in, but also the same size box full of bubble wrap I had been saving and a bunch of cardboard pieces from the garage.  Win-win-win!

 

After all of that I decided to poke around in the hall closet to see if there was anything I should declutter as it had been awhile.  I nearly croaked when I opened up this enamelware container and discovered loads of notepads and half composition books I had forgotten about.  Well, I had to get busy and make a dent in that stash.  When all was said and done I had completed five mini journals and six decorated notepads to give as gifts.  I think they turned out so nice and it was a ton of fun to put these together.

 

Loads of new gifts for my gift shelf

I worked in the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, but that didn’t stop me from doing some more work around the house.  I had loaded all of the donations into the car as was able to drop them off on my way home from work.  I was able to put the finishing touches on my will and print it out on some nice white stationery I already had in my office supply stash.  It was just enough to do the job and I was happy to get it used up.  With my decluttered coins I headed off to the bank early Wednesday morning to deposit my pile of hoarded coins and then have my will signed, witness and notarized.  I cannot tell you how much better I feel crossing that task off my list.  When I got home I filed it away and got busy on another part of that same project which was to upload my Advanced Medical Directive form and get that into the state registry.  I also printed out a copy to have filed in with my will.  Check and check!

 

Too much stuff!

Much better!

Thursday I headed back out to the garage and spent a fair bit of time out there doing more decluttering, cleaning and organizing.  I also spent some time in the downstairs bedroom going through some art work, childhood toys and was able to part with pretty much all of it.  I no longer want to hang onto those things.  I still have a ways to go, but I’m making progress going through the things that I’ve shuffled into that room.

 

With that my week came to an end.  I have a pretty good size pile to take to the thrift store so I’ll need to load it up and make another trip.  I am so happy to have made all of the progress I’ve been able to make on so many different areas of my life this past week.