Organizing and decluttering the homestead

[CLSranch]

Playing the livestock shuffle. Remember those little hand held tile games with the numbers all scrambled up? The goal being to get all the tiles in numerical order by sliding one tile at a time. Sometimes, managing livestock is like that!

My son recently got one with a picture. I haven't spent much time on it but I never got it all the way right. Close was easy complete I just didn't have time and patience for.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My son recently got one with a picture. I haven't spent much time on it but I never got it all the way right. Close was easy complete I just didn't have time and patience for.

Did you try removing the offending tile(s)?

 

[Marie2020]

You will not believe how cluttered my home has become since my decluttering attempts has begun. I am now climbing over it all to get to my door. My friend has listened to my efforts and has started to do the same and apparently he is in an even bigger mess than I am .

I can't wait for my charity shop pick up next week. That's assuming I can open my door by then

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Such projects always get worse before they get better.

 

[Marie2020]

Such projects always get worse before they get better.

You are definitely not kidding

 

[Marie2020]

Here's the tip of a very big iceberg I am making a start on.

Now, whose clever idea was this.

A heap of DVDs a vintage coat brand new upper class shoes boxed that I could never walk in. Lots of skirts shoes, woollen cardigans and jumpers a lead crystal decanter a new Christmas tree and it goes on. Wow I'm tired, there's no way I can get near as good as @Beekissed because there's still more to go, all in good time

Picture to prove it.

 

[Beekissed]

I never did get back to that last work surface for decluttering and organizing in the shed.....until yesterday. I finally hauled off all the little items we thought we would clean up and sell...took them to the rehab store and donated them. Refilled all the gas cans that needed refilling and replaced them to the gas can shelf.

Then, I tackled sorting and putting away thousands of pieces of hardware...literally...thousands. All my bolts, nuts, various sizes and types of screws, hinges, clips, cotters, bushings, fittings, and various and sundry other stray hardware that have been around since my Dad's time here are now in small drawers in wall mounted organizers I picked up at a yardsale for a few bucks...these things are from the 50s and they show it. Took me from around 1 pm until almost dark to get it all lined out and the benches brushed off, floor and shed porch swept out. Wish I had remembered a before and after pic, because it was quite a dramatic transformation!

Now I can find all my washers, bolts, screws and various hardware in labeled little drawers or bins. Work surfaces can be used once again. All my grains in the shed were stored properly, as it seems I have a little mouse problem....am going to make myself a bucket trap for that here soon, as the poisons don't seem to be working.

Cardboard boxes were burned, metal trash disposed of and the empty trash can relined with industrial bagging. The building was returned to a neat, working order....finally...and now it's time to do the outside of the shed, which is a huge MESS where I store lumber and wood scraps, T posts, tools, rolls of wire, etc. I can smell a DIY project coming on....

 

[baymule]

We’ve done a lot of cleanup here too. Had stuff laying around outside, put on burn pile and hauled to neighbors dumpster. Then tackled screened front porch. I don’t know why we drop stuff on the porch, but we do. It was getting pretty bad. Over the last month, we have cleaned up the property and worked on porch. Yesterday I hit the porch at a dead run determined to really make a difference and it sure looks better now.

 

[Mini Horses]

I had a cleaning project yesterday...outside. a corner where I "deposit" things! And replaced the fence along that area also....some boards and wire. Looks nice now. all the while i increased the burn pile and go to trash pile, thinking both would be done tomorrow -- that's now today! Dump closed for holiday. But will do burn pile late day.

Always feels good to do these things, once done. It's the getting to it that's hard!

 

[Beekissed]

We’ve done a lot of cleanup here too. Had stuff laying around outside, put on burn pile and hauled to neighbors dumpster. Then tackled screened front porch. I don’t know why we drop stuff on the porch, but we do. It was getting pretty bad. Over the last month, we have cleaned up the property and worked on porch. Yesterday I hit the porch at a dead run determined to really make a difference and it sure looks better now.

We tend to the drop thing also.....the shed porch, the picnic table and the carport are favorite drop zones for things we are using for various projects.

Eli was working on the tractor the other day and was asking where something was he couldn't find and I told him, "It's right back where you FOUND it in the first place....I spend most of my days putting things back where you found them." He's got a bad habit of just dropping things wherever he last used them and, if I want to find things ever again, I go around putting these items back where they belong.

Then there is me, who has a bad habit of leaving things in mid-project, with full intensions of getting to them "later" but then rarely ever get back to them for a few months down the road.....meanwhile, I'm having to walk around the mess of the half built object.

So, like you, I have to periodically clean up the property, making a big sweep of all the outside surfaces to find all the stray tools, scrap lumber, pieces of wire and fencing, etc. It looks soooo much better when I'm done and each time I swear I won't let it get so bad.....and then it just....DOES.