Comments on: 2008 new year’s resolution wrap up

By: briezee

briezee — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:20:53 +0000

@lilliweiszsolutions: I wash everything on the delicate cycle in cold water (unless I’m washing animal pee out of something) – (something is broken in my washer and hot water takes 20 minutes to fill the machine) in my machine – including bras and wool socks. Then everything goes in the dryer on delicate cycle. If I’m on top of things, I’ll pull the bras and wool socks out and lay them to dry on top of the dryer, otherwise, they go through the cycle. My bras don’t last as long as they might otherwise (I replace them every couple years), but at least they are clean. I refuse to do hand washing. I don’t use bleach, so I think that helps things last longer.

By: lilliweiszsolutions

lilliweiszsolutions — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:37:47 +0000

I DESPISE doing hand washing. Therefore I ended wearing dirty bras or clean sports bras (those just go in the normal wash) and then end up having to buy new ones more often than I should, because I don’t good care of the ones I have.

Any words of wisdom on hand washing?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:39:03 +0000

The best space saver I have found is collapsible mesh laundry hampers. When not in use they take up almost no room. Since having back and knee injuries walking up and down stairs is a chore and my laundry room is in the basement. I can toss a full basket of laundry down the stairs and that saves me carrying a heavy load. Lugging the clothes upstairs is another story. You can find these mesh hampers in Amazon, online, or at ACE Hardware. I’ve also bought a few at CVS Pharmacy. I love them!

By: Juliana

Juliana — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:48:51 +0000

My goal is to organize the bedroom closets (hopefully an Elfa system!) so that I actually *want* to do laundry and keep things neat. I hate the closets in the master bedroom right now because they have extremely unattractive and impractically placed built-in shelves and oddly placed hanging bars. I dislike them so much that my clothes just end up staying in the laundry baskets instead of getting put away, and eventually I can’t tell the clean from the dirty because I’m always pulling things out of various baskets!

By: Janine Adams

Janine Adams — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:23:27 +0000

My 2008 goal was to clear my desk every day at the end of the work day (I work from home). With the help of http://www.dontbreakthechain.com I succeeded! It’s now a habit.

Looking at 2009, I’m going to apply the same technique to the top of my bureau. It’s waist high and always piled with semi-clean clothes and jewelry. I hope to wake up to a clean bureau top every morning!

By: tay

tay — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:57:06 +0000

I’m glad I’m not the only one with the laundry problem! lol. My only real issue though is folding and putting away! I don’t really have a good organization of the closet and drawers so I end up putting it off and rifling through baskets for my outfits! I hate it! I think I too need to come up with a no folding organization system…Maybe that’s my goal for 09′ that and getting rid of all of the paper! I’m drowning.

By: Gay

Gay — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:21:00 +0000

I have a stack of magazines with recipes in them that I am going to try “someday”. My goal is to go through the magazines, scan the recipes I think I may want to try, and give the actual magazine to a co-worker. (We share magazines.)

By: Amy in Ann Arbor

Amy in Ann Arbor — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:14:02 +0000

My biggest accomplishment of 2008 was the uncluttering of much of the house where we have lived for 20 years. I plan to finish it, down to the basement, garage attic and shed.

For 2009 I have a fairly massive photo project in mind. My father, who died last year, was the repository for the old, sepia photos of different branches of his family, along with similar collections from my mother’s family. I would love to scan all of these, and distribute the resulting .jpg files to other members of the two families. Then I would like to get together with my cousins from one side, aunts from the other, and divide up the photos themselves. That way, my kids won’t face an even bigger burden of old photos someday.

These older, hand-developed photos will not feed in the sheet-fed scanners that photo digitizing services use. And, unfortunately, the ScanSnap is optimized for text and wouldn’t do a very good job. So, I think I’m stuck with using a slow, flat bed scanner. I would be delighted if someone came up with a better idea!

Thanks,

By: Monianne

Monianne — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:58:46 +0000

Ifinally got my paper, magazines, and books under control late this year. Reading sites like this has helped me change my packrat ways! My next challenge is to develop a laundry and recycling system. My 11 year old son and I live in a small student apartment. We have to drive to the community laundry and the recycling center. Far too often, clothes and recyclables pile up until I find time in my grad student schedule to handle them. The funny thing is, once I get to the center, things go smoothly and quickly! It’s like working out – getting started is the hardest part!

By: Beverly D

Beverly D — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:50:44 +0000

What do you guys do, wear your clothes out in the wash? I raised a family of three girls and did the laundry once a week. Period. If you think you will need to wear an item on Thursday, don’t wear it on Monday and get it dirty. Everyone had 10 days worth of underwear so if something happened to the schedule there were spares. I wash towels once a week, everyone has their own and no one needs a clean towel every bath unless something unusual happened. Sheets get washed and put back on the beds every 2 weeks. As they got old enough they helped, and when they left the nest they knew how to do the whole routine.

I’m working on organizing my genealogy records this year, getting everything properly scanned and in order. I have Family Tree Maker with all the hard data entered but the paper never got organized since I moved 2 years ago.

By: gypsy packer

gypsy packer — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:00:23 +0000

This year, I want to get all old scans into a set of Access databases. Easier said than done, since most are old and not scanned through ABBYY.

Second project is to convert all of those old phono records and tapes into WMA files and back them up, then get rid of the clutter.

Wash has long been on the one basket per person=1 load per person system.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:09:10 +0000

We wash almost everyday, due to the fact we have a tiny washing machine and no place to store dirty clothes! Family of 3. Mostly we wash in cold and are pretty lax about separating.

I was very impressed with my niece’s set up – she has a baby, a toddler and twin 3rd graders. Lots of laundry! Big washer & dryer, and above them two labeled baskets for each family member. Socks & underwear go into a small basket – clothes into another. She doesn’t fold anything or pair socks. The twins and hubby are responsible for getting their own clothes from the laundry room to their own rooms.

My goal for 2009 – is to have a goal!

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:21:31 +0000

I tackled the laundry demon by doing it only once per week. Otherwise I felt trapped in an endless cycle of washing, drying, folding, putting away, repeat, over and over and over again. Instead on Wednesday morning I empty the hampers, strip the beds, grab the towels, napkins, throw rugs, coats, etc. and it all goes into the laundry room. We have a front loader and usally 6 large loads of laundry. I may toss a load or two in Tuesday night if there is a lot to get done. Wednesday evening I have t.v. time and fold eveything in an hour or two. Beds are made up (we have two sets of sheets for all beds) earlier in the day. Everything else is folded and put away by the next morning.

We recently moved and carefully set up the laundry room with cabinets and countertops, hanging racks attached to the wall, and shelves – so that everything has a place and the laundry system works for us.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:23:04 +0000

My goal for 2009 is to declutter paper – the “I might need it some day” stack of magazines and articles.

As for laundry… I wouldn’t think you’d need to wash your towels every time you use them – they are just toweling water off of a clean person. I wash mine once every week and half or two weeks.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:30:51 +0000

I would love to be in your situation. I have to load up my car and drive 35 mins to the closest laundromat.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:29:16 +0000

I am going to buy a huge three ring binder and make a Family Workbook. If something doesn’t fit in there, such as huge manuals, I will slide in a piece of paper that tells where to find said manual.

My goal is to have a one-stop place for important information.

One thing we did this year, we consolidated all of our very important papers and documents into a bright orange folder, made copies of everything inside, and we keep the folder in the laundry room. We live very close to the California wildfires and have been evacuated a couple of times. This way one of us will grab the folder.

Re: laundry. We are a family of 5, and I do at least five loads a week: sheets; handwash light; handwash dark; towels; jeans & hot-water darks; underwear, socks and hot-water whites; and cold-water lights. The worst part is putting the clothes away.

This laundry is just for three of us -my husband, ten-year-old and myself- the 17 and 19 year old have to do their own laundry. They do it about once very two months.

By: Analisa Roche

Analisa Roche — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:14:13 +0000

@Rachel – family of six here, have to do one or two loads a day to stay caught up, not counting sheets and towels.

By: cherylkay

cherylkay — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:58:35 +0000

I am going to get a shelving unit and organize my craft supplies in 2009. Now everything is spread out accross 6 tables and a ledge in the family room.

By: Maria Stahl

Maria Stahl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:41:40 +0000

My organization goal for 2008 – which I met! – was to organize our finances. I used Quickbooks and set it up as if we are a business, so we could see where all our money was, where it was going, what we were spending on various things, and to trend things. This was the year we HAD to do this because we will be filling out the FAFSA for the first time next month and I wanted to be ready. As it turns out, it was a huge help because my husband is getting laid off early in the new year and will be going back to school himself, and we’ll be filling out the FAFSA twice – plus we were able to see exactly what steps we needed to take to survive financially until he is retrained and working in a new career.

It’s such a good feeling.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:52:55 +0000

I didn’t set goals for 2008, but am definitely setting goals for 2009. First, clean up our guest room/office … so silly to be paying for a second bedroom (we rent) that we can’t use since it’s become so cluttered. Second, consistently file/shred mail that comes in (at least 2x week) so that it doesn’t pile up… I’m sure I’ll think of more, too!