Saturday, January 4, 2020
My friend, Crystal, who brings her daughters to my house for a monthly play date, called me Thursday and told me she had the best idea ever. Crystal and her girls were here on Monday for a play date and I mentioned that I had just completed a calendar of days I could ask my networking friends to volunteer to help me declutter from January through the end of the school year (which I now need to redo completely because my schedule has been moved back at least a week). I told Crystal I planned to post in my networking Facebook groups a call for volunteers on January 6th.
Crystal’s daughters belong to a group similar to Girl Scouts in which the girls earn merit badges. Each year the group, as a whole, does a community service project together. Crystal was calling to let me know the group would like to help me clear out my shed for this year’s community service project. My shed is where I plan to start my decluttering because 80 percent of what is in there is probably unused items I set aside for garage sales. I expect to reclaim more items from this shed than the one I cleared last year because I know there are some of my older daughter’s clothes from when she was a little older than my younger daughter is now. However, it should be quick work because I already decided I did not need most of it.
You would think I would be jumping for joy because of this great offer. Here is the issue; I am asking my networking friends to come only one or two at a time. I think it will be overwhelming to have six people asking me at the same time, “Is this keep or donate?” I had to think about it for a while and Crystal was crafty by saying they might come for just an hour. I decided I could be overwhelmed for an hour. The moms would be able to get the buckets out of the shed and the girls could help sort. There would be plenty of automobiles to transport the donate items to the donation centers when we finished.
Then Crystal emailed me the final plan. Next Saturday I will have help from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. which is two more hours than I had planned. Honestly, we will probably need all three hours to finish the entire shed. There are probably 40 storage buckets in there. Although I am not looking forward to working with so many people at one time, it really is a great plan and Crystal did have the best idea.
I had planned on asking my son to come over next weekend to move the top bucket off each stack (he is very tall) and put them in my great room to start sorting when I have my friends volunteer on the 14th and 15th of this month. With my plan, we would probably finish clearing out the shed in late February or March.
With Crystal’s plan, we will likely finish the shed next Saturday, one short week from today! My seven-year-old, Mika, and I are making good progress on sorting her toys so I should have enough room in my lower level great room for all of us to be able to spread out a little bit. The weather forecast for next Saturday is barely above freezing so we will definitely be working indoors. My helper and I will hopefully have time to check Mika’s donate toy bucket on Thursday for toys that simply need to be thrown away so maybe I will already have some toys ready to donate before we even start on Saturday.
With the shed cleared next Saturday, we will be able to start working inside the house on the 14th and 15th, if I get volunteers. There are items in my home I do not currently use that I do not want donated until after I pass. I want those items to live in my shed as long as I do. I have the bassinette that was made for me to use when Mika was a baby. I do not expect that I will have any newborn grandchildren before I pass, but if I do, I cannot simply go to Target to buy an accessible bassinette; I would need a new one constructed.
My piece of advice to you is accept help when offered even when you think it is too much. I will probably be so freaked out when we are done next week, I will only be able to watch television and play solitaire to relax, but I will have an empty shed.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
My friend, Crystal, who brings her daughters to my house for a monthly play date, called me Thursday and told me she had the best idea ever. Crystal and her girls were here on Monday for a play date and I mentioned that I had just completed a calendar of days I could ask my networking friends to volunteer to help me declutter from January through the end of the school year (which I now need to redo completely because my schedule has been moved back at least a week). I told Crystal I planned to post in my networking Facebook groups a call for volunteers on January 6th.
Crystal’s daughters belong to a group similar to Girl Scouts in which the girls earn merit badges. Each year the group, as a whole, does a community service project together. Crystal was calling to let me know the group would like to help me clear out my shed for this year’s community service project. My shed is where I plan to start my decluttering because 80 percent of what is in there is probably unused items I set aside for garage sales. I expect to reclaim more items from this shed than the one I cleared last year because I know there are some of my older daughter’s clothes from when she was a little older than my younger daughter is now. However, it should be quick work because I already decided I did not need most of it.
You would think I would be jumping for joy because of this great offer. Here is the issue; I am asking my networking friends to come only one or two at a time. I think it will be overwhelming to have six people asking me at the same time, “Is this keep or donate?” I had to think about it for a while and Crystal was crafty by saying they might come for just an hour. I decided I could be overwhelmed for an hour. The moms would be able to get the buckets out of the shed and the girls could help sort. There would be plenty of automobiles to transport the donate items to the donation centers when we finished.
Then Crystal emailed me the final plan. Next Saturday I will have help from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. which is two more hours than I had planned. Honestly, we will probably need all three hours to finish the entire shed. There are probably 40 storage buckets in there. Although I am not looking forward to working with so many people at one time, it really is a great plan and Crystal did have the best idea.
I had planned on asking my son to come over next weekend to move the top bucket off each stack (he is very tall) and put them in my great room to start sorting when I have my friends volunteer on the 14th and 15th of this month. With my plan, we would probably finish clearing out the shed in late February or March.
With Crystal’s plan, we will likely finish the shed next Saturday, one short week from today! My seven-year-old, Mika, and I are making good progress on sorting her toys so I should have enough room in my lower level great room for all of us to be able to spread out a little bit. The weather forecast for next Saturday is barely above freezing so we will definitely be working indoors. My helper and I will hopefully have time to check Mika’s donate toy bucket on Thursday for toys that simply need to be thrown away so maybe I will already have some toys ready to donate before we even start on Saturday.
With the shed cleared next Saturday, we will be able to start working inside the house on the 14th and 15th, if I get volunteers. There are items in my home I do not currently use that I do not want donated until after I pass. I want those items to live in my shed as long as I do. I have the bassinette that was made for me to use when Mika was a baby. I do not expect that I will have any newborn grandchildren before I pass, but if I do, I cannot simply go to Target to buy an accessible bassinette; I would need a new one constructed.
My piece of advice to you is accept help when offered even when you think it is too much. I will probably be so freaked out when we are done next week, I will only be able to watch television and play solitaire to relax, but I will have an empty shed.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.