Organization 2010 - March/Basement

[BernardandMissBianca]

DUN DUN DUN!!! Gasp the horror!!!

The basement is your challenge this month but since mine is in such poor condition I am willing to give you 2 months. April is the living room, yes as opposed to the family room(JAN), so take your time.

Goal
Create a safe, dry, manageable storage system

Declutter
- inventory contents of shelves and boxes. Create piles for trash, donation, repair, and keepers.
- Get as many things as possible up off the floor.
- Check for water damage, bug or rodent infestation, and drain backup problems. yeah, ok, now they tell me

Clean
- vacuum and clean shelves, floor, and walls
- clean drains, dehumidifier, extra fridge or freezer, dryer area.
- change filters on furnace. Schedule furnace maintenance appointment for the summer.
- check/replace batteries on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

maintain
- keep items such as wrapping paper, scissors, and tape in one area.
- organize any items you're storing in the basement by category. Store on pallets or on sturdy off-the-floor shelving units.
- Label and keep an inventory list of any boxed items. Keep extra copy of the inventory list in a safe place.


notes by me
please if you do not have a smoke detector in the basement get one!!! There was a house fire in the next town over last year. The dryer lint caught on fire and luckily they had smoke detectors in their basement. This was a 1730's house! Minimal damaged was caused because they heard the alarms and the fire dept was there fast.

Have fun everyone!

January - Family Room
February - Home office/scraproom
April - living Room
May - Attic
June - Dining Room
July - Bathrooms
August - Bedrooms
September - Garage
October - Closets
November - Kitchen
December - Laundry Center

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Daily Task
1- pick through Spring Wardrobe. Donate unwanted items
2 - Family meeting - discuss schedules, goals, vacation plans, etc
3 - Make a list of spring cleaning chores for home and yard
4 - Work on one spring cleaning chore for at least 15 minutes
5 - Gather tax records if you haven't yet
6 - toss obvious junk in garage
7 - plan garden, start shopping for tools, potters, etc
8 - International woman's day! Celebrate being a woman
9 - Organize linens and service pieces for Easter
10 - Label supplies that are likely to be borrowed - office supplies, cricut cartridges, movies, books
11 - Start planning Easter menu
12 - Purchase Easter basket items
13 - Spring Forward!!!! Set clocks ahead one hour and change batteries in your detectors!
14 - Schedule a weekly Desk Day - this is the day you sort and file mail, sort school papers, clear those in-boxes (paper and email)
15 - today is put things away day. Go around the house and put out of place things in their homes
16 - Take some time to reflect on something meaningful in your life
17 - St Patricks Day!!!! Wear something green, pinch someone who's not.
18 - Wash the inside of your windows and the sills. Wash drapes and blinds (or if your my Grandma switch out the seasonal curtains)
19 - Last day of Winter!!!!!!! Start prepping your winter yard tools to be put up.
20 - Spring begins today!! Wash your windows!
21 - Journal about someone who's passed away that meant something to you in your life.
22 - Sweep your steps and and driveway. Wash away salt and sand from winter
23 - Visit your local library. get a book, movie or if you don't have a library card, register for one.
24 - How is your 2010 exercise goal going? Restart if you stopped
25 - Finalize vacation plans
26 - fill a bag with donations today and drop it at Goodwill or Salvation Army
27 - Back up this months photos
28 - Plan game night for the coming weekend. 3 day weekend coming up for Easter
29 - change up your photos in frames to current pics
30 - clean the gutters today or call a gutter service to set up an appointment
31 - Rummage tupperware. keep a few and donate the rest to free up cabinet space

 

[rlovew]

I guess that gives me this month and next to get my family room and living room as well as my Florida room in order, since we don't have a basement.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

OK, up and ready to start. Sorry it was late but we have 2 months for those without formal living rooms.

 

[joyah]

I'd prefer to ignore this room well for me it's only a corner that is the boys play room/guest room. I used it to do some crafts for xmas and it's a mess. I have to clean it i just don't want to.

I did start on it 3 of the HUGE empty totes are out of the way. It's so jammed packed with stuff that you can't move in it. anyone want a round table kid height that was a display table at GAP? It's about 5' and sturdy the boys have climbed all over it jumped on it used it as a stage and it still looks pretty new.

I need the show clean sweep for this room. the rest of the basement is basically husband's garage. I would love to actually clean out the 3rd bathroom area and at least put in a laundry room sink that they could clean up in. Or I need husband to go away for a few days so I can just hoe it out. there are a lot of things that aren't worth even donating there.

 

[Lisa]

The basement is DH territory, I seldom to never go down there. I'll print out the list of how to go thru it.

 

[Piglet18]

Um, maybe I can't find it, but is there an April one of these somewhere? I'm not sure what room was supposed to be in April, but I thought I would at least ask.
If not, no worries.

 

[LindaBabe]

Um, maybe I can't find it, but is there an April one of these somewhere? I'm not sure what room was supposed to be in April, but I thought I would at least ask.
If not, no worries.

I think I saw somewhere Buffy said April is the Livingroom.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

sorry, here!! My posts have been short because I've been spending a lot of time at school.
It's vacation week so I'll get that thread up and running today. The basement is still going on for those who need it. And the living room is April but a lot of people did this space for the Family room.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I have emptied 8 boxes since the flood. I refused to bring the bins and boxes back downstairs before we sorted them. Thankfully there was no damage in this years flooding, just a super hight electric bill.

It's almost time for another dumpster!!!

 

[joyah]

great job Buffy. I've throughly ignored the basement this month. but then I've ignored alot this month got to get back in the groove.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'm going slow. I won't get the whole thing done in 2 months, maybe 6-8 but one box at a time is better then none.
I really feel like a weight has been taken off me since going through stuff. I'm even being really heavy handed on the scrap stuff. I need to be realistic about what I can get to and what I can't.
DH bought the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week. OMG! It makes you look at things so differently.

That and I watch Hoarders and there is NO WAY I'm going get like that!!!!

 

[joyah]

I to watch the Hoarders show tom's dad is one! I will NEVER let my house be like that.
I need to look into getting that book I have such a struggle with sentimental things. but all they are doing is cluttering up and collecting dust I need to learn to let go. It's the memories not the stuff that is important in some cases.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I think Erin talks about sentimental items in her blog.
http://unclutterer.com/

yep, here:
http://unclutterer.com/2010/04/16/ask-unclutterer-preserving-cherished-sentimental-items/

DH and I are doing this right now. He went through a box of his mom's lanterns. We kept the one that was the most important, one his dad had found in a vacant lot (from the 1800's) and cleaned up. DH let the rest go.

I did the kids school papers this week as well. On another blog I found, she pulled a few papers from each year and put then in a binder:
http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2009/05/school-work-binders.html