Making Progress with the Organization Challenge

Two days ago I posted photos that I took of the spare bedroom that my husband and I are working on so he can use that space to make his hand-made baskets. Those photos, which I took on November 1st, represent the mess created by me from traveling back and forth between my parents' home and my home over the past two years -- plus dragging a lot of mom's things back with me to my home. Today, just seven days into the month, we've made tremendous progress on this room.

I'm very grateful to Caregiving.com's 30-Day Organization Challenge, because I don't believe we would have made this progress without a challenge. Take a look:

The first image of the corner near the closet -- everything is gone! I won't tell you what my office and our bedroom look like, though...

I couldn't back up far enough to take a photo of this corner of the room -- now that corner holds my husband's desk, computer, and basket supplies that were, initially, in our bedroom. We did a little switching around here.

As you can see from the photos above, we moved a lot of things out of the spare bedroom. But, a lot of my husband's things were in our bedroom, so we simply switched the portable closet for the desk, and his bookshelf with basket supplies for my bookshelf that still has a lot of junk on it.

This shot shows a LOT of things moved. I still have the rest of the month to go through all the boxes.

I'm very proud of the images above -- even though I haven't gone through all the boxes yet, I was able to organize the bags and loose items into separate piles to make my task easier.

Uh-oh...I have "stuff" on the top of the bookshelf. I'll move those items this evening.

All my husband needs to do to get started making baskets again is a table. We've got one -- he just needs to bring it up from the basement. And -- ta-da! This part of the task is done, all in just one week.

30-Day Organization Challenge, or How I'm Dealing with "Stuff"

One corner of the room -- and this was after I had already moved some boxes.

Caregiving.com started a 30-Day Organization Challenge for members on November 1. Denise is providing daily prompts for folks who want to follow along and spend 15 minutes per day organizing a purse, a mud room, bills and receipts (which would take me three months alone!), or under the kitchen sink. Members also have a choice to pick another project to organize. Since I knew I'd spend more than 15 minutes per day on most of the prompts, I decided instead to tackle one large project.

I couldn't move far enough into the room to capture the entire mess in one corner.

Since we're trying to work together on projects, I approached my husband about this organization challenge. He makes beautiful hand-made baskets and he could bring in income with these baskets if he had a larger space to work with. For the past two years he was stuffed into a corner of our bedroom, with no room to work at all.

The chifferobe? It's for sale (local only)!

I suggested that we clean out the 'spare' bedroom that isn't a bedroom at all. As you can see from the photos, this room is a catch-all for my clothes as well as for my mother's things that I'm salvaging from my parents' home. The room was, on day one, so dysfunctional that I couldn't find clothes to wear. For the past five days now -- every day this month -- my husband and I have spent approximately 15 minutes per day moving things back and forth between our bedroom and that spare bedroom. You wouldn't believe the difference already!

The books are mine -- but most of them will go up for sale on Amazon. That's just one bookshelf out of ten in this house. A little bit of a nutty obsession -- each book I own has a story behind it.  The clothes? They belonged to mom. What the heck am I doing with them? I'll figure it out...

This project could have been a daunting task, but with my husband's help it's coming together quickly. At this point we're just moving things back and forth, though. The task of going through all the boxes and organizing things is going to take the rest of the month, I'm sure.

I'll post "after" photos when we're done. Then we can tackle the living room, which is almost 1/4 filled with more boxes from the folks' house. Oy.

Memoir Progress Update

One rebuilt garden bed with new mulch!

The support I've received for this project so far has been wonderful. As of this writing, 43 individuals provided $1,184. This is enough money for me to pay expenses incurred during this campaign, to pay for an editor, and to pay for two days at a four-day poetry retreat in November with the Green River Writers to edit a few poems that are going into the memoir. I plan to get a lot done in those two days.

Next up -- paying for a month or two in seclusion to finish the memoir. Just to be perfectly clear, this time does not exclude regular work for clients. Instead, it is to finance travel to one of several writers' retreats (if I'm chosen), or to pay for a getaway from the chaos at home to have quiet time to finish my research and writing. My family WANTS me to leave to finish this project, so help them out! =)

In other news:

• This is my last week at dad's house. I've finished weeding and separating the flowers in mom's garden beds (all ten of them), weeded along the fence and around the trees, and had mulch delivered for the front beds. The mulch for the back beds is arriving after I leave. I used mom's new garden gloves that she purchased before she died and never used, and I poked holes in the ends of the fingers. Dad said, "I'm sure she won't mind." Despite my initial fears over tackling my mother's gardens, I think I did fine by her.
• Packing to return home includes items from around the house that dad wants me to sell. I have to put on my "impersonal" persona when conducting this work, because I feel as though I'm selling memories. On the other hand, it feels great to downsize, and I'm conducting this activity on the homefront as well so I can relieve my daughter from this task upon my death. I never realized I inherited my "hoarder gene" from mom. I've learned since mom's death how to hide that hoarding (in drawers, closets, and the attic!). I'll post more items to my Etsy shop (GoinOriginals) next week. Sending a "thank you" to my new customers at that venue!
• It appears no one has really taken me up on the contest challenge yet. Too bad! But, there's still time to compete (until November 24th!).
• It appears that folks are taking me up on my $1 birthday wish challenge at the Cancer, Caregiving, Contentious Love Indiegogo site! Wonderful! Those dollar bills add up! (hint for those who want to compete in the previously mentioned challenge -- I'm trying to help you!)
• Thanks again to Denise at Caregiving.com for offering a new space to blog about my caregiving adventures with dad. Latest post: My Fears About Leaving Dad Alone.

Since I'm busy packing and traveling over the next two days, I won't be posting anything here until Friday. Be good, take care, and be happy if you can. <3

What I've learned about selling online, thanks to Mom

The scene at my feet this morning -- deciding between Etsy and Amazon.

When mom died, dad was anxious to clean out the house. Mom was a closet hoarder, so her house was meticulous; but, if you open a closet door or a drawer in a file cabinet -- beware! I would shudder to find a drawer that I hadn't yet tackled after her death.

Mom kept things like receipts for a carpet replacement in a house they lived in twenty years ago. Or, she would file away some fall leaves (oak) in a space between car payment receipts and recipes. She was an avid clipper -- coupons, articles, whatever -- some of her clippings made no sense. Others revealed tons of information about my mother's proclivities and dreams.

One thing mom and I had in common was our love for books. Not the same genres, but books nonetheless. Some books were gifts, and I was surprised to find the number of autographed books she collected. I must have learned from her how to handle books, too, because even her paperbacks show little to no creasing along the spine, with clean pages and very little shelf wear.

To make a long story short, I started to resell my books on Amazon a few years ago, and I managed to sustain a 100% seller rating over the years. This rating is definitely to my advantage, because I can ask for a bit more, or even an equal price, and I may sell my book before the person who has a 94% seller rating. I've learned even more lessons this go-round, as dad wants me to sell about 90% of the books that remain at their home.

1. First, if you have a beef with Amazon, don't take it up with me. Amazon sells more books all around than any other online bookseller. In fact, book sellers like Alibris also sell their books on Amazon.
2. I learned that I had to apply for a "collectible" book seller rating. In other words, if I had a first edition or first printing on my hands, I wouldn't be allowed to list that book as a collectible without Amazon's approval. Fortunately, since I already had a stellar rating, that issue was resolved quickly.
3. How do you know you have a first printing on your hands? If you're lucky, the book will list a full number line on the page where you'll also find the ISBN (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10). If you're even luckier, you'll have a book that actually states it's a first edition. Those books can make a difference between a worth of one cent and a worth of $10 or more.
4. Always use the ISBN number to find a book on Amazon to research selling point prices. If you just go by the title, you may end up with too many (wrong) listings. It can be a mess in there.
5. If the book is older than 1995 and doesn't have an ISBN or other identifying marks (like no image at Amazon), then I may choose to sell the book at my Etsy shop. I've had good luck at Etsy selling vintage books with decorative covers or with unusual topic information.
6. Buy your envelopes to mail the books in bulk, because it's cheaper. I use bubble-wrap envelopes, because the bubble wrap does protect the books. It's worth the expense, especially when the buyer notes the extra care you took and contributes to a stellar rating.

I may sound a bit clinical about this process, and that attitude is one of necessity. If I pondered every oak leaf or news clipping or book signed "with love" by the author to my mother, I'd never make it through a single day. Going through my mom's things is not pleasant, trust me. But, when I falter, I simply think of my daughter. Would I want her to go through this? No. 

So...onward.