Decluttering // Like a madwoman, still. There is just stuff, stuff, stuff all over our house. I’m certainly not free of blame for this — but worse, I tend to notice kid clutter and husband clutter while having a blind spot to my own! I also have a weird and unhelpful instinct to attack areas that don’t give much bang for my buck — for instance, I’ll give priority to cleaning out a random cabinet instead of tackling the much more visible sofa table.
Anyway, I finally just made a big list, organized it by priority, and plan to working through it methodically. I starting with the dining room (a.k.a. my sewing room, as I’ve mentioned several times before), which had gotten piled high with parts of various projects. I spent time on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings putting everything away except for the modern flag quilt and USA pillow I’m currently working on.
On Wednesday evening, I finally cleaned up the pile of clothes that’s been thrown over the arm of our treadmill for months. (It gets moved to the bed when we use it, then moved back to the arm. Stupid, I know.)
Both things didn’t take much time, but made me feel so much better!
Reminiscing // About being in Hawaii exactly 3 years ago this week. The photo above was the view from our balcony at the Westin in Kaanapali, Maui. Ahhhhhh. (Thanks Timehop app for the reminder…I think.)
Calculating // The estimated property taxes we’ll owe at the end of the year, based on the county’s new appraisal value for our house. After several years without an increase, we got a letter in the mail indicating the appraised value took a big jump for 2015. I know this is a good thing for property values in this area…but knowing our tax bill will be going up is a bummer.
Playing // With floorplanner.com as I work on one of my monthly goals (to rearrange the living room/office/guest room/bonus room). I’ve come up with a bunch of options but am having trouble picking one. I’ll write more about this next week — maybe you guys can offer some advice!
Considering // A family trip to the zoo this weekend. We don’t really have any plans, and we haven’t been since the fall. Our membership expires at the end of the month, and while we’ve already been enough that it’s paid for itself, it’d be nice to squeeze in one more visit before the weather gets hot!
Highly recommend you use one of those law firms that protests appraisal values. You don’t pay them, they get paid as a percentage of what they save you. We protest every year, our appraised value goes up anyway, but less than the first volley from the city.
Also worth checking your increase is within the homesteading laws. By law your property taxes cannot go up more than 10% a year or something like that.
I always love these lists. I’m the same way with decluttering–I pounce on what I come across…often a random drawer or part of my closet rather than something that should take priority such as a tabletop. Is there any hope for us? Happy weekend!
Ha! I don’t know, but I guess cleaning out even a random drawer is better than nothing, right??