I have a list of things to do before I turn 46.  There currently are 24 on the list but I want to get to 45 by the end of today  so I have 6 months to work on accomplishing them.  I am really terrible about resolutions so of course I have waited until February to even begin the idea of making personal goals.  So I wanted to try something a little funner this year.  Last year I made two resolutions, one to quit smoking and the other to loose 20 pounds... I haven't done either at all. So I am not going to even try to push myself to the same disappointment in myself this year. All of the things on my list are tangible, doable things.... things like: try a new recipe from those that I have pinned on Pinterest or learn how to knit.  See achievable.  There of course are a couple that are ambitious, but seriously accomplish-able   Things that I should be able to do and should do.

Sometime this week actually I am hoping to finish my list and then post it on the sidebar over there -------> for all to see and that way I will be held accountable!  

I have been doing a massive clean of nearly every part of my life.  

The major decluttering isn't just for show this time at home.  This is a deep dive.   Last time I went through this exercise I think I might have gotten rid of a few sweaters and some clothes.  This has been pretty major.  I am really very proud of myself.  It comes down to realizing that I don't really need a lot of stuff.  A few weekends ago  I made the joke with F that seriously why don't I live more simply?  I caught myself wanting to find "stuff" to buy because I have this massive Amazon credit.  So I went and looked at my wish list and realized... I really don't need this book or that one and moved it off.  I mean this is huge for me.  Huge I tell you.  I hoarded items on my wish list even.  I went from over 250 books that I thought one day might be good to own (mostly chick lit ...which all went away) to 150 books that would be good to add to a library when we have the space.  If I really want to read a Jennifer Egan book I can realistically buy the kindle version (or check it out from the library actually) and enjoy it that way. If I want to even do that.  I might buy a camera lens that I have really really wanted instead and fuel some creativity. By the way it's a prime 1.5 lens that is completely beyond out of my price range any other way.  So I really am thinking about this stuff logically and I am really super proud of me.  

Beyond gaining back some time from releasing myself from blog hoarding (see my last post) I am making great strides to trying to better my time spent on life.  There was a really interesting post that I read from a blogger / designer / all round interesting person Erin Loechner of Design For Mankind about organizing your online life (she presented the concept at the Alt conference this year).  She verified that I am on the right track.  She posted a bit about blog hoarding and tasking properly for a better organized online existence   I have to agree with everything.  

The one thing that I very much enjoyed the most about the post was her pointing me in the direction of TeuxDeux.  It's an online todolist with a IPhone app companion piece   online.  

To say that finding this app has been good would be understating how really beneficial this is for me.  I am a passionate list maker.  This feeds into everything I am trying to accomplish with decluttering and organizing. The app is really lovely to look at on my phone and I can keep the list open online and update and sync.  I paid 10 bucks for another list app but haven't used it at all because honestly the interface is super jankie and really hard to use on an Iphone (maybe on an IPad it would be better but I can't justify lugging that around with me everywhere so the app doesn't get used at all).

It's supposed to synch with dropbox and doesn't seamlessly (I had to reload it four times today and still it's missing items - so not worth the money for that one and lesson learned for sure!)

But the TeuxDeux app is simple, easy and did I mention the really lovely interface?  Yeah it's a keeper.  I have used it for a couple of days now and it's really been great.   And just to show how I can integrate all these things into my new organized little world:  

I might have to add the 45 things list to the "someday" area of the program even once I have it fully baked.  See?  That is progress!  And a way to actually keep the list with me and in front of me at all times.  It's really so so good... 

I have even taken the idea of cleaning up my bookmarks as part of this whole mess.  I went into my bookmarks (which are a TOTAL mess and cluster actually) and started to fix them too. There are probably thousands of bookmarks that I have that are duplicates from the multiple times I have switched browsers and resynched over and over again.   I was looking for a simple app that would clean out duplicates but strangely enough there doesn't seem to be one that doesn't require logging onto a database and entering too much personal information. I find it a little odd that Chrome doesn't have that already baked into it's API but whatever. I found an extension that has helped me get rid of almost all the foxmarks/chrome sych multiples which is just ok.  It was a good start.  I think I might be able to get a handle on the whole thing by the end of the week.  

I feel like I am on the right path to get somethings accomplished which is really encouraging and exciting! First steps into it have been really scary.  Mostly along the lines of "what if I delete that feed or bookmark and realize I really didn't want to" kind of thing. But really honestly it's been incredibly liberating.  I suggest you try letting go as well.... let me know how that goes... I will be your biggest cheerleader!