Thread: Life Altering Event

You guys are just rockin' and rollin' Sonya! And to think that you are doing this all on a broken leg, with three kids, on a farm, with the motel and the property management and all the other plates you have spinning. ...You guys just never cease to amaze me.

well, I did split one of my incisions a little bit today. opps. gotta remember not to push it too much. Is it bad that there was some yellow stuff oozing out of it?

Oh. Sorry. too graphic and WAY too off topic. </crazy talk>


A few years back, we sold everything we owned. Everything. All we kept were the following:

We each had a packpack, and were allowed to fill it with clothes. If they didn't fit in the backpace, we were not allowed to keep it.

Pictures and Books (couldn't bring myself to part with those.)
A travel trailer and car to tow it with.

Fun times. We vowed to never let the possession creep back into our lives. Looking around as I type this, I can see we failed miserably in that department. Perhaps it is time to purge again.... (and to evaluate why and how we let it creep back in...)

Originally Posted by AroundTheWorld

well, I did split one of my incisions a little bit today. opps. gotta remember not to push it too much. Is it bad that there was some yellow stuff oozing out of it?

...We vowed to never let the possession creep back into our lives. Looking around as I type this, I can see we failed miserably in that department. Perhaps it is time to purge again.... (and to evaluate why and how we let it creep back in...)

Thanks for the update Sonya.

The goal was to never have possessions again or was it to never be held down and "controlled" by those possessions?

Originally Posted by yveskleinsky

Thanks for the update Sonya.

When I go back to the doc, I'm going to ask him for a copy of an x-ray of my new bionic leg. Now THAT will be an update worth sharing.

Originally Posted by yveskleinsky

The goal was to never have possessions again or was it to never be held down and "controlled" by those possessions?

The goal at the time was to travel and to be free of the "weight" of possessions.

Now, we have lots of possessions that require lots of attention. hmmm.
Get's back to that "live your life in chapters" idea.
I guess this is the chapter of the farm.

In the process of sketching out the office space,

Aroundtheworld, this may be of use. Back when I was doing my thesis I came across a case study related to work productivity and cleanliness. The case analyzed a small company (widget assembly…) Analyzed the productivity and then made one simple change. The designated the last 10min of the day to “cleaning your work space”. Basically you had the last 10 min to clean up for the next day. As a added benefit if you completed cleaning up under the 10min you could leave your shift early.
What they initially found was an initial productivity increase, I don’t remember the % but it was significant (10%-15%) this result was expected. What was surprising was after a short time they realized an additional % improvement. What they found was the employees wised up to the idea of getting out 10min early each day and kept their work place organized and clean all day. So when the 10min bell rang they could just leave. The employer then added laying out the work for the following day in the 10min, to recoup the lost time. They found further increase in productivity because the employee was mentally prepared for the next day. It gave their subconscious the time to process the next days work. It removed the ramp-up time in the morning.

Basic takeaways:
Clean/ organized is more productive
Figure out what motivates your employees: (not working)
Empower/give ownership (work area, tools)
Communication (give the employee clear direction/actions for the following day, no surprises)

On that last bullet it ties into the concept of creating your daily actions the day before. It will allow your mind/subconscious the opportunity to solve/workout/plan the next days task and thus improve your productivity.

Thank you Scout! Rep ++

I will implement these ideas for sure!

Originally Posted by yveskleinsky

3. Sort first, then organize.

Care to elaborate on this?

Originally Posted by AroundTheWorld

Care to elaborate on this?

I just sorted a years worth of receipts that were lumped into a disorganized pile.

I sorted first -- went through the pile and made 6 different piles, each representing a different subcategory based on taxability.

Then I organized and put each pile into a respective folder which then was tossed into a box marked with the year.

..Bump..

We have seen such a positive impact (clear thinking, more time, more focused, not feeling as overwhelmed, happier kids...) from the first dumpster the second 30yard dumpster is being delivered on the 21st.

"If in doubt throw it out"

Thanks for the inspiration, while we were contemplating this for a while, we finally bit the bullet and did it ourselves(see attached images)

Now the garage and shed look like they should- garage is for the "toys" and a few tools and shed is for a little bit of storage, but mostly lawn tools

Originally Posted by Scout

"If in doubt throw it out"

This was definitely the motto! Our idea was if it couldn't be bundled on eBay or reasonably sold in a week for atleast $10 it was gone, now we're still left with about 30 boxes on the shelf of our shed mostly of old hallmark ornaments that if not sold soon will find their way to the local Goodwill.

Originally Posted by Scout

the second 30yard dumpster is being delivered on the 21st.

You're crazy! Lol, we did this all with one 20 yarder, granted a few stops were made to Goodwill in addition to the last year or so that has seen about another 20 yarder worth of stuff donated.

Either way, good luck and as this month has been deemed the month of action, will check back later, just been so busy getting everything on track

Can't believe I missed this(thanks to 30DC I've been keeping up with "the web" via Google Reader and it looks like it only gives me one reminder/thread and doesn't act as a "User CP" as well )

Anyways, about 99% of that stuff is my mom's- most was kept either to sell at garage sale/flea market or b/c it "might" be used one day in the future, one of the disadvantages of buying a house from your parents is it remains a storage facility until you do something drastic