The Declutter Checklist: 2026

Hope To Have Done In 2026

These will be marked done but this part of the list will only be up for 2026. Hopefully none of these crossover to 2027.

Clear The RSS Feeds

current count: 120, mostly videos, but one video feed is so long that my reader only lists the last 50. Might be high for awhile. Hoping to watch one a day plus stay caught up on articles and webcomics

Clean out under the pinball machine

It’s a mess under there. This mostly means organizing my VHS tapes and other things that ended up under there.

Clearing behind the toybox

This one I don’t know if I’ll complete or not. I can’t get to the storage alcove because the door is behind where I have my toybox, where I now change and store my shoes, and there’s a bunch of stuff between the door and the box. I want to see if anything can be done with at least some of it.

Go over my microphones

I have a bunch of old and (thanks a friend) newer microphones. I want to see what is usable, and then figure out what to do with the ones I can’t use. You’d be amazed what there’s a market for when it comes to old gear for the reasons I want to see what I can make work.

Go over my art supplies

All my pens and paper’s mostly. Most of my art lately has been digital but I want to do something with all the papers I have. Even all the below lists will require the right notebook, and I want to redo the art supply drawer dividers. What’s there now is a good proof of concept but I need to alter the design and use stronger cardboard. I can’t do that until I go over what I have.

List all my games

Apart from the PC games I have an Atari 800, NES, GBA, CD-I, and some old LCD handheld games. I kind of have partial list with my old high scores list but I really want to have a definite list.

List all my software

I’ll be making lists of various games and other software and divide them by operating system. Then I’ll see what I do and don’t need and choose my next options.

How many wires do I have?

HDMI, audio cables, who knows what else? I organized them but I don’t have a list of all the stuff I have that I can easily go through without digging the bags out. I want to check at a glance what I have in case I need to use them.

Long Term Goals

I would be surprised if these are done this year. At least I hope to make progress on them, but if I do complete one, that will be very cool.

Clear out the YouTube backlog

Long term goal. Still too many to count

Selling off comics I don’t want

This might end up getting done this year, depending on whether or not I can sell off the ones already partitioned off and if I want to add to it in the next run-through.

Selling off toys I don’t want

Mostly Transformers and action figures. Once that’s done I’ll look into making a place to display the figures I’m keeping so I can create a different diorama every month.

Complete list and scan of every comics I own

I want to know every comic I have after I sell them and have digital versions of my collection for my own use. I won’t upload them for pirating but it would be a benefit to my other site. This includes scans of comics I want to get rid of just because of the other site.

Complete list of the music I own

I have enough for this year’s goals, so I’m putting a list of all the records, tapes, and CDs I own.

List all my home videos

VHS, DVD, and a few video CDs plus anything I recorded myself in various formats. I want to know all the videos I own before I decide what to do with them next.

Does Decluttering Make You Messier?

 

Plans fell through this week, but I was considering doing this instead for an article anyway. This time using a video isn’t a filler but one I wanted to share with you guys. After all, this is about decluttering with the goal of having an easier time managing my stuff. The idea is using my mindset for me: “I have an article to write, I must clean something!” And if anyone gets a benefit from following my progress, so much the better. Even the reviews are going towards that goal, seeing if I really want to keep something or not and why. Plus there’s the Clutter For Sale section, which hasn’t been completely useless.

Sometime during the week and without prompting, YouTube recommended “How Decluttering Is Actually Making You Messier”, a video by That Practical Mom. This isn’t a decluttering method video, like some I’ve used as actual filler. (…too many times last year.) Instead, the host, Kallie Branciforte, looks at how we might be doing it wrong by being trapped in a cycle. From the video description:

If decluttering really worked, we’d only have to do it once. Meaning most of us would be done by now. But, that’s not what happens… why? I’m digging into an interesting fact I’ve come to know about decluttering. How most of us get caught in a loop: Buy, accumulate, declutter, feel better, repeat. Why? And how do we get out of this loop?

I don’t know if we ever stop decluttering. I have bought few new things since I’ve been out of work and sick. And yet I still find that some of my methods have been incomplete or some of my records have piled up as I get medical reports and other things in the mail. Sometimes a layout I made turned out to not work or I want to redo the dividers in my art supply drawers. (I’m bouncing between two ideas on that. Hopefully I’ll choose something soon, which you’ll see in action here on this site.) So there are more issues that this loop. That doesn’t mean that she’s wrong, either, since I started this site while I still had regular income and there had to be a problem there somehow. Let’s look at her video and see if she indeed does have a point. We can always do better. Also, hamster trivia. ‘Kay.

Transformers Toy Report> Goldbug

Goldbug is rare among non leader characters in that his toy’s character got an upgrade with a new name. (Note I specifically said “character” for later.) Bumblebee’s original function on his tech spec was espionage. He used the least amount of fuel because he was the smallest Autobot at the time, but also the weakest. He also strived for acceptance from the larger Autobots, the spec calling out Optimus Prime and Prowl by name, though we saw little of his Prowl idolizing in media. “The least likely is the most dangerous”, his profile quote, may be accurate but my favorite comic story showed that he had the same confidence issues I had as a kid and still have today.

So when Bumblebee got a new body to keep the character alive, the name change was not expected. Optimus Prime used to be Orion Pax in the cartoon, Megatron and Hot Rod would be reborn and Galvatron and Rodimus Prime respectively (both hidden from their specs to not spoil their movie debut), but they were leaders, and it wasn’t until the “Unicron Trilogy” that characters would get a new name with a new body. Bumblebee would get a promotion to “espionage director” and as Goldbug got his own team, the Throttlebots. As you can see from the spec above he was now more confident, realizing what he thought of himself was more important than what others thought of him. He was more confident and mature, but never depicted as becoming an egotistical jerk. He still loved to swim. This was evolution for Bumblebee as a character…in the toy profiles! While specifics differ between media, the general idea is that at some point Bumblebee is blown up and rebuilt in a new body that just happens to match the Throttlebots by someone unfamiliar with his design.

I wanted to test my photo stage, and it turns out I don’t have the right lighting for a poster board green screen. Green reflected onto the toy and I had shadows so trying to chroma key didn’t go as planned. Still, I got my photos and you get a toy review because I haven’t done a lot of those lately and I want to get back into it.

Prepping For Winter Power Problems

Photo by Michael Solo on Pexels.com

In 2011 we had a surprise October snowstorm that knocked out power in my part of Connecticut for almost a week. We had to stay with my grandmother because she had power and my mom was on 24/7 oxygen at the time. Sleeping on the floor was no fun. Usually we’re better prepared in this state. It’s Connecticut. We have some serious snowstorms. Before I was born there was apparently one so high the snow covered the doors.

So with concerns that ice may damage the power lines coming from the news weather forecasters, this week’s project had to put decluttering mostly on the backseat. I say mostly because I took the opportunity to start that big list of stuff I own, starting with what I was going to need to get through a day or so of power loss. Dad handled getting water set for drinking and flushing the toilet, and we both handled our communication and entertainment needs. We already had plenty of food and other beverages, including flavored bottle water. Shovels are ready and we have enough fuel for the snow thrower and generator plus the BBQ grill and griddle for cooking, although the generator we have is only good for keeping running water, the refrigerator, and maybe some electric heaters for one room in the house.

So at least there’s enough here to make an article out of. This might be a bit late for some of you, but beyond the usual food, water, and heat, here’s what else you might need to think about.

Choosing The Right Notebook

One of my goals for this year is to make a list of stuff I own. Not everything, just the stuff I have put away that I might need. Mostly this means electronics. The problem is how to go about it.

Over the Christmas break I tested out using a series of index cards to keep track of my Christmas decorations. While I think I might want to change the way I laid it all out, following them to put the decorations away worked out. It’s not a perfect checklist because I don’t think the formatting worked as I hoped but I’m confident I actually didn’t forget one like I’ve done most years. It’s an experiment that will continue next Christmas when I put them out again.

I could do this mission with a spreadsheet, but that means bringing up the program, finding the right sheet, and while it sounds easy this could actually be a hassle when all I want to do is see if I have the right HDMI or audio cable. Somehow I have managed to gain a bunch of notebooks, possibly too many notebooks. So picking one should be easy to make the checklist I want. Right? Sometimes you can have too many choices if none of them are right for the task. Fortunately I figured out a great way to use something else I wasn’t sure if I could use until now.

My 2026 Decluttering Goals

I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m starting 2026 with a brand new declutter goal checklist. Last year I managed to hit some of my goals…using the 2024 goals as my guide. I made one goal in 2024 and a couple more in 2025. Clearly the list had some flaws given my scheduling issues and just how big my RSS feed backlog is, especially when it comes to video content. It’s all I have left so long as I keep up with the articles and webcomics I try to read everyday. So far I’ve kept up with that but the video backlog is still way too massive.

In all I did three of the eight projects on that list. Using the same list every year and just adding another year feels like a bad motivational plan. So I decided to do something smart. It’s rare but it happens now and then. So I redid my entire list with what I hope is a bit more common sense, one that I could adjust every year. With a better idea of what is and isn’t achievable, I separated the list into two parts: goals I think I can accomplish this year, and more long term decluttering goals.

This is my assessment article. I want to examine what I pulled off last year not only in my checklist but on this site, with a look to how to improve both. I kind of went over it in part in last week’s video but this is focused on the declutter side of things. As I prepare to start my 2026 declutter journey what does my current situation look like?

My Plans For 2026

Sorry for how rambly this is and that I keep jumping between topics. You can scroll through to follow the topic–videos, BW Media Spotlight, or The Clutter Reports–that interest you. I redid this enough times and I don’t want to do it again. Regular content returns next week.

Christmas Decorations 2025

Of course this is when I bow out to focus on Christmas projects, but I do plan a new declutter goal checklist when I do. Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate, or just have a great month) and Happy New Year!

Putting Out The 2025 Christmas Decorations

Saturday, when I usually do the declutter projects, was a washout. Nothing went right, so nothing went out. This week I started putting out the decorations, but as I write this only part of them have come out.

Part of the delay is that I’m trying to give myself less of a headache by creating a checklist of Christmas decorations. Right now I’m just working on a spreadsheet because it’s faster, but I’m going to turn it into a list of every decoration that should be in every box when I go to put them away. Last year was the first time I didn’t end up with a Christmas decoration left out, not spotted until everything had been put away months ago. The chart will also have a layout of how to put the smaller boxes in the big box so I don’t spend the end of decorating and undecorating trying to get everything back in place.

When that’s all done and everything’s all decorated I’ll do the usual post before taking the time off to finish my Christmas superhero comic (hopefully on time this year) and other things I need to do. Then upon my return I’ll assess what I got done this year (very little) and rather than import the current goal list to the next year–again–I’ll create a brand new list of goals that hopefully I’ll actually achieve. Many of the current checklist’s undone ideas will still be going up.

Have a Merry Christmas, one and all. Hopefully next year there won’t be as many hospital and doctor visits for my dad or me and I can focus on pulling myself together.

 

Quick Report> Another Goal Reached

If you look at the goal posting for 2024/2025 (I’m going to do a whole new one for 2026), I have another of my goals achieved. This was a somewhat minor goal, but one I needed to get done. Now the computers have all been backed up so if something happens to them I have less chance of losing important information. That’s a relief. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long and that this wasn’t probably the last goal I’ll have time for before the year ends.

Maybe I’ll get the RSS feeds cleaned out? It’s still all video content, which takes up time I could be spending on other projects, and time has been one thing I haven’t been allowed. Between my illnesses and tiredness, dad’s surgery this year and everything leading up to it, and other distractions I haven’t been able to set up the producing schedule I want and time is growing shorter. Nobody’s getting any younger here. I did managed to clean out a few of those videos this week. So that’s something.

I also had to do some email maintenance. One of the goals completed earlier this year was getting caught up on email, but if I miss too many days I have to do it again. Plus I got to go through stuff I was waiting to read for later and organize or delete them. So that was done.

Next year’s checklist is going to include stuff I was hoping to do this year–and even more annoyingly the year before that. I’m trying to focus on the wins I have but I still haven’t met my goals both in decluttering and in other projects, and I’m annoyed by that. With luck 2026 will be what this year couldn’t. The Christmas decorations will be coming out soon, but if I can find projects that work around those maybe I can start or even finish another goal before New Years. We’ll have to see what happens.