Serious Down-sizing

I've been downsizing a lot since my last post. And I've also been out in the garden repotting plants and moving them around too.

I've got markets coming up, and there's something I'm really good at - packing everything I need into small spaces. And this week is no acception.

Yesterday, I was off to Vinnies at Underwood to donate 2 bags of goodies - a double bed sheet and some cds, and in the other bag books I don't read - and I took a wander around the store. There had been a deceased estate and it was filled with some great things.

From a $25 6ft Christmas Tree (without a box - why there was no box, I'll never know) to a badly-cared for carved leather handbag, to a 6-cup Corningware coffee pot (which I did nab) for just $10, that place was filled with all kinds of goodies for me to look at... but of course I'm always looking for the bargains, not just something - anything to buy - for the house.

Yesterday, I came home with 3 things: the Corningware coffee pot (in mint condition - never been used), a brand new tapestry frame and a Monte Mart table easel for displaying work; all of which came to the grand total of $13! How very cool is that? 

And yet, I was only there to look... it's always good to buy something you need and something you collect as well. 

When I arrived home, I found that the large donation box I had by the door was looking tired and was getting in the way. So, I've emptied out and taken it up to the big recycling bin; and I have replaced it with a smaller Donation Box instead. Everything can fit in it - and it fits in the car nicely - and all I do is load it up with bags of things, carry it out to the car and then bring it home. I don't take that box into the store with me, though, it stays in the car.

It's my 14th donation to charity this year... and I'm darned proud of breaking my record from last year of 9 donations. pretty good, eh? And I'm not finished... I'll be whittling things down until I have only what I need in the house - and things that will be going to my next place with me. 

Well, time for the Weekend Challenge! 

It's time to sort out your goo collection in your bathroom... yep, your shampoos, conditioners, shower gels and soaps you don't use; or you're 'saving for a visitor'. Get a rubbish bag, take a really good look at what you're not using (yes this includes bubble baths and bath bombs too) and then, toss them into the bag, and out into the bin outside! Go back into the bathroom, give it a good wipe-over and look in the place where that goo collection was... don't you feel so much better? Yep, so did I when I cleaned out that goo collection! This will only take around 10 minutes to do... so, off you go! 

Rain

I find that when the weather turns against us, it's the best time to get in and do some serious cleaning. 

It's raining here in Queensland - and I mean it's really raining big! We're getting a few months' rain in 2 weeks; this mean big numbers on the rain gauges. But of course living in the sub-tropics, this isn't anything really. 

Over the past 7 years, I've seen some serious rain, and I've bought some great things to use when it does arrive - after all, I was brought up here in Brisbane, and we have had all kinds of weather, from huge heatwaves to sleet and almost snow to inch-thick ice on our windscreens. Yep, we've seen it all.

So, when Brisbane flooded way back in 2010-11, I went out and bought myself one of the most expensive clothes horses on the market from Howards Storage World. Believe me, I was happy I did that then and not now as the price of the thing has gone up! And what a great piece it is! I love it! I bought it for $125 (delivery included - so it was $109) and it's served me very well since then. 

However it's not just that which has helped me around the house during those dreadfully wet days. I've found that I do my best cleaning, vacuuming and decluttering when the weather is unfavourable outside. 

I know! That just sounds nutty, doesn't it? 

But it's true!

In the past few weeks, I've finally gotten my vinyl and cd collection indexed and sorted out the music I don't want in my collection too. I've also been able to just look at something and easily say: 'Nope, don't want that anymore.' Years ago, I used to hesitate in the worst possible way. Now, I've easily gone through a bag or two in half an hour and it's done! 

The rain also helps us vacuum the house better - yep, statistics are right on the button there! It's the lack of the dry weather outside which keeps the dust in our houses to a minimum... which is great if you're wanting to vacuum the house! So, the next time it's raining outside and you have the time to clean the house, get out the vacuum and run it over the carpets! Your nose will thank you later. 

Otherwise, here's your first Weekend Challenge:  Get a box and pull out everything from the drawer in your kitchen which has the toys/things you use in your cooking. Put them all in that box. Clean that drawer completely and properly, and then over the next month, only put back what you really use. Whatever's in that box by mid-November, you don't really need. Or if they are things you rarely use, put them into zip-lock bags and put them away so you can lay your hands on them at the right times. 

Vinyls & CD's Sorted

I've been working on my house for years... but the detailed stuff has been staring me in the face.

You know the detailed stuff - the collections of things that you walk past every day, the things you love to collect, to add to but you've never gone and put them into any particular kind of order? Well, for me, it was time to look into my vinyl and cd collection. So, the first thing I did was go out and buy large index book. You can buy these at a newsagents for around $10 - they're nothing fancy; so long they've got the index and are in hardcover, you're good.

Now, a few weeks ago, I organised which vinyls/records I play the most, to the ones I play the least - and this has worked to my advantage. This made writing it all out all the more easier. I started with the most-played vinyls, then worked back from there... writing down the artist and then the vinyl (and if I have multiple copies, I put down how many and if one is opened and the other still in wrappings - it makes all the difference in value). 

Well, after 3 days and a couple of nights, I finally worked out my whole collection of music. I pulled out the vinyls I no longer want and put them into a box for my brother... then I pulled out all my cds and wiped them over with a cloth and got all the dust and grease off them from not being played. 

I really didn't know just how much music I really did have... and how many cds have been stolen by my so-called 'friends' over the years. There were around 5 cds I can't account for - and yet I know I bought them... and they were in the collection only about a year or two ago; and yet I haven't loaned them to anyone. So, yes, they were stolen by somebody who has been near my cds. But seeing I don't know who took them, I can't point fingers... I can only replace them.

Anyway, I'm pleased I got all that done. I've separated some cds I really don't want anymore, as well as put away some of them which I just can't part with just yet (but will in the near future as they're from a dear friend who moved away and he hasn't been gone a year yet... I don't know what to do with the cds he gave me). 

But the music is all sorted now. This is good.

Now, onto my book collection! Oh my dear lord! Just how am I going to do that??? There's so many! 

Now, if you have a suggestion to sort books and keep an index of them, please do drop a line in the comments - I'd love to learn about it. Otherwise, how is your decluttering going?  

Getting My S**t Together

Okay, okay, I was downright lazy last week - nothing got done.

This past few days, I jumped in feet first and got things done. 

The vinyl collection is halfway through being indexed.
The laundry is almost finished put away - and I mean all of it!
I've organised and reorganised myself for the markets this weekend (yes, this includes my float too!).
I've made sure I washed up every night before going to bed.

The house is beginning to look like a house again; after I've been sitting around and just knitting dishcloths for the market for so long. 

Now, it's becoming hotter here too... so I have to be careful about how much work I get done during the day; as the days are really heating up very quickly - quicker than they normally do at this time year - and so I'm up nice and early getting as much done as I can before I end up doing other organising things around the house.

This is best thing about getting the smaller things done during the day - like the vinyl collection; as it's just sitting and writing down the titles of the vinyls in the cool of my living room. But once that's done, I've got other things to do as well - I've got a Donation Box to fill, the shopping bags to organise (which ones to keep; and which ones to throw away) and the floors to wash as well as the normal chores (cleaning the bathroom and toilets and vacuuming. If the day cools off - as they've promised - I'll get the vacuuming done... if not, it'll have to wait for another day. 

So, how have you been doing in your decluttering? All good? In a week or two, I'll be uploading a few challenges to get us going in decluttering; and we'll see how far we get with them, okay? 

Good Planning

Along with good planning is the follow-through. 

I'm great at planning to do things, but sometimes, the following through takes time. It's not that I'm lazy, it's because I have other things going on in my life at the same time.

This is okay - it's how things turn out for most of us.

However, I've planned a lot of things lately, and they've become plain and ordinary things which have sat on the sidelines until I've had to get in and really do them at the last minute. This isn't okay for me. I don't like leaving things like that.

Well, this weekend, I'm hoping to get in and do more around the place which will help me work out next week. And like in one of my other posts, I did say that the devils' in the details, didn't I? It's the small things which turn into bigger things that keep us from getting on with our lives.

So, this is where all of this start to really stop us from doing what we want to do. 

I've got laundry to put away, a painting to wrap in cellophane, a vinyl collection to put into an index book (this is because it's ever-growing and I'll find it easier for insurance and legal purposes to have it all written down). Also, I have to get in and make the bed, vacuum and bedroom, clean the bathroom and toilets (yes, I have two) and then wash the floors of my house as well. 

Like I said, I've left things until the last second; which isn't a good thing. Oh well, it happens to everyone. I have got some planning organised - which is playing well for me. The dishcloths for the market are ready, and I've got the painting all organised, as well as my business cards - these are good things. 

So, how's your place doing? Is it going well? Or have you let it go a little like I have? This does happen to people from time to time.