Your Turn!

Okay, I've been talking about this journey I've been on for a little over a year now, and it's been fun. Many things have been organised, thrown out and donated.

The Weekend Challenge has become something of a success for both you and me.

And now, I think it's time for you all to jump in and let us know how you're going on your journey. 

Are you jumping in with both feet and being the organising queen/king of your house? Or is it a little at a time - and you're feeling a little as though you're bogged down with it all? 

If you're feeling the latter, that's okay. At the beginning of this, I felt as though I couldn't let anything go - but then I had to because I wanted to make room for new things and ideas for my own place. So, it was a necessity for me to get rid of a whole lot of things before I added anything to my house. 
And yes, it does look like World War III started up in your living room, home office or bedroom at first. But once you get past the fact that you're gonna have to make a bigger mess to clean the out the junk room or other rooms, it does get easier. 

I'm not saying I don't get overwhelmed - I do! This is why I have a great friend to help me out when I know I'm going to get overwhelmed. It takes a good person to know when you're going to get overwhelmed on a project. 

Other than that, how is your decluttering going? Have you made any progress on your more difficult rooms? If you think they're going to be too hard, just take it one drawer, one closet, one glory box/hope chest at a time. It's the smaller things that make the bigger things a lot easier to deal with once you need to deal with them. 

So, please do touch base here and let us know what you're up to with your decluttering projects. We'd love to know how you're doing, if you need some help or if you'd like to impart something you've found useful in your decluttering progress. 

The Basics

You know it's not just the big declutters that make a house tidy. Nope, it's the normal clean-ups that do the greatest things around the house as well.

Like making sure the rubbish goes out every day to keep the bugs and cockroaches out of the house. Cleaning the kitchen sink to keep it nice and tidy every time - as well as the benches so you can use them anytime you wish.

Then, there's the laundry - doing it in small loads so you're not stuck with a huge lot of it and wondering how it got to that stage is a good idea as well. 

I call this stuff the basics. 

It's the ordinary things which keep a house running like an well-oiled machine and make it feel as though there's no effort to what you're doing to keep it feel like it too.

Personally, I keep a shopping list on my phone through the Playstore called 'ShopShop' and it's free! It's a great thing to have and I make a list when my pay is about to come in. The thing to do is to only buy what you need, not what you think you need... so yes, go through that pantry and the fridge and make sure you have enough pasta, sugar and cereal before going out and buying too much of it all; and thus wasting your money.

I've gotten into the habit of making my bed at around 2pm or so. It's so my bed is aired out during the day (no matter what the season) and it's ready for me that night when I do want to sleep in it. 

But really, there's a hundred small habits I've gotten myself to do over the past few years, which I've stuck by, to keep my place running better and to make my life easier. 

What habits have you picked up and utilised to make your life easier? If you think they're useful, please do share with us in the comments below.

Big Living Room Declutter!

Yesterday, I had a huge clean-out of my living room and some of its storage items. And what a great success it was!

Now, for those of you who wish to do just this, it's not about jumping in and pulling absolutely everything out and then becoming overwhelmed with it all and putting all back - that's easy to do, but stop, wait and get some back-up; aka: a good friend to help you out!

My great friend is Tutasi (if you can't pronounce her name, say Rebecca, Tutasi is her Samoan name). We go out on Thursdays usually to peruse the op-shops and pick up nice things for our homes - and in turn, we also declutter our homes and throw out and donate what we no longer need. It's a give and take thing; and not a bad way to live.

Well, yesterday was a decluttering day and I really needed the help with my living room. Okay, I got some of it done, but not all of it. The credenza has been a great success, and I've added some more things to it to make it look more lovely too... and the shelves are better now too - not cluttered anymore.

However, I had to clean out behind the living room chairs and the entertainment unit. And I couldn't put that off any longer. You see, I have to go into hospital next month for day surgery... and even though it's just a day, recovery takes a few days; and a messy house isn't a good thing to hang about in. And so, the big clean up of the living room was not only something I really needed to do for myself, but something which was needed for my time soon.

We started with the entertainment unit; pulling out all the things inside there. I have a lot of boxes which are part of 'The Bird Collection' and so, I kept them for when I move house in the future, so the nice items will go in these boxes and not get broken. Then, I pulled out a lazy susan which I was saving for a 'special occasion' - and really, when will that be? - so I put it on the credenza. The second ice box went up there too; to join my bar collection of items to be there when I need it.
This left room for me to get in and sort through my cds I took out of the credenza. I threw out anything with scratches on the cds themselves - and unfortunately there were quite a few of them; of great bands and singers. Bummer, I really liked them too. Otherwise, I put some in the unit and my Mozart cds in one of the towers which still had room.

Otherwise, Tutasi pulled out all of my paperwork from behind the chairs. Yes, I have a bad habit of hiding things like this behind them - and it's something I have to get out of the habit of. Very quickly, in a 'yes and no' manner, I sorted through old receipts and other things I didn't need or had found after months of searching. 

We organised my shoes, books, bags and anything else which needed looking into and ended up tossing out 2 big bags of rubbish, one bag of scratched cds and sorting out old piano music into a box (which I'll be using to store more of until I get to the QSL in the city at some point in my life to donate). Otherwise, we had a wonderful tuna salad for lunch and that night, I made my famous vegetable soup.

Today, I've still got a few things to put away - but then there's the vacuuming and dusting to do and living room will be a better place for me to enjoy and to keep as tidy as I can. 

Okay! Time for the weekend challenge! It's time to sort out shoes. Pull out your shoes... all of them guys and girls... and line them up. Now, we all have a bit of a collection of slippers, cross-trainers, heels and other types of shoes; but we don't get around to wearing all of them - yes we have our favourites. It's time to pick out the ones you haven't worn in about 2 years; this give you the whole 4 seasons to look fully. And if you've just dug out a pair of shoes and said: 'OMG! I haven't even seen these in... um... wow, I don't remember wearing these last year!' it's time to clean them up and donate those puppies! Let us know how you go!

Credenza Clean-Out

This week, I've been busy and a little burnt out. Not only have I cleaned out a good lot of my books and am currently giving them away, I also cleaned out my large credenza in my living room and placed in the shelf from it to organise it properly.

It's looking so much better than it did before. 

I took out everything from inside it and used the duster to clean out the dust and dirt. Then, I wiped the whole thing over with anti-bacterial wipes to get into the corners. Then, I cleaned the glass doors on it and made sure it all dried out properly before putting back only what needed.

But first, I had to install that shelf.

When I tried to put the shelf holders in, they didn't fit! I was in a bit of a bind because if they didn't fit, the shelf wouldn't be supported properly... so after a break I looked through some of my art gear and thought that dowel would go well! And it did! I slotted in the shelf and have it looking all sorted out and working now!

The one thing I still have to organise the where the cassette tapes go - I have plans to turn that into a proper little drawer for my coaster collection, so I'm not diving into a box all the time. 

So, this week, I've sorted through books, and have some book bags to send off, and might have some to donate to Vinnies and other charities (I might even send some to other places like a prison if needs be). And I have clothes to donate as well. 

There's still my old sandwich toaster to deal with... do I toss it out or donate it? This is the question rolling around in my head. I have a new one already and it works really well - I love it - but the old one still makes weird noises. 

Okay! I haven't put up a Weekend Challenge for a while. So here goes: it's time to get into your credenzas, china hutches or your hall tables. Anywhere where you store junk. Yes. The junk drawers are getting it this weekend. One by one, empty out the drawers and organise what will go in each drawer. Throw out old batteries, and keep the good ones (make sure you keep them in their original containers otherwise you can cause a fire - honestly you can!) and make sure your family knows what's going on too! Get them into this with their own private junk drawers in their bedrooms - and don't say they don't have one... I know they do. 

Book Collection Clean-Out

I love books as much as the next person, but there does come a time when the good ol' book collection needs a clean out and the bookshelves need a dusting.

Now, last week, I helped out a friend at Sunnybank with her collection; and this time, it was my turn to ask for help from another friend of mine who's wonderful at helping me out with decluttering - but this time, we had to just sort through what I was and wasn't reading. 

No biggie right? 

Um... not really.

As I climbed the ladder to upper-most books, I found some that I hadn't seen in such a long time, I'd forgotten they were around! 

So, down they came from that top shelf and I sorted through them in to the 'Yes I'll keep', 'Not Sure' and 'Donate' piles. First though, I sorted out the series of books and figured out which ones I'd like to read - and which ones I won't be getting into... and found a series Mum asked me about by Robin Hobb; which I set aside for her. 

Once I had all the books down and I sorted them into those piles, I went to work looking at what knowing what I wanted at a glance, and what I didn't want immediately. I put the books I wished to read over the next year or so at the front of the shelf and ones I'll look at next time at the back - with the larger books on the bottom and the smaller ones towards the top - as they do when building a pyramid. 

Over the next three or four hours, we worked through not only my own collection, but the books I had acquired last Wednesday and found that I had grabbed books there I didn't need as well. I've put them off to one side to give away too. 

By the end of the afternoon, I had filled 3 boxes and was happy with the books I had parted with in them. I had also pulled a pile of books together for a sci-fi reading friend as well (as he knew I was going to sort out my collection; and is always on the lookout for new reading material, knowing that mine is some of the more interestingly out-there kind). 

So, how do you sort through your books? Or are you the more hi-tech kinda person and keep all your reading material on a Kindle or Kobo? Let us all know about your collection and how you keep it. 

Helping Out

As much as I love to declutter my little townhouse, I also enjoy helping others to declutter as well.

Last Wednesday, I did just that with a friend of mine at Sunnybank Hills when she put out a call for help on Facebook. She had a lot of books and her family and herself were on the verge of moving; and she had to get in and downsize them - much to her sadness.

I volunteered to help her out with the decluttering of them. 

After 2 hours and a good strong cup of coffee, we made a great lot of books into two piles of what she wanted to keep and what I happily took away for her.

Now, before you tell me that I'm cluttering up my home again - I'm not. This weekend was supposed to be me decluttering my library; however, it's not to be. It's been so humid and disgusting that I have had to chill out and wait it out until the weather becomes a little cooler for me to climb ladders and work on the book collection.

This weekend, I'm looking into working on the credenza. You see, I spotted a lovely buffet at Life Line, and thought it might look nice here at home. But the more I looked at the photo I took, the more work it looked liked it would take to get it ready to be here at home with me... so I decided to good clean out of the credenza would be a better option. 

And with this heat, it is! 

So, what have you been doing this weekend to get yourself worked out for this year? I have two big decluttering projects to work on right now - the credenza and the book collection - and they'll keep me busy over the next few days. Please do leave a comment and let us all know how you're doing.