Christmas Night Declutter

Now, I know this sounds weird, but I do a Christmas Night Declutter. I live alone, and there's really not that much to do when you don't have a family around you. 

So, I find something to watch on television, grab some rubbish bags and sort through some crap which I've been putting off.  I've been doing this for the past 3 years. 

And this year, I broke my record well and truly for rubbish bags!  I filled 6 rubbish bags! OMG! How good is that! While it was pouring rain outside, and I watched 'The X-Files' and some other movie on television, I was at it. I cleaned out 3 Green Bags and filled up those rubbish bags in no time flat! I'm so happy with my progress!

And man, I found things I've been looking for! 

Anyway, there's still things I need to get done for the next week in the cleaning out stakes - before New Years Eve - to make the living room liveable and tidy on a more permanent basis. Then? Well, it's onto my bedroom and I have to make sure it's all tidy there too, because next month, I'll be in a different location for a while. 

But it's also a personal thing too. I want to have a tidy home - like everyone does - but my place isn't that big, and it's something I'd like to get right at some point in my life. So, how are you doing with your cleaning out right how? It's Boxing Day, and I'm wondering, do you get into the cleaning out now or in the New Year? 

Donation Day!

Well! Today, I looked around my house and gathered up a few last minute things to put in my car. No, not in the Donation Box, but in the boot of my car. 

I walked around the bedroom and looked at the bags I had sitting on the floor of my bedroom and thought about the last time I used them - if it's been a year or six months - and they were tossed out into the hallway. They were added to the boot of the car. 

Then, the 1970's piece I've had for a few years sitting next to my pantry, clogging up that area has been cleaned out and pulled out of that spot. But I wanted to use another set of drawers, which were similar to that - to store a lot of things into them and clear out a lot of what was sitting around next to the pantry.
What I was looking for was sitting out on my art work bench! It was a set of drawers my friend, Ian, gave me a couple of years ago. Yep, it had been staring at me in the face! So, I cleaned out that set of drawers and tossed out a lot of crap from that and pulled that set of drawers from that area and placed it into the spot next to the pantry. And it's a perfect fit!

Well! I added another basket I'm no longer using, two handbags I don't use anymore and a box of goodies which have been clogging up my living room as well - and off I went to the charity store to donate! 

While I was there, I went dress shopping. Now, my wardrobe isn't what it used to be in the dress department; and so this is a good thing for me. I picked up two lovely dresses: a blue and white teardrop dress - which turned out to be brand new. And I found a gorgeous little party dress, which one other customer told me to put back 'because it won't fit you'. But I tried it on anyway, and it did fit perfectly! Two dresses! I love it! Anyway, that was it, two dresses after donating all of that from my house. How are you doing with your decluttering before Christmas?

Christmas Declutter

This year has been a rough year for me, and yesterday, I just sat down and cried. Honestly, I did. I haven't had the best year due to more friends of mine passing away, and when I arrived home, I found that my house wasn't as tidy as I wanted it to be.

So, on Saturday, as you've read, I just jumped in and began decluttering and tidying up as much as I could before the sun went down. I completely unpacked my bag, sorted out the dirty laundry and worked out what needed to be done. 

Now, I'm in such a zone about it all, I've moved some of the furniture around the office so I can get to the wardrobe in that room properly, have gone through some of my wardrobe in my bedroom and have gotten together some of the stuff in my living room in the Donation Box, all ready to be dropped off at the local charity store.

I have still yet to put away all of the laundry, clean the bathroom floor, put away anything not needed over the New Year into the wardrobes and then tidy up in the home office properly... that won't take long, but I'm looking forward to getting in and making sure my house is cleaned out better. And after the art area was such a great success, the living room is next! I'm not worried too much about how much I'll be throwing out, so long it's gone.

So, how about you all? Seeing that the end of the year is just around the corner, what have you got planned for your place in the coming new year? Is there a home office renovation you've been hanging out to do? Or are you going to clean out the garage in a big way? Or how about your backyard? Are you looking into cleaning it up, renovating it and making it into a place you and your family want to spend more time being in next year? And you know how it goes: the devil's in the details of decluttering, okay? Plan ahead, don't buy too many storage container - not until you need them (yes, count how many your needs are first, then buy). And most of all: if you need help, don't feel bad about asking for it. 

Well, that's the best advice I've learned about decluttering over the past few years - especially while writing on this blog; even when there's been next to no comments. I do know people are reading what's here. Anyway, I hope you do have a great Christmas and Holiday Season, and wish you a very Happy New Year. I won't put down a Weekend Challenge for the next few weeks, so you can spend time with your families. I will be back in early January. 

Holidays

I've been on a week's holiday; and just returned yesterday - Saturday. It's been a good week, and I've gotten myself straight into cleaning out immediately.

Isn't it funny in a strange kinda way when you go on holidays when you come home, and you just can't stand your house? I think it's because you take only what you need with you, and when you return, you find it so much easier to throw out what you no longer want anymore.

Well, I did just that last night, mere hours after unpacking. I had filled a rubbish bag with crap and tossed it out. I have a second bag filled and it's by the door. And now, there's a box from this morning's fruit and veggie run too by that door too. I'm doing really well so far. I've also got to fill up the rubbish bag from upstairs to throw out what's in the bins upstairs - which I didn't get to fit in the bins last week.

Otherwise, while I was down the coast, I wrote out a few lists of what was needed to be done when I returned home; and now I'm back, I'm hoping to get it all done by the time I have to take off again next year. 

So, how are you doing with your decluttering? Okay... this is December's decluttering. Now, if you jump on YouTube, you'll be able to follow Peter Walsh's 30-Day Challenge and he'll help you get jump-started in your big decluttering challenge again next year. I do mine each year - and it's a great way to get into decluttering a house really well. Why not have a go at it? 

Goals Reached!

Yay! I've been working hard on a few things lately and I'm so proud of myself! But I haven't written in here lately because I've been taking part in the National Novel Writing Month... a big thing for a writer like me. With that, I'm going really well. 

Over the past year, I've wanted to buy new pillows for the bed - European Pillows - and today I finally went out to Big W and did it! They look wonderful and stylish. And the best thing was that they were on sale; so were the covers!

I also got in and sorted out one of the shelves in the hallway to the kitchen and threw out three glass bottles and moved a lot of things off one of the shelves. This was to make room for my recipe books from under my sink for my baking trays and mixing bowls - which are sharing space with my Corningware.

With Christmas coming up, it's really kicked me up the butt to get in and clean my house in a huge way. I'm looking forward to doing this in a major way due to my folks helping me out next year with my house - while I help my brother and his family with their house. You see, I've been asked to house sit my brother's place on the other side of town. Of course I've jumped at the opportunity, and this means I have to finish cleaning out my house. 

The filing cabinet will be remove from my house soon, and I'll be using a good, sturdy table from my storage for the computer until I get a new desk. 

And you know, I really can't wait until this home office really takes shape - even though it began to take shape in September when I moved a bookcase and my Grandpa's Writing Desk around and put his diaries into a box to make it easier for me to get to them. There is still a lot to do in this room. 

I also have to clean out my wardrobe again - seeing I've begun buying dresses which fit me at op-shops and stopped wearing dresses which don't suit me anymore. But that will be done in the new year. 

So, how is your place going? All good I hope. I have reached some major goals, and set new ones to reach as well. I hope you've done the same as well as the year draws to a close over the next month. As December comes around, I'd love to hear from you all to hear of your achievements, and how far you've come in your decluttering story. 

Big Clean-Out Starts!

Well, yesterday, I got in and cleaned out the newspaper holder next to my chair and threw out old newspaper, and other junk from that holder, sorted through it and moved it upstairs into my bedroom, where I changed that grey one into my office/study and moved the one in there to the living room (yes, I have more than 3 of these old newspaper holders). 

After that, I sorted through my yarn and put it into the big bag of knitting yarn (to be looked into later) and then vacuumed the living room floor and under the chair and around where the newspaper holder usually sits. Then, I put back into that holder only what is going to be used in it - and nothing else.

Now, there's 3 items in the donation box with a big bag of rubbish in the bin. And that's just from the living room. 

Today, I'm pulling down all the Christmas Ornaments and putting it all away. Then, I'm going to put some of the archive boxes away in the wardrobe in the office and organise the third archive box I've had since July last year to pack away more of my personal items from my life. Yep, today is going to be a busy day. 

So, what are you getting up to today? Are you doing what I'm doing with the decorations? Or are you picking something else to do this year? Are you looking back on another challenge from last year to jump into? 

Been A While

Hi there.

Well, it's been a couple of weeks for me to be here; and there's a good reason. I've been making Christmas gifts for my family and not decluttering anything much really since my last donation day. 

So, I thought if I'm not doing anything, I shouldn't write in here. 

I have been organising my record/vinyl collection and putting it up on discogs - an online site to organise and find out how much your vinyls are worth. It's a good place to put them in case something happens to your vinyl collection, then it's all there for you to show the insurance company. 

And I've also begun to sort out my art equipment. I've just recently bought myself a tabletop easel to use for when I'm on holidays and I don't have any room for a big easel. It only cost me $17.00 from Eckersley's and that was on sale - down from $30.00. Not a bad deal. 

With Christmas coming up, I'm not going to be getting you all do any weekend challenges. It's because of the holiday season coming up too. It's not fair on you or your family to have you decluttering your home while you've got family with you around this time of year. So, at the end of November, I'll be updating you about what I'm doing around my home, but you don't have jump in an join in.

I'll start up the decluttering journey again in January and we'll get ourselves back on track again, okay? Sounds like a plan. 

Back to Normal

By traditional standards, the 6th, January is the 12th Day of Christmas and the very last day to have your tree and decorations up in your house.

So, today, I pulled down my boxes from the wardrobe and put the tree away. 

And seeing that around 2 - 3 years ago, I organised myself to have this all sorted into plastic boxes, I found that the way I decorate my tree and house and put it all away doesn't take half the day. 

It only takes around an hour... and you know, I decluttered some old streamers I had from my late-Uncle I didn't want anymore. So, what I did was added them to the Donation Box while I was putting away the decorations - not bad, right? So, now it's all put away and there's an empty spot where the tree used to be. 

How long does it normally take for you to de-decorate your house? If it's over 3 hours, you may want to look into how much decorating you do. If you're a person who adores Christmas, well, I'm not going to stop ya! Go for it! But I do find that if some of the decorations are getting a little old, it does pay to go and buy new ones and use them; tossing out the old ones. But the plastic boxes keeps your decorations from being eaten by something during the year that they're stored away.

And seeing it's the New Year, and we're back into the decluttering again, the Weekend Challenges are back! I scored this one from Peter Walsh's FB page today.
Go into your sock drawer and pull out your socks. Lay them out onto a flat surface - or your bed - and sort through the holy, stretched out or old ones - and throw them out. Keep the good ones and put them back. Do this in everyone's rooms.

If you're up for a second challenge, here goes:

Go to your bedside table and go through it! Toss out out of date ... um... things and items... sort out the usable things in there. And, no, I don't want to know what's there. Sort out your bedside table and make it nice, clean and usable - and not embarrassing. Let's put it this way: if anyone was to go through it while you were away, would you want them to? Right. Make it so you're not embarrassed about what's in there. 

15th Donation!

Yay! I've done it!

Today, I chalked up my 15th Donation Run - and before Christmas too! I'm so darned proud of myself, and the house is looking so much better for it too!

Man, so much has left my house; and yet so much had come into it as well... but that's what decluttering and reorganising is all about!

Now, how many donations have you done this year? If it's your first year, don't be put off on how little you've donated... even I didn't donate that much in my first year of decluttering, but as the years passed by swiftly, my donation days became more and more - and I reorganised my house to be something I could live with better.

Now, with that in mind, I'm going to take the next week off so you all can have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your families - and so can I.

I'll see you in the New Year of 2018!

Christmas Shopping Finished!

Okay! It's days away from the big day - less than a week - and I have finished all of my Christmas shopping!

And you know something? I only bought 3 brand new things... yeah, not bad is it? The rest of the stuff is all preloved, recycled and upcycled - which I think everyone is going to love! 

For the past month, I've been shopping around all the different op-shops I normally go to and looking carefully at things for my family - to see if I can either fix them up or upcycle them - and it's been fun!

Then, I went to the bank to see how much money I've got left one day about 2 weeks ago, and the lady there told me I had a Christmas account I had started at the beginning of the year! So, I cleaned that out, except around $10 and kept the transfer in place for next year! 

Now, I looked at Christmas in a whole different way!

I could afford things - a lot of things! - for my family; and I was going to op-shop the lot!

Well, yesterday, around 5 things pulled together all at once, and I felt wonderful about it all!

The vinyl for my brother found a frame.
The frame I needed for Marnie Linger's artwork was bought at a cheap store.
And all the rest of the presents were painted, glued, taped and wrapped up!

Yep, everything is under the tree...

...well, except my folks' painting.

Yeah, it's not finished yet. So, I'm going to install that in their home while they're on holidays and it'll be there when they arrive home - it'll be their surprise when they open the door and find it hanging on the wall. 

Now, that's something for them to look forward to.

Otherwise, I did spot this hall stand at Vinnies yesterday and begged, borrowed and... well, didn't steal... the money to obtain it. You see, dear readers, I've been searching high and low for a decent hall stand; and to come across one like this in my area is a rarity! It will just fit next to my door, block out the light coming in through the side door windows - while letting in a little with the fogged glass - and replace 3 pieces of furniture; which I will donate to Vinnies in the process!

So, that's a great find in itself, right? 

And seeing it's Christmas this weekend, how about we don't do a challenge? It's just too stressful and I don't want to push you too hard.

But if you want to, by all means do this one:

Go to your bookcase and choose 5 books you no longer have an interest in, know you won't ever read and know have no value at all. Put them into your Donation Box and drop them off at your chosen charity store the next time you go. 

Yep, this one is an easy one... but you don't have to do it simply because it's Christmas; and I don't want to push you. 

Christmas Shopping Made Fun

You know, I enjoy this time of year. 

I get in and do my Christmas shopping and make sure I get things for my family which are special and endearing to them - things they'll use for years and remember I bought them or made them for them.

This year, I am op-shopping and hand-making things for them - and this has made things a lot different for me.

I'm not only going to charity stores for my Christmas shopping but also I'm going there to donate more bags and boxes of goodies for other people to buy from those stores at this time of year... which makes me feel better about my house and life as well.

Today, I donated a bag of clothes which have been sitting by the side door to my car port for weeks and found it was a good day to window shop.

Yeah... sure... window shop... me?

Anyway, I found myself a nice ladder for the bathroom, a tea set from the 1960's and a set of rosary beads (why I got the latter things I'm not sure; but they've always fascinated me to no end). Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the things I bought there.

I'm going to fix up the ladder and make it look good. Otherwise, it's going to be another day out for me to look for Christmas presents.

So, how are you doing with your end-of-year cleanout? Seeing I'm working from my local library, and not at home, I'll be doing a lot of cleaning out of my house in the next few days... not a bad trade from my computer monitor dying on me. I'll get the house cleaner for Christmas. 

Christmas Shopping Time

I know, I know it's going to be a tough one for us this year - us people who find it hard to declutter with weeks to Christmas and yet will be accepting presents towards the end of the month.

Now, don't worry, you'll be fine.

You'll be better than fine.

Like in my last post, this is the best time of year to get in and work on your decluttering and make room for yourself and your new things you're going to be getting from your friends and relatives.

This is also the best time of year to get in and look around your local op-shops and thrift stores for presents for your loved ones.

Yep, you heard me. 

Why spent up big at the huge retail shops when you can spend only a quarter of the money at a charity and help the less fortunate at the same time?

I've got a box of goodies to take to my local Vinnies and will be going there in the next week or so to search out the last few presents for my family with a friend from the USA... who is also in love with op-shopping too.

In the meantime, I'm making other presents from scratch... for example, I'm doing a painting for my folks, making Limoncello for my Aunty and knitting a t-towel for my Sister-in-Law... all hand-made stuff and it'll all be ready for Christmas by the time the big day comes around. 

And I can't wait!

Not only will I have not bought so many new things this year, but I'm also trying to clean out as much of my place as possible. 

Weekend Challenge: it's time to put up the tree and decorations - December 1st - and so, what needs to be done is to put away things that you're going to store for the next few weeks. 
What's a good idea is to buy a few plastic boxes for your Christmas decorations. Not only will they be protected throughout the year, but when you move house, nothing will get broken.  Also, you can sort out what decorations you want to keep and which ones you want to give away to charity. 

That Christmas Time Of Year

I enjoy Christmas, truly I do! And it's this time of year when I put away my usual things I've been doing around the house, and pull down the tree and decorations for Christmas.

It's also the time of year I seriously get into closets and declutter on a major scale! I clean up the living room, put bag upon bag of old clothes, shoes and other items I no longer want or need into the boot/trunk of the car and take them off to the op-shop and make sure I have enough space for the incoming lot of new presents from family next month.

This is also the time of year where I send off Christmas cards and shop for presents.

However, this year is going to be so much more different from other years from the past. I'm going to hand-make or op-shop my Christmas presents for my family and see how I go with them. Not only am I not all that stressed out about this endeavour, but I know I'm going to save myself a heap of money in the next month!

For example, I've got Christmas Parties coming up - where I normally spend a lot of money at them. But this year, seeing I'm op-shopping for my family, that won't be the case. I'll be saving myself the cash and only looking and window-shopping at markets and art galleries - there's not going to be the guilt purchases I have made from years ago.

This is going to be a different style of shopping for me; and I think I'm going to enjoy it. 

So, what do you think? How about you give it a try? Instead of jumping online and burning a hole in your credit card or battling the mobs at the huge shopping centres, how about you go into your local big thrift store and find presents for your loved ones? Not only will you be buying something preloved, and lovely, but you'll be giving money to a worthy cause.

And this week's Weekend Challenge is the same as mine:  go through your closets, cupboard and around the house and pull out the things you've been holding onto to use for the past few years. 

Start small and go for just 10 minutes one day and put them into a bag or a box and take it straight to the car. Then the next day, do another lot of 10 minutes to look around again in another room. 

Don't rush and really think about the last time you used that item. Then, when you've got about 3 bags - or boxes - in the boot of your car, take them to your charity store and donate. It'll be the best thing you'll do all season.