In Isolation

The last time I went out was really early Tuesday morning - and that was to get supplies. But I've been home and haven't talked to anyone or near anyone... and this is good.

This has given me a good chance to organise my house and my garden. 

Today, I reorganised my greenhouse in the back yard for the third time - as I'm planting cherry tomato seeds and in a few days, I'll be potting up truss tomato seeds in there as well... I can't wait to see what happens. I'm hoping it all works out.
Well, if it does, I'll have some lovely tomatoes to eat in the coming months - and I'll share them as well with my neighbours.

I then organised my laundry liquids in the hallway to my kitchen where the shelving is... and managed to put everything in a nice spot there. 

Two plastic boxes in my home office are now filled with books I'm keeping from crowding up my bookcases too much. But there's a box by my front door which has to go out to the car for donation. Unfortunately, all my donations are going out into the back seat of my car until further notice, as no charity stores are taking anything for now - and they're closed anyway. 

Tomorrow, which is Friday, I'll be going through my wardrobe and sorting through all of my clothes to see what I'm keeping and what I'm donating. This is a good time to do this. And then, I'll organise my drawers again and vacuum the house, dusting everything as I go.

Yes, it'll be a busy day tomorrow - as busy as it was yesterday and today. So, how is your place going in this time of isolation? Are you cleaning out as much as I am? Or are you catching up on reading and other activities? 

House Sitting Next Year

Yes! I'm going to do a spot of house-sitting early next year; and so I really must get into cleaning my place out in a big way. 

I have been cleaning it out - don't get me wrong. Things have been donated, I've been using the cute little shredder in the home office (and it's been going gang-busters!). But really, I have to get in and do some really serious cleaning out in a huge way and be brutal about my house. 

It's something I've been lacking lately - mainly because I'm busily working away on my arts. This isn't an excuse. This is the busiest time of the year for me with my artistic pursuits; and I do let the house go to hell a little.

So, this week is going to be the week where I get in and do some serious cleaning out of a fair bit of the place and put into place some big habits I've been meaning to do.

Washing Up Before I Go To Bed 

This is a big one. I'm getting to a point where I don't like leaving things until the next day. And it's nice to wake up to a clean kitchen where everything is in its place.

Tidy Up The Living Room Before Bed

Another one for the next morning. I am hoping to get into a habit of working on having a tidy living room; which is something I haven't had in a while. Sure I have a tidy bathroom and a tidy kitchen (not counting the washing up lately) but this room isn't my best one.

To Throw Out or Donate 

Now, this isn't something I've been doing lately. But I do have my Donation Box almost filled to the brim. And all I have to do is sort through it now and bag it all up and take it to the local charity store - and do it more often. 

Laundry 

Oh man... I have to make this a habit. I do my laundry, but putting it away is something I don't do the habit of. It just sits around and gets in my way. So, I must get into the habit of putting away my laundry on the day it's pulled off the line. 

So, what habits are you lazy about? You know mine - and that I must work on them. 

Laundry

Okay... last October, I cleaned out my laundry and have been using my own devices to keep it organised.

For my 45th Birthday, I bought myself 2 sets of Stratco shelving and it has definitely paid off! I also bought a large red box to store all of my laundry products which normally sit around my washing machine and clutter up the tiny laundry I have - which is the size of a toilet (it honestly is!). 

Well, it's been around 6 months and I'm happy to report back to you all that my laundry is getting even better as time has progressed. The large container I normally put my laundry liquid into - and hoard it all in - has been tossed out!

Yes!

Finally today, I grabbed a bag and put that big 5 litre container - which has been empty for a long time now - into that bag along with the manky newspaper which it sits on! It's all out in the rubbish bin with a few other things I've tossed out! How cool is that? Even though it gives up about a foot of space, it doesn't do much for me in the way of giving up anything else in the way of space. 

But the red box I've put into the shelving has helped me keep my laundry liquid, vinegar, refill liquid soap and other cleaners out of the way and in view of where they are supposed to be for me.

So, how are you doing with your cleaning up and cleaning out this year so far? I'm going well. This weekend, I'm going to put in the very first Weekend Challenge for you to jump into! Yep, they're back! I hope you're willing to take part as much as I am! 

Tools And Things

It's not just the linen press which needs a good clean out or the kitchen and pantry; you men of the family have clutter too - yes, I'm looking at you guys staring at the television pretending to not notice me.

You guys have your own style and type of clutter in the way of tools and handy-man gear; and trust me, it does pile up over time.

My Dad has been known to gather 3 lawnmowers over his life and just as many drills. His answer to why he has so many was: 'It's just in case one breaks.' I know that feeling, but really, I've found that it works out to have just one of each item, then when it breaks you can go out and buy it again and it'll be so much better and more up-to-date.

A lot of men don't like change, though, and that's normal. So, you have to kinda ease them into decluttering their mess of a tool shed - unless they've gone and been the best man on planet Earth and kept their Man Cave nice and organised all on their own! And believe me, that's a rare animal right there! 

This Sunday just gone, I got an SOS from a friend who was feeling very inundated by her husband's house hold tools. So, I zoomed over to her house and found he had stored them in the linen press as well as the tool shed... this guy had tools everywhere and had lost track of where his tools were, leading in multiple amounts of them. 
This can be a problem for many husbands and with a little bit of organising, those tools aren't only sorted out, but the hubby in question found we had stored his most-used tools in a big plastic box where he could lay his hands on them immediately. He was impressed at how I worked through the tiny screws, bolts and rivets he had laying around and sorted them into a useable lot of items in a container so he wasn't going out buying new lots every time. 

His wife was the one who arranged the whole thing and I was just following orders when it came to this; as it wasn't my home. But once her husband got the idea of figuring out this was to make life easier for him, he sat with us and just said yes and no at what we asked. I didn't have to ask him much - seeing I'd grown up in a house where my Dad often showed me how to work with tools and showed me how to store tools as well. 

I seriously thought this was going to backfire; but it didn't. You see, I don't have that many tools here at my place. And they all fit into a tool chest in my house. The gardening tools fit into my shed outside, and are kept under lock and key. But really, if it doesn't work in my place, it gets tossed out.

However, I've found men just keep broken and worn out things in case they can get it fixed. But really, it's not like that. If it breaks, throw it out; and make the room for what's more important in your life. 

Well, my friend and I not only got her husband's tools all worked out, but she gained a linen press, organised his home office and figured out where to put some lovely, religious prints that meant something to him around the house.  This was great for them both. Have you helped one of your friends lately? Do share how your help worked out in your friend's life.

Regular Housework

Today is Friday and I don't normally do much on this day. But today, I got in and washed some bathmats and two blankets which normally stay in the boot/trunk of my car. They're out on the clothesline right now drying in the hot sun.

But besides that I've cleaned the kitchen sink, swept the kitchen floor (so I can get in and wash it soon) and then folded and put away my shopping bags (I use re-usable ones - instead of the single-use ones from the store).
Then, I bumped out the major doormats from the front, back and side doors and put out the rubbish into the big bin after opening up the house completely.

Yes, today is the regular housework day. 

But I'm also going to be looking at doing out my drinking mug collection... there's so many I just no longer use! So, today, I'm going to be climbing up on a ladder and pulling down the ones I don't use anymore, wrapping them up and putting them into the Donation Box. 
Now, I do collect drinking mugs, but the collection has become a little too big and so it's time cull them back to the ones I love more than others; and this is a good thing for me. So, which thing have you collected to the biggest degree and have had to cull back lately? Doesn't it make you feel good that you've done that? Or is it something you regret doing later on? 

Well, onto the Weekend Challenge: 

Go through your shoes. Pull out all the pairs you have in your wardrobe and figure out which ones you wear all the time; which ones are your occasionals and which ones you don't wear at all - or only once or twice a year - and sort out the shoes you haven't worn in over 6 months. Then find the broken ones (you'll have some there, believe me!).
Put the unworn ones into the Donation Box - once you've cleaned them up - and bin the broken ones. Tidy up the rest of the shoes and make sure you can see all of them so you can wear them more; especially the ones you don't wear often enough, as you'll enjoy them more! 

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. 

Under The Tub

The little cupboard under the wash tub is always something people miss. I find it's a place I throw everything and try to ignore it as it's out of sight, out of mind.

But over the past few weeks, I've bought some work caddies and really, I can't ignore that space anymore - I have to really work on it to make it work better. 

So, last week, I sat down on one of my dropcloths for painting and pulled everything out and sorted through what I needed, what I didn't, and what could be worked on - found it wasn't as daunting as I first thought it was going to be. 

The main things which made it so daunting were all the bottles in there - the empty, half-empty and glass bottles - all sitting around in there looking intimidating. So, I pulled them out and looked what was inside them, which was shoe polish, polishing rags and brushes, and put them into ziplock bags. This keeps the cockroaches out of the polish, out of the brushes and rags and keeps the whole place neat and tidy. I added those two bags to the work caddy, freeing up plenty of space under the tub. 

Then, I found about 3 or 4 spray bottles. They all had either water or vinegar and water in them... they were all half full and too big of the work caddy - all but one, which was nice and small enough for it. So, I emptied out the water inside that, and put the vinegar and water solution from one large one into the smaller one and added that one to caddy.

Yay! Even more space... and three empty spray bottles. Well, okay, two, one of them is for terrariums; so I keep that filled with water, in case I need it for my terrarium in the living room or my bedroom. 

Well! How was that! I cleaned out all those empty bottles and spray bottles and found so much more space! Now, to put back the things which are needed for the laundry. I put back the bleach, the vinegar, detergent and bi-carb soda and stain remover and now, there's more than enough room in that little cupboard to have everything in there, instead of it all sitting around the washing machine. And the best thing is that I can get in and wash the floor so much better too without having to go around things that should be living inside that cupboard. 

I'm so glad I can go back and clean out a cupboard like that and not be worried about what to find in there. Seeing I've done this one before, all there was in it was too much of one thing and not enough of another. Now, it's got just enough room for everything it needs to be a small laundry. But in all seriousness, I can't wait until I move from this townhouse and into a place with a big enough laundry where I can put my clothes horse, ironing board and fit everything into their own cupboards without downsizing everything all the time and encroaching on my living room. 

So, how are you going with your clean out? Let us all know in the comments section below.