New And Old

I've been busily decluttering and recycling my items lately - and throwing out big time too!

This week has been a mammoth week. I didn't go to art group, but I did have a meltdown on Monday... which led to me having too much to do; and biting off too much for that day.

Thank goodness for my Mum. We help each other when it comes to decluttering. I phoned her and fell apart on her, saying I had half my office in my bedroom and there was no way I could sleep in my bedroom on Monday night - so she came over and helped me with culling my books.

We filled 3 boxes and 2 bags! Oh my god!

And after we dragged those to her car, I found that the next day or two, I filled another two bags with books I wasn't going to read ever! This was going good.

Thursday rolled around, and I needed to get out of the house. I dropped by a friend's house and gave her some books from my childhood that her grandson would love; and was pleased when she said he'd love them. We had coffee together; and her cat enjoyed a pat.

Then, last night, I rolled over in bed and kicked the little white bookcase and, that was it! I had to get it into the office! This morning, I was up at 8am and before breakfast, I had moved it into the office and the brown daggy, saggy one out! This forced my Dad to get himself here to help me put up a shelf so I could work to put books away and move on to the next part of my home office reno. He even helped me ditch the main bookcase up the back of the complex - as it wouldn't fit in the recycling bin. 

I then went to my folks' place and helped Mum sort through the books we had culled - to make sure there were no Bookcrossing books in the collection; as charity and second-hand book stores don't take those books. We did well and counted up 8 bags of books to take over to Browns Plains! Wow! What a great haul!

What a day! I'm so tired. But I'll give you a Weekend Challenge for this weekend.

This time, it's not for the home office or lounge room. I want you to go out into your garden and pick out any dead plants, empty pots you haven't used and mouldy potting mix sitting around doing nothing. Before you do touch anything, put on the gardening gloves and a mask and get your bin ready. Put all the plastic empty pots into the recycling. Throw out the mouldy potting mix into your general rubbish and anything dead goes into your compost. Clean up your garden area before Winter for you guys in the Northern Hemisphere and before bushfire and storm season really hits for the Southern Hemisphere. 

Weekend Challenge Time!

I know, I haven't been around this week... but I have been cleaning up and house and totally enjoying my new little vacuum cleaner. It's such a cutie!

Well, I've also cleaned up the living room to the point where there's nothing in front of the entertainment unit or the credenza. How amazing is that?

This gives me a chance to look into this weekend challenge with something a little different.

I'm going to go through my First Aid Kit where all of my medications are. If there's anything out of date in there, put them into a bag and give them to a chemist/pharmacy and keep only the ones in date.

The pharmacy disposes of these out of date medications properly; and some of them give them to third world countries. So, there's the challenge for this weekend. Clean out your first aid kit and make sure everything in it not only is working, but the medicine there is within date. 

So, how is your cleaning out going? Mine is going really well. I'm going to do a Donation Day on Monday. I can't wait!

It's Friday!

It's coming into a long weekend here in Australia, and I thought to keep this one as light as I can.

But first, I scored a new vacuum cleaner yesterday! I traded in my old one for $10 and bought a nice new one called a Titan 2000 from a place called Godfreys. What a nice little unit it is too! It's a bagless and cost me under $150... not a bad price if you ask me. I've always wanted a bagless cleaner and it's really doing a great job too! I've already vacuumed the living room floor and it looks brand new!

Well, today, I'm going to be putting away the archive boxes and bringing in the bags to sort through from downstairs. This means I have to go out and get 2 more archive boxes. One is going to be a Memory Box for my other Memory items (from one of my other posts below) and the other one will be for storing what I need - which I haven't figured out yet, but it's good to have an extra one on hand.

Okay, it's the Weekend Challenge time! And I think it's time to clean out your shed. I do this every few months and it's a good thing to get into the habit of. You go out into your shed and sort through the items in there which are broken and unfixable. If you've got long-term unfixable things inside that garden shed, it's time to put them off to one side and label them as 'lost causes' and take them to the dump. 
Then, get in and sort out your power tools and put them in one area, so you can lay your hands on them at a moment's notice. Get out your label-maker and label each one so you can read it clearly - and so can anyone else who you know in case they need to grab it for you from your shed. There's nothing worse than going back and forth to your shed because somebody grabbed the wrong box of tools or the sander instead of the drill.
You get in and pull everything out, make sure you have a light inside the shed - which works - and everything is in there which is supposed to be there. If your work bench is unorganised and dirty, get in there and work on it so you can actually work on it, not accidentally cut yourself and not know what you did to yourself. Have your tools hanging up, in their boxes, wherever they're supposed to be all clean, not sticky, not greasy and ready to use. Make it look like it's a place you want to go to every weekend and work in... not a place to be ignored.
This weekend is the weekend to clean out shed, work out what the hell the workbench looks like and make your shed look and feel like a place for that project you've been meaning to do instead of the hiding place of all the broken tools and a junk pile with a door. Go on... I believe in your ability in being able to work out your things in that shed! Visualise your perfect work space and shed, and do it, make it a reality!

Donations Upon Donations

I've been donating a lot lately; and man, that makes me feel good.

This past week, I donated that little black ladder which I just seem to be tripping over in the house and the charity store was so pleased to see it was almost new! When I told them it was an IKEA piece and almost not used, they were stunned. I then told them I was too heavy for it, and they understood.

I also donated a few bags of goodies and they were so happy to see I was back.

Now, I'm into the cleaning out stage of my house again, to find more things to donate - and this is the fun part of it all, isn't it?

You know... bagging it up, sorting through it all, and figuring out if you want it or not. And the things you don't want is donated after you clean it up and make sure it works properly. 

Now, this weekend challenge isn't hard, and I haven't done one in a while, so let's get to it! This Weekend, I'd like you to go to that cabinet of things you put things you 'mean to use', or have 'kept for good', and get in and use those things at least once. 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to get you to feel bad about this. What I'm trying to do is see if you want to keep using these items from that 'kept for good' arena of your house. If you feel that you can't keep these things? Well, it's time to hand them either to your children or to the charity store. Clean them up, wrap them up nicely and take them there. 
However, if you feel as though you can't part with them, don't force yourself to give them away. It's all up to you. Use them not just for good, use those items all the time - that is what they're there for. 

Weekend Challenge Time!

Wow! Where did the week vanish to?

Okay, first it was Monday and suddenly it was today, right? 

Well, this weekend is going to be a wet weekend, so I can get in and do some serious vacuuming here at home and dusting too. 

This week, I've gotten in and mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, potted up a new plant my Mum and Dad bought me and well, made the garden start to look good again... and after last year's Little Garden Facelift, I don't really have to do anything much. 

But this weekend, the challenge is to get in and do the things you've been putting off. Yes, this is the time to dig into that place, that thing, you hate to do, and get yourself to clean it out, sort it out and make it properly organised, cleaned, washed and dusted. 

For me, I've been putting off the vacuuming, dusting and tidying up the extension cord from the broken down air-conditioner in the home office. I have to also put away books I've got sitting around the place, wash the kitchen floor and wash the bathroom floor too and find my kitchen table.

All of this in a weekend while it's windy and raining outside... yep, it's going to be bad weather outside, and this is why I'm pushing this challenge for this weekend. While it's dreadfully awful outside, it's best to ignore it and get going inside the house. 

So, do tell, what is going to be your task for this weekend? Be it just one thing or many, let us all know!

Weekend Challenge!

It's Friday! And you know what that means, right?

Yep, it's the weekend challenge time!

I know you guys love doing these - as much as I do - and I do look forward to challenging you all. 

Now, I'm doing out my home office, and finding things in the place I never thought I would; and I'm kinda thankful to find these things. You know how you find those things you have put in 'a safe place'? Yeah, I did that to some of my things in the home office - it became the 'safe place' and I forgot all about those things!

It's funny how things like this happen like that, isn't it? And this is why I'm so happy to be doing out this room/office right now.

But the Weekend Challenge isn't anything to do with this. Nope... it's going to do with magazines. You see, I subscribed to one magazine - 'Good Reading' - and it's a great one. However, I've stopped the subscription because I'm saving up for something in particular for the next year or two. 

Now, I've found a huge pile of them in various places and have no idea that so many of them had accumulated! So, what I'd like you to do is collect together you magazines that you subscribe to and look at the date. 
If they have been kept for a significant reason - like a collection of them for a famous rock star or your favourite movie star - well, keep them all together. But if they're not and are of no real meaning to you, it's time to toss them out. First, though do have a good look at them, to make sure they're not hanging around you place for some reason or another then, put them into a rubbish bag and put them by the door. 

Now, what I do is I leave them near the Donation Box and wait for about a week, and see if I miss them... if I don't, it's in the bin for them! If I do, get them out and put them back.

I know this sounds weird, but it's a tried and true method for clothes, books, cds, videos and vinyls that I've figured out for myself. If this doesn't work for you, that's okay; it just means you may need to just be more brutal on your way of decluttering. 

One Busy Week

Well, I haven't really had time to get in and do any decluttering of my house - but I helped my Mum out on Monday; and she got a lot done there.

Today, I jumped in early and mowed the lawn, washed up, cleaned up the living room, did some laundry, threw out some rubbish into the bin and put away some other things into the bathroom. There was a huge list of things I did in the morning, and then I went off to the gym.

Yes, I make time for the gym - always - as it keeps me fit and healthy and my mind sharp. Remember that about keeping yourself fit; this will also help you declutter your place in more ways than one.

Then, once home, I put on 2 loads of laundry, took off the dry stuff from the clothes horse and took it all upstairs, and had something to eat and drink (proteine) and then began looking at what to eat for dinner. 

By around 9:30pm, I washed up everything, wiped down the counters, and cleaned up all the newspapers in the living room and put them into a bag to put by the side door. This will go out tomorrow morning first thing, as I'd already locked up the house for the night. 
I took the clothes I scored from Mum's house upstairs, along with all my shoes, bags and other laundry upstairs too. It's all sitting in my bedroom waiting to be put away; which I'll be doing when I wake up tomorrow morning at 6am. 

Why the early hour? Well, we have the termite inspectors coming in to look around the complex after 7am... and I want the place to look okay for it. It may not look perfect, but it'll look okay. 

The weekend challenge for you this weekend, is to go through your bathroom and sort out your 'goo collection'. I know I've asked you to do this before, but please it's good to go and do it again. The 'goo collection' is the unused shampoo and conditioners you've collected, the facial creams you've got hidden at the back of your medicine cabinet and other 'goo'-like things in containers which you just don't use and are gathering dust.  

Believe me, there'll be plenty of them.

Now, if they're almost full, take them to your local community centre and donate them. They will love you for it. But if they're almost empty, throw them out. You'll feel so much better for it.

Let us know how you go in the comments with this one. I did it a few days ago and tossed out some old night cream, old day cream and old hair treatment and shampoo which was a year past its used-by date... eeww! 

Donation Day!

Yesterday, I filled the boot of the car up and took off on a big day of donating my unwanted goodied to a charity store with a friend of mine. It was great! I make sure I get my cloth bags back from the store and then I take a good look around and see what I might need around the house.

And you know something? 

I'm buying less and less at op-shops now I know what I want in my house and cleaning out more and more.

It's a great feeling that after a few years, you get to know what you need and what you want. But you also know when you need help in which areas too. 

I've been purposely cleaning out my house and giving away things for some time now, and now my Mum has asked me to help her out - I'm so proud to help her. But I have pointed her in the direction of Peter Walsh and his 31-Day Challenges first, so she gets an idea of how to get in and do just 10 minutes first off and then take control back of her home and her things. I am going to help her out with packing everything away and will take some things to the op-shops... but I'm still cleaning out my place and it'll be another year before I'm completely tidied up on my own I still have some archive boxes to fill and other things to work out too.

Now it's the 1st, February, it's time to get stuck into the other different things around the house. You know, the things we tend to forget. 

And this is what the Weekend Challenge is this weekend. Find a place in your home you've been avoiding like the plague and sort through it. I really mean, pull everything out, attack it, and if you're really disappointed with everything in it, and don't want anything of it, donate or sell it. But if you can see potential in some of it, sort through what you want, what you don't want and organise it properly. This is the weekend to get into your first avoided project in the house. I really believe that you can do it! 

As for me? It's a box of books in my home office I'm going to go through - along with some paperwork, which is also boxed up on top of it. Yep, it's all going to be looked into, sorted and worked out. That's been my avoided project in my house. 

The Magazine Pile

Okay, we all have one - or more than one - around the house. And it's the pile, or piles, of magazines we have stashed around the house which we either say we read or have read and think we're going to keep for another reading.

Well, I gotta say, that most of the time, I'm right about re-reading my 'Good Reading Magazine'. I'll re-read it a couple more times and then? Well, I don't do anything with it. It gets put into a pile in my living room where it gathers dust - like anything else which doesn't get used.

So, what I'm doing today and tomorrow is looking through all the magazines I have stashed around my house (and no, I don't have 'reading material' in the toilets - that's just manky and nasty!) and I'm going to go through them all. 
A lot of my magazines are about art, reading and publishing books. So, there's not a single gossip magazine to be found. This is a good thing for me, because I'll be donating my magazines to a doctors surgeries and old folks homes where the people there can read up on books and writing - something which may be of interest to some of them. I can't give away a lot of my writing magazines because I'll need them in my writing; no matter how old they are, they're still useful to me. 

So, that's my weekend challenge for myself. I'm not setting anything for you for the long weekend... it's a weekend of chilling out for Australians and respecting the ancient lands we are now living on. I'll put in another Weekend Challenge next weekend when we go back to normal again. How's your house going? Getting there? I hope so.

Weekend Challenge Time!

Okay... I didn't get time to put in a challenge yesterday because I was out all day.

But, I think it's better late than never - right? Anyway, I've looked through my towels recently, and that includes my bath towels and kitchen towels. Now, I had to make sure I didn't need the kitchen towels - and to do this, I looked at them and wondered when I used them last. 

The bath towels is a little more different... I go on how threadbare they are. And to add to this, my Aunty keeps giving me bath towels for my birthday; which is a lovely way to making sure I always do them out and change the ones in my house. 

So, this weekend's challenge is to go through all of your towels - this includes beach towels too! And figure out which ones stay, which ones go and which ones are thrown in the bin. 

Now the ones which go to charity? Well, take them to your nearest animal shelter and they'll use them for bedding. I know I did this challenge last year, but it does work out to do this just after Christmas; as sometimes we receive these kinds of things for presents. 

Around and Around

Well, my place is going well. 

I've tossed out another bag of rubbish from around the house and I'm damned proud of my collecting of rubbish. 

I've also got a bag to take to the op-shop which I don't need as well from this week! Yes, Peter Walsh would be proud of me for being brutally strict with how I'm working on my life and changes around the house. 

But I'm not just throwing out anything I'm laying my hands on - I'm making sure I've not used it in a long time, or it's been sitting around gathering dust and become rubbish after a long time as well.

So, therefore, here's the first Weekend Challenge I'd like you take part in this year!

Get two bags - a rubbish bag and a synthetic re-usable bag and go around the house and find two different things. This will take two rounds of the house. Take the rubbish bag around the pick out all the rubbish from every nook and cranny of your house - every tissue, every docket, every single thing which is rubbish and put it into the rubbish bag. This will take a while - so don't rush. And your hands will get dirty, so wear disposable gloves. Anything which is rubbish (from the old phone books you've hoarded, to dvd cases you no longer use, to the 6-year old manuscript you've been holding onto for a friend to the bathroom waste basket and all the bins around the house included), goes into the rubbish bag. You'll find you've got that bag filled! Tie it off and put it outside. If you end up using more than one bag - great!
Now, the synthetic bag... go around and look at the things you've been meaning to give away. They might be the candles you no longer use, or a wall-hanging you were given and you're not crazy on, or a pile of books which are taking up room inside your office door. Yep, put them into the synthetic bag as you walk past. This is a walk-around for the quick look-around the house. When you find an item you don't want and has gathered a lot of dust and you know you won't miss it, it's time to get rid of it. 

Now, go... no regrets on these two things. Take your time on the second one. And put the items into your Donation Box by the door to take to the charity store.

Weekend Challenge Time

Okay, I'm closing up a part of my hobby business - Crafty Pegs - and taking it to another level of its very own in the next month. 

This means I'll be cleaning up and cleaning out a lot of stock and crap out of my house and storage area. This also means I have to pull things out of where they've been sitting for months - sometimes over a year - and go through it in the next few days and start repricing, looking at what they really look like and make sure they will definitely sell!

This will take the weekend - because I'll be that focused on this task.

So, the challenge I'm proposing to you all is to have a good look at what has been sitting dormant in and around your house. This is going to be somewhat of an Elephant in the room kinda deal... what have you been avoiding in your decluttering journey, that one thing which you really need to get done, but hesitate to do so?

Well, now is the time to jump in with both feet and declutter that damned Elephant out of your life once and for all! I'm doing it and now, I want you to do it! Take the whole weekend - from Friday afternoon/evening to Sunday night - to get it all done; and once we have it finished and done with, come back here and let us know how it went in the comments below. I'd love to know how it went.

Was it difficult? Was it easy? Did it help you move onto other parts of your decluttering journey? This will be the biggest thing we both will work on this weekend. 

I'm not saying this will be easy... and it's not going to be hard either. But it will help everyone with their most difficult part of their journey. Good luck with this Elephant you've got to work with - as well as I have to as well. 

Use Everything

Back in the old days, you had Good China and Company Plates and you only used these sets of dinnerware when you had people come over for special occasions. However now, it's rare for people to have dinner parties and use the good china or company plates anymore... it just doesn't happen. 

I'm not sure why this doesn't happen, it just doesn't; and it's a shame.

I've been donating to op-shops lately and taking a walk around to their shelves and finding more and more large sets of the dinnerware given to the places by families because they think they won't use them. 

However, I love having people at my place to have a meal, making pots of tea and just sitting and talking. It's and old-fashioned way of communicating without computers, without the smart phone, without the television blaring in the background. It's how I was brought up: turn off the television, sit down with us at the kitchen table and let's talk. 

In today's world it's so hard to get people to put down their phones.

Yesterday, I had my parents over to help me put together a new greenhouse I bought from Bunnings (a gardening warehouse here in Australia) and it was fun! Earlier that morning, I put on the slow cooker and started on making a vegetarian stew/soup for lunch. They were looking forward to having lunch at my place as they hadn't eaten here for a long time. So, I opened up my Chiswell Table and set it and made sure the house was as tidy as I could get it... as I don't have a lot of space. 

We spent a good hour putting the greenhouse together, putting the plants back where I wanted them, putting the plants which the greenhouse was for inside it and then we had lunch. I brought out the bowls for the soup. I bought a whole dinner set from Life Line at Slacks Creek for $10 it's a pinkish red one and looks gorgeous. I used a lazy susan in the middle of the table so everyone can get to everything... and the soup went down well; seeing the day wasn't as hot as they told us it would be on the radio.

Then it was time for a pot of tea. Everything from the teapot to the cups and the tea canisters were second-hand; even the sugar spoons were second-hand and were proper sugar spoons from all over the country (and all over the world as well) all polished up and ready to use. I brought out some chocolate biscuits and we had a good chat about things as we drank our tea... Dad looked around and Mum said that it's the tidiest I can get my house because there's just no room for my art stuff. 

And that's the thing. If you don't have room to expand your passions, it's something that needs work. I've worked on my house so much and I use all my things I've collected - I make sure of it - and still I have a room problem. It's always good to use everything you own and everything you collect from anywhere... don't be shy about it. 

And that's this weekend's challenge: have a look at what you use and what you don't. If you haven't used something in your house in over 2 years, donate it - you won't miss it. I am donating a set of mugs, with matching spoons, as I haven't used them in over 2 years. I got them for free and used them at first - because I didn't have any other mugs - but now, I have a good collection of nice mugs; and I no longer need these old free ones. So, what are you going to let go of? 

Weekend Challenge

Hey I know I'm late in coming into the challenge this week, but I've been busy over the last few days organising myself around getting things done with my decluttering.

My garden is being eaten by the local possums at night, so I've had to cover one of my plants with a big bag; thus making it look like a teepee... it's looks funny, but it works a treat!

Anyway, this weekend, it's time to clean out that car! I washed mine after around a month of it not being washed; and it's come up a real treat! However, I went into the boot/trunk and tidied up the blankets and sorted out everything in there. I've got a box which holds all kinds of things to keep it neat, but there are things in there which do go out of date, so I've gone and cleaned out that box to keep everything tidy in there.

It doesn't seem much to clean out the vehicle you drive every day, not until you really do have a good look at what is hiding in the back seat floors, and find that you've been tossing all kinds of things in there... so it's a good idea to clean out that motor vehicle and vacuum it out too. And seeing I've washed it today, I'll be vacuuming it tomorrow because the car port is still wet. 

Vinnies Drop Off

After so long, I did a Vinnies drop off. It's been around five years since I started decluttering the house of things I no longer need, and I'm so pleased to say that I'm now at the point where I'm not taking big bags of things to charities anymore.

I'm at the point of throwing out bags of things into the rubbish bin.

And you know something? I have 3 bags of rubbish downstairs and 3 bags up in the home office to go through and that's it! That's the lot of it! 

So, how did you go on last weekend's challenge? I went out to Office Works (my local office supply store) and bought myself a little bag of rubber bands (which only cost me $3.65) and pulled together my dvds into their prospective lots - the franchises and the stand-alones - and worked them out. It took me a little over an hour and a lot of working out between both cabinets, but it looks great! 

Does yours look good too? All organised and easy to get to, isn't it? Well, for me it's much easier to find what I'm looking for now.

This weekend is another challenge - yes, I know it's late, I'm sorry about that. What you need is to sort out your personal life... again if you haven't done so already. I've scored some archive boxes from Office Works in a particular colour and put all my personal and medical records inside them. Anything to do with my schooling, young life and personal things - like my Last Will and Testament - I've put into these boxes. So far, I'm up to my third box on this; and think it's a good idea. There's colourful file folders I'm using to make my Life Archive boxes as fun as possible.
I'm using other colours for other parts of my life - like my banking and my car. It's a good way to keep things on track - especially if you don't have a filing cabinet. If you've got a filing cabinet, well, you're more organised than me... but if not, this may be the way to go. Also, with cars, you're going to have a few car bits and pieces which will need a box to go into - so an archive box will be the way to go. 

So, that's the challenge this weekend - let's see how far you and I can get with it. 

Weekend Challenge

This week has been busier than usual. 

I've had to pay for my license and look through the house for clothes to wash... yeah wash day is an ongoing thing when you live on your own. 

Otherwise, I'm getting into op-shopping again, and decluttering my home office in a big way as well. The books are looking great and I've picked up my new pair of glasses - they had their lenses replaced - and am now reading more and faster than I did before. 

In the coming two months, the back yard is going to have a complete and total facelift as the broms will be pulled out and replaced with a lovely rose. I'll be planting a couple of Avocado seeds and I'm looking at repotting a few other plants into bigger pots as well and buying myself a proper green house. This means saving up money in a big way in my sludge account; and saving money on groceries as well.

Anyway, this weekend, the challenge is a simple one: if you have a movie collection, on dvd, collect them together and buy a large index book. Write them all into the book in alphabetical order (yep, this one will take a bit of time). Then, get in find the movies which are trilogies or two-parters... and put them together with a rubber band. Keep the television shows with the big franchise movies and the stand-alone movies separate and put the index book in a place where you can find it easily. So, when movie night comes by - and there's nothing on Netflix you want to watch - you can flick through your Movie Book and find your pick of movie, and really can find your pick of movie within minutes for the night; especially if you're out to do a movie marathon. 

Weekend Challenge

First, I must apologise for not writing as much. There's a good reason for this. One of my best friends I've known for over 30 years has died; but not in the way I thought she would. She took her own life; and before she did, she told me a bunch of lies.

So, I'm kind of struggling right now. 

Anyway, I'm glad I put up those links for you all on Sunday; as I found out about her on the following day.

But this weekend, I'd like to challenge you all in a different way. Instead of cleaning out something, make something in remembrance of somebody you hold dear. 
Find the little things around the house which remind you of them and put them into a nice knick-knack shelf, or a box with their photo next to it, or do something out in the garden like plant a rose bush to remember them. 

This is your challenge. You don't have to do it if you don't want to.  Next week, we'll be back into the decluttering again.

Weekend Challenge

I've been lazy in the Weekend Challenges - but I'm feeling better after my stay in hospital. And even though it was just one day, the stuff they use to knock you out takes weeks to get out of your system. 

So, I'm going to challenge you to do something this weekend which may make you feel either uncomfortable or good about yourself.

This weekend challenge is: look at one of your major collections and organise it so you can walk up to it and know exactly what's in it. If this means having to put some of it into storage boxes, so be it. If you have to give some of it away to charity, that's good too. But take it out, pull it apart in every way and make sure you know what goes back.

As I've said in previous challenges this can take 10 minutes or it can take all weekend. I'm going to go through my book collection again this weekend and organise what's going to go into a 5kg bag for a friend in Melbourne. I'll be organising his bookbag next week and posting it off at that time too. This will hurt me in a way I'm not comfortable with, but it's going to help me as well. 

Now, I think there should be another, second challenge, too. A nice little one called 'The Quick Clean'...this is one you can choose to do or not. Find a place in your house which has been neglected and do a quick clean of it. Wash, vacuum, dust and clean that area up. Make this take about half an hour... if it takes longer, you've left it too long. 

Okay, you've got your Weekend Challenges - pick one or both to have a go at! I'm doing them both! I hope you enjoy them; and I'll be getting back into the Weekend Challenges after this week to keep us all in check with our homes. Keep us posted about what you've achieved with your decluttering and cleaning - your successes as well as your setbacks - as every little bit does help everyone else. 

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.