Huge Art Clean Out

Well! I've been a busy person today!

After yesterday's struggle with basic algebra and trying to get my 50,000 words done for NaNoWriMo, and making it with 8 words to spare, I'm pleased with my book this past month - and I got it done with a day to spare too.

Also, I was totally surprised by a male Huntsman spider taking a walk across my living room floor... he wasn't a very old spider, or smart one (as these guys are known to be smart). He waited under my kitchen table for me to get my shoes on and the bug spray and was surprised when I tried to kill him.

Well, he's dead and I didn't sleep for a good part of the night.

Today, I jumped into my art section next to my back door (no he didn't come from there, I just needed to work on the art desk in the next few days that's all). So, I pulled that desk apart and got my butt into the whole thing!

Anyway, 3 bags of crap later, and a few trips to the big recycling bin at the back of my complex, I found I filled up my rubbish bin - and collection day is next Wednesday! So, I'll have to leave decluttering another part of the house for a little while. 

But the whole section looks and feels so much cleaner. I have 2 empty boxes to use, have got 2 plastic boxes I'm using for other art gear and have enough space for a new hobby I've picked up: painting rocks. 

All of the clean up took 3 hours to do, and it was a stinking hot day! And I got into this after doing 3 loads of laundry this morning and putting out 2 big bags of rubbish into my bin... so that was something. Anyway, what did you get into this weekend which you've been putting off? I still have a few things around the house to put away and clean up before the tree and decorations go up around the house for Christmas. 

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. 

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!

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! 

Cooling Off

It's Sunday, and I just looked out the window of my home office to find it's raining! Wow! It's been so long since we've had any rain lately here in Brisbane. Sure, we had some rain late last night, but it didn't last.

Well, over the last few days, I've had a good talk with my Mum, who wants to get in and seriously clean out her house. I've told her to look up Peter Walsh's Facebook page and and work on his 31-Day Challenges from a few years back, and do a few of them every day. I hope she does a few of them from a couple of years ago, and jump-starts that feel-good feeling of cleaning out... it really does help to do this.

Then, tomorrow, I'm over there for a few hours to help my Mum clean out the first big thing. No, I'm not going to tell you what it is... it's not right to divulge that information.

Anyway, I've been working on my place, seeing it's cooled off here now to do something in the morning without sweating too much. 
On Friday night, I was watching tv and I kept looking over at my big Donation Box - which wasn't cleaned out - and eventually, I got up during a commercial break and pulled it over and cleaned it out. It was chock full of newspapers I 'might use' for packing. I filled 2 rubbish bags and tied them up to be put out the next day!
After that, I put my donation bags I'm using to take to the car into the box and have begun filling up the box and bags ... the living room looks so much better.

This morning, I got in and washed the floors of the kitchen, the hallway, and the laundry and toilet - all downstairs, after breakfast. It was all so dirty and grubby. And this afternoon, I'm going to get into those two boxes I promised myself on Friday. 

These places are my plague places in the house - the places I avoid - the floors, the emptying of the old stuff from the Donation Box (ie: newspapers) and the boxes which need emptying in the office. And today, those boxes in the office will be looked into next. 

Sunday Morning Clean

It's a Sunday, and usually I don't do anything on these days - usually I chill out and read the paper.

But today, I had to get in and organise a few things around the living room. You see I've been given some art gear and I've yet to put the books away - and there were so many books! So, this morning, after breakfast, I got into organising them. 
First, though, I looked at them. They were gorgeous... not only that, they were all in Chinese and a study of how to paint and draw in their style. I noticed they were written in particular volumes. And so, after I separated them into their own sets, counted them and then found a place for them, I knew I needed to do more cleaning up for the living room.

I had found a place for my canvases I had received, which meant I had 2 unusuable canvases. These are canvases which I had tried to use, but they just didn't work out. The old painting either showed through my new work, or the water-based oil paint I've put over the top of the traditional oil paint just doesn't mix and I've found the canvas isn't usuable for me. So out those two canvases have had to be tossed - into the big recycling bin out the back of the unit complex.

Otherwise, I've still got a few things to get in order. I've begun to hang some of my new paintings on the walls and taken down the older ones I've done in the past. Not only will the hanging of the new paintings help them dry better, but it will help the feel of my place change too. And I'll have other canvases to either sell or reuse; as my older work is all acrylic paint.

But yesterday, I got in and cleaned under two sinks in my house - as Peter Walsh had challenged us to do on his Facebook page - and I was very successful! Not only did I throw out a big bag of rubbish, but I also filled one bag of things I added to the Donation Box too. How cool is that? Yep, I'm so happy with myself! And I found no leaks under my sinks in the kitchen and bathroom... very good indeed! How's your cleaning out doing so far this year?

Rain And Organising

It's been raining for the past week, and I've been organising myself to next month's National Novel Writing Month - which really takes up a huge chunk of my time. I mean, 50,000 words in a month? That's a lot of typing every day! 

So, I've been cooking a large amount of food and putting some into smaller containers and freezing them. And then, organising my frozen foods - like fish, frozen breads and other things I can just pull together for dinner. I'm making sure I have enough snacks to eat in the pantry too. It's going to all organised so that when I finish writing for the day, I can get in and just throw together a meal easy-peasy lemon squeezy! 

But when the rain has paused in the past few days, I've been outside mowing the lawn - as it grew 10cm! - and then pulling out weeds and checking on the greenhouse and harvesting my first crop of Black Cherry Tomatoes! And then I'm back inside just as it starts to rain again.
However, I've been outside more and more lately to check on what plants have fallen over and which ones I no longer need. There's still one more I have to yank out of a pot and toss out.

Well, I've also been keeping on top of my laundry and anything else which needs cleaning too. The shelving I installed has been an absolute god-send as I have used it to store so many things; and I've found it's going to nice to decorate over Christmas too. I'll be able to install lights over them at that time of year too.

Anyway, I'm hoping to work on cleaning up the home office this weekend. I started last weekend, but things got in the way - like a few bills, some house hold chores and vacuuming and other normal things - and this time I'll be able to put away what I need to, to get ready for next month's writing days. I need the home office tidier and better to make it a place I can spend a lot of time in without feeling as though the place is cluttered. 

So, what main room have you been attacking lately? For me, it's just about everything in the house, but the home office really needs a good tidy-up. How about you? How's your journey going?

Morning Work

I've been busy in the past few weeks working on my garden and working through grief... which seems to pop its head up at the worst times. So, today, I woke up after sleeping in and thought it was high time I got in and did some of the smaller stuff around the house.

Two loads of laundry were done and hung out on the clothes horse - as we had the prediction of rain later today, and I don't want to be running out in the yard pulling it all in half wet. And then, I washed up everything, threw out food I no longer need in the fridge, in preparation for shopping tomorrow, and then put out the rubbish into the bin outside.

After that, I wrapped up some spoons, which match a set of mugs I'm giving away and put them in to the Donation Box. I then sorted out the rubbish in front of the entertainment unit. I pulled out all the shoes which need bringing upstairs into my room, found all the books which need bringing back into the library and then put away anything which was going to be put away into the entertainment unit while I had the space free there. 

Seeing I've gotten rid of all the plastic bags in my house, I searched out any last ones hanging around and put them into a blue recycled bag and hung that on the back of the side door to take shopping with me tomorrow. This will be taken to Coles to their recycling box outside the store where any plastic bags will be taken to a recycling center. 

I folded up my shopping bags and put them into their own little bag, put that away into the drawer by the side door, took the bag of books upstairs into my library, have all my shoes I'm not currently wearing in a pile to bring upstairs and put away and I've also got laundry to sort and fold and to put away as well... this will be done this afternoon, along with the making of my bed, vacuuming and dusting. 

The house has been overlooked lately because I'm either painting, gardening or just been lazy. But the kitchen has been looked into over the last week or two; and I'm happy to say that it's looking better. On Saturday, I washed the car and it's so much cleaner than it was last week. 

So, what have you been up to lately? Are you decluttering a little and cleaning up a little - like me? Or have you attacked a big section of your house? Keep us updated with how your decluttering is going. Until next time. 

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.

A House Into A Home

I've mainly talked about cleaning out and cleaning up a house in the best possible ways. And I know this has been on how to be brutal with yourself; how to be harsh and how to send off your unwanted goodies/stuff to your chosen charities.

But I haven't talked about how to turn your house into a home - not yet.

It's okay to look around the charity store. It's okay to buy something you really want there. The only thing you have to remember is this: do you have the space for what you're going to buy? Also, what kind of feel do you want for your house? 

For mine, I'm going for a 1970's kind of home, and it's getting there. Yes, it's got knick-knacks from that era everywhere, and I'm taking away anything that's 1980's and 1990's and sending them to the charity store. While I'm there in the store, I'm looking for 1970's gear to take my place right back into that era.

But my 70's era home isn't yours. 

Remember exactly what you're looking for in your mind for your place, your home and how you want to feel when you come home from the outside world. Your home is your retreat from out there... it's your place of escape and when you open your front door and walk inside, you should feel relaxed by your surroundings, not feel as though you want to run away to another place. 

When I arrived home, after being at volunteering for the afternoon, or art class in the mornings, I love to open the door and know that where I am is a good place. It's where I can relax, I can kick off my shoes and enjoy the space I've created through op-shopping. It's what I've done for myself through decluttering for over 4 years... yes it's taken time (a lot of time), but it's been worth it! 

And it's still going on - the decluttering - and I'm making sure that when I do finally move into a house, I take only what I need with me and not any junk I've been hoarding just in case. 

So, how are you going with your decluttering and changing of your home? I'm pleased with how far I've come with mine over the last 5 years... share with us how you're going; even if you feel as though it's getting nowhere. 

10 Days

It's been 10 days since my last post.

Yep, I planned it this way just to see how I went with the house.

I've been cleaning up the living room which was filled with old VCR tapes from my life in the 1990's... and okay, they play, but I can't see what's being played. Damn! So, onto dvds those things go.  Until I find the time to get to do that, those tapes are put away into storage.

Then, I vacuumed the floor, and pulled out the donation box, sub-woofer and one of the cd towers to vacuum the carpet there. So much dirt came out of the carpet! But then, I only put back what was needed.

The tool box was put away until I needed it.

All of my laundry has been done, dried, folded and put away. I also got in and did my folks' laundry too - yep, we've had a few hot days here in Brisbane; so why not?

Then, I've created a couple of new habits:

Making the bed in the morning.
Taking out the rubbish to the wheelie bin every day.
Washing up before going to bed at night.
Cleaning up the living room before heading off to bed at night.

Yep, four new habits which have been difficult to keep up, but I'm working on them. It's been working out well too! It's nice to get out to the living room and kitchen and find there's nothing there from the night before waiting for me to clean up. 

The kitchen table has even been tidied up - and I've worked on making sure it stays that way! It feels so much better to sit down to a tidy table than a messy one. 

In just 10 days, I've worked on the house. In just 10 days, I've formed 4 new habits, which aren't big, but are useful. In just 10 days, I've changed the way the house runs completely... and it feels great! 

Seeing I've worked on cleaning out the house over the past 4 -5 years, I'm glad to say the new habits have worked out so well. And like Peter Walsh has been saying to everyone: it just takes 10 minutes. 

And it does. 

Sorting Donations

Sorting out donations is never easy. But once you have it all done, you have to make time to pack the car and take them to your chosen charity.

This week is going to be one of those weeks where I'll be doing just that - sorting out donations. Then, next week, I'll be taking them to my chosen charity. I haven't sent anything away for about a month, but I'm looking forward to doing it again.

I do have the Donation Box full of stuff; and a bag of clothes I'm not going to miss. However, I really do need to go through my wardrobe to see which things I honestly do wear and what I don't, so I can sort out my wardrobe for the next 2 years.

The home office isn't looking much better - even though I keep making promises to myself that I'm going to get my butt in and sort out this horrible mess here. I just keep on procrastinating (and admitting I'm one is a good thing; at least I know I am one - saying that I'm not is living in denial). 

But last night, I did have a good step forward in the ways of cleaning up my kitchen. I heard a noise in there - in the dark - and started searching for the critter that might have been hiding around my kitchen. I sprayed insecticide in all the corners, under the stove and under the fridge... but nothing came out. I search on top of all the cabinets I could reach, but still I found nothing. So, I spent the night wondering how the noises came about, but I also took down a few things off the cabinet where my mugs are stored and cleaned off the grease from those items and thought to reuse them in the office as artwork for the walls. 

Over the next few weeks, I'll be looking through my kitchen again and working out exactly what I need, what I don't and seeing which cookbooks I want to have in my collection (which will most probably be all of them!). So, once I do made a delivery to Vinnies, the living room will look better, and so will my home. 

And seeing I'm not op-shopping for a few months, I'm saving myself money too. I just want to save up for some things over Christmas for my family. Well, until my next post, tell us all what you've been up to. How is your decluttering going? Are you being the procrastinator - like me - or is it going smoother for you? 

Little Things

At this time of year, I find that life slackens off. There's no big celebrations - like Christmas or Easter - to worry about yet. And New Years Eve is a little way off. 

So, what I do is organise myself to look through the little things I've been putting off for a while. 

Quite often it's the little things that make the bigger things easier to deal with, don't you think? I've been looking at my craft gear, and wondering what to do with it. So, over the past month, I've gathered together all the yarn I've collected over the years and decided to make a throw for the bed. It's useful, and I'm not throwing out anything. 

The art gallery has asked me to take part in an art demonstration over November and so I pulled together a few photos and proposal to display some of my works around Christmas time and to show off some of my works there too. Not only will I be able to sell off some of my stock during that time, I will also be making room for new stock as well.  This is another way of decluttering through another means - and the only thing it'll cost me is the usual 20% commission... but I've made pricing easy for them by putting everything into small, medium and large price ranges and rounding the prices up or down. 

I'm also looking at books. Yesterday, I visited a family member who is in a retirement home and she receives ARC books (these are books which are sent out to people to read before publication to see what needs removing, adding to or if it needs more proofreading). I love reading these books; as it show a sneak peek behind the scenes of book before it's really shown to anyone... well, I also collect them. And so our family member gave me a pile of them from her collection; as once she reads them, the doesn't want them anymore. But with me, I'd reread them for pleasure. 

The little things for me right now, is to do out my wardrobe, figure out what needs to go in my office (yep, still haven't worked out that place yet) and keep on working on tweaking the rest of the place. But things will still arise no matter how long I work at this. So, how is your place going? 

Cleaning In the Kitchen

A part of decluttering is also cleaning parts of the house that really need it - like the kitchen, bathroom and the floors.

You feel so much better when all of that is done and you look at it and wonder why you left it for so long!

Yesterday, it was a nice cool day and I had time up my sleeve to clean the kitchen blinds and the cupboard doors above the stove... and believe me when I say that this part of my kitchen was really, really horribly disgusting with grease!

I've been in this townhouse for 15 years this September, and I've cleaned the rangehood (not that it's a useful bit of kit for the kitchen - it doesn't take the smoke from cooking anywhere but the smoke detector in the living room! So I don't use it!) around 5 times. Every single time I've come away with sticky muck all over my hands, fingers and arms... oh, yeah, gross!

So, yesterday, I grabbed the ladder from the upstairs wardrobe and really seriously got into the cleaning. 

Now, I've been slowly cleaning the blinds with sanitising wipes from under the sink every few nights - one by one - and they've been getting cleaner. But, now, they were out of my reach and I needed the ladder. It took me another half and hour and 8 wipes to clean the blinds. I also fixed up the long stick which had seen better days so it doesn't break or gets stuck, with duct tape. 
Then, it was onto the cupboard doors and the top of the rangehood... yep, leave the messiest part of this till last! I couldn't get the grease off there until I used Gumption and a green scourer! But it worked well!

I hated being up the ladder - because I hate heights. 

It took me around 2 hours to get the blinds, the rangehood and the cupboard cleaned. While I was up that ladder, I also cleaned the window sill and along the top of the window frame where a lot of grease gets trapped too! 

I felt exhausted, filthy and greasy afterwards and seriously wanted a shower from it all.

But it's worth it... don't you think? 

Moving House

Oh! Not me.

Not yet in any case!

One of my neighbours moved house in the last week, and they moved into a bigger place; as they were expecting a new addition to their family. 

However, I have noticed something about people when they move house:  they don't clean out the house until they move from the place.

This is exactly why I'm decluttering my place now! When you declutter your home, and get rid of the things you no longer wish to keep, and have the things you want to keep, you only take the things to the next house that truly belong there.

I know this sounds so very basic, it sounds as though it's the dumbest thing I'm telling you. But really, I've watched so many people move from this unit complex; and they throw out bag after bag of rubbish on the days after the moving van has been. I mean, exactly what did they take with them to the next place for them to leave all the junk behind? 

I'm constantly looking through my cupboards, cleaning out bags of paperwork, donating books, clothes, old sheets, old towels, shoes, Christmas decorations and other things I seriously won't be needing in my house just so I won't be dragging them to the next place to clutter up my home. 

And that's just the thing:  when I do move into a larger place, I will be moving into a place where I'll be spreading out my furniture, hanging pictures on the wall I've had hidden behind doors and in wardrobes and I'll be decorating my next home in such a way I won't be needing to buy anything for it really - well, okay, a new Christmas Tree or a large floor rug, but that's about it!

I don't see how keeping so much crap and not cleaning out a pantry once every 6 months, or cleaning out the laundry once a year can hurt people - especially when you know you have to move at some point in the future. And just like Peter Walsh has been telling us: it only takes 10 minutes to start out cleaning one drawer. You have to remember a couple of things: be honest, be brutal and be positive about what you're doing. 

I'm always that way when I declutter and clean. It takes time and patience, but really, once you get going (and you know you're going to move house in a month's time), you will feel better for it when you have cleaned out the kitchen and you are only packing what you're going to take with you.

Just think:  when you return to clean the house, most of what you'll be cleaning will be just a quick wipe-down... that's if you clean as you declutter. If you don't, you create more work for yourself. 

Quick Clean-Outs Are Great Too!

Today, my car was leaking coolant all over the car port floor. So, seeing I definitely going absolutely nowhere, and my Dad had an appointment for a few hours (once we let out all the coolant and cleaned it up), I thought to get in and do some serious tidying up.

Yep, this is the quick clean-up!

This is where you get in and tidy the areas of the house you've been meaning to clean out. 

For me, it's the box of shoes next to the front door. It's a red box I won years ago, filled with art equipment and now I put my shoes in it. However, the box has now begun to fall apart and look dreadful; so I emptied out the shoes, threw out whatever I didn't need in it and tossed the box. 

It's a box, I don't need it any longer and it's gone brittle, so out it was tossed! I also went through all the crap on my lounge and found it was mostly just magazines, books and cards from last Christmas I have to put away... I'm so relieved it wasn't crap.

So, with all of that out of the way, last week's newspaper items in the rubbish bag and anything else I don't need in there too, I tied a knot and tossed that in the bin along with the broken-down box. I had also checked the glass of water in the piano and dusted it down (it really needs a good polish, but I don't have enough left over). And then, I sorted through some stuff on the kitchen table, but by that time, I really needed a bottle of water and had begun to neaten up the house more - but Dad was back from his appointment and he was ready to do some serious work on my car.

And... two hours had passed by so quickly. So, do tell! How much can you get done in two hours? 

Bathroom Clean-Out

Just like everything in life, I find that the bathroom is the most neglect room. It's also the most mouldy, disgusting and strangest room to clean out. 

You find the yukkiest stuff hiding in the back of the cupboard! Honestly you do!

From the old shampoo and conditioner you bought when you had that perm five years ago, to the bubble bath you bought for your 5-year-old niece (who didn't even use it - and now they're in high school), you'll have to clean out your bathroom and make sure you give it good spritz from top to bottom with air freshener. 

First things first: you must give your toilet (if you have one in your bathroom) a good clean. Wear gloves and make sure you have the window open. A lot of cleaners you put in a toilet have bleach in their and are not good for you if you inhale them. 

You wash the floor last... after all, you'll be walking around on it all day with your feet and shoes cleaning dirt and dust off everything. 

Clean you toilet, your vanity and your shower and bathtub. Take your time - it's not a race. Wash the towels - floor towels and all - as it'll be nice to have them back in while you're cleaning the room out.

Then, once the usual cleaning is done, get some rubbish bags and bin and make sure you have access to a bedroom. Yep, you're pulling out all those bath towels! But, go shelf by shelf... don't pull them all out and then realise you've taken on a job bigger than Ben Hur! Take on one shelf at a time, figure out the pairs and which towels are frayed and don't match and aren't as absorbent as they used to be. 

These old towels go into a rubbish bag for an animal shelter near you. These shelters use the old bath towels as bedding for dogs and cats - just make sure they're nice and clean and your animal shelter will love you. I do this every year and drop a large bag off to the RSPCA in my area.

Once you've got one shelf done, go in and clean that shelf off with spray'n'wipe or vinegar and make sure it's all clean and then put the towels back in nice and neat.
Each shelf will be different. You'll have hair accessories, hair dryers, curling irons and other things for the bathroom. Allocate a shelf for each thing you think will be needed and you'll have it all done in no time.
Some of the cupboards don't reach the ceiling. This is where a ladder comes in handy. Now, you clean up there before you clean anywhere else, because it'll be really dusty up there and a lot of the times the dirt will get a bit of liquid into it and dribble down the inside of the doors. To save on double-handling the cleaning of the doors, do the top first, then work on the inside of the closet. 

Then, there's the medicine cabinet above the vanity. I found that instead of having a First Aid Kit on top or inside the cabinet underneath, allocating a shelf for first aide is a lot easier and faster to find things. So long everything is in date and up on the top shelf (away from little hands), you'll have a great place for your first aide things to stay when you need them in a hurry. Plus you won't be trying to pull things out to find a box, it'll all be there for you to see at any time.

Once the linen closet and medicine cabinet is all done - and underneath the vanity as well - you can wash the floor and splash back. Then, once the floors are dry, it's time to put the floor towels down again, the one around the toilet and the bath towels back on the racks. And doesn't it look lovely? You know you've done a great thing - and the next time you have a shower, and you need a towel, you're not rummaging around looking for a towel. You can just reach into the closet and find one.