In The Zone

I'm seriously there - in the zone - and it's a great place to be!

I've already thrown out another few bags of rubbish and the bin outside is close to over-flowing with crap. And it's that bad I went to the back of the unit complex to look for an empty bin - but alas! There's none available. This is what happens when people borrow a bin and don't put it out for collection... silly them.

Well, I pushed everything down and had to 'make room' for more rubbish. But it didn't make much space.

Anyway, since Boxing Day, I have filled another 3 - 4 rubbish bags and sorted out the 2 archive boxes in the home office into something which looks like I can just open them and work through them without wondering: 'What in the hell's in these boxes?' So, that's a good thing! But today, I had to go out and get another archive box, another 3-ring binder and more manilla folders. And to make it more fun, I got them all in purple... just to keep it colourful. 

But I didn't expect every man and his dog to be at Office Works with their kid buying school supplies that their kid 'just has to have!' all because it's on that infurnal list! You know half the stuff you get on that list isn't actually used in school, but if your kid doesn't get it, well, they're the only one there who doesn't have 'the right stuff' on the first day. I remember being at school when you only had to have a few exercise books, a pencil case full of pens and pencils, a ruler and a calculator, and that was it. And my folks called that expensive. Now? Well, it's a totally different world. 

Anyway, back to what I was doing. I had to get some petrol for the car, ice creams for tonight and other things to eat this week as well, then check the mail and come home. 

Now I'm home, I'm looking forward to emptying out the last box, and making up my bed for the New Year. It's going to be a good, cool, chilled one. But I'm going to have a nice neat office, clean kitchen and plenty of painting to get done.  

So, what are you doing tonight to get through the night? After today, my office and house are going to look so much better. Until next year, I hope you've gotten so much done this year in the way of decluttering - as much as I have and more - and I hope you get more done next year. See you then!

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. 

A New Bookcase - purchased!

Okay, I didn't purchase it.

Mum and Dad are buying me the new bookcase and a new desk for Christmas - which means I'm not expecting anything big for Christmas this year. And Mum said that she's getting people what they need this year - and not what they want.

I needed a new desk and a new bookcase; and that's what they're going to get me. 

But I still need to clean out the office and throw out a shit load of crap.  Most of it is done, and I'm going well at it.

So far, I've gotten two more big bags in the rubbish bin - and there's another few I'm going to fill today and tomorrow. And Dad and I are going to build the new bookcase from IKEA (aka: the place you get into but never leave), and it's been a harder task to find a decent desk I can have here.

Yeah the desk might take longer to find. We did find one at Tender Disposals - the one I wanted - but they wanted $540 for it. What a rip off!

Well, there's a storm coming. It's getting dark and the thunder is getting close. I better go and get into the cleaning up. About time we got some rain - to put out the bush fires around here.

Goals Reached!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Home Office Declutter

Well, It's been a couple of months since I began my home office declutter and clean up - and you know, it's been going really well!

I've moved a huge bookcase from one side of the room to the other side of the room - and in turn it was really swapping sides with a hand-made desk Grandpa made (which isn't much use to anyone but to hold things in it like stationery - which it's going to do for my in the end anyway.

Then, I got out a shredder my Aunty Helen won at a raffle for me and I have filled 3 big rubbish bags full of paper from over 7 years ago... well over 7 years ago! And that's emptied the top drawer of my filing cabinet - which Dad wants. So, that's one big item from my office gone! Yay! I don't have to do anything, just wait until Dad comes to collect it! Isn't that great? Well, for me it is! 

And now, I've just bought myself a foot rest from Office Works to get myself ready for the new desk I'm hoping to get for myself to replace this whopping big desk with a normal-sized student desk so I can have more wall space to hang some book art. Plus, I can get some floor space back. 

Thus far, from this office, I've thrown out about 4 bags of rubbish into the bin outside - and this is good. But it doesn't look like I've even dented this room; and you know, it's mainly because all of this came from the filing cabinet. Once that's finished up, I'll be making some real space from the other things in this room. Once I get the stationery which is sitting around this place into the home-made desk, this office will look and feel so much better! 

So, how is your home decluttering going? All good? Mine is going well, and it's been fun using a shredder! 

I've Been Away!

I know, I've been away... but it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about what you've all been up to - or been working away on my house.

My internet was cut off to make way for the National Broadband Network; and getting onto this new network took a bit of time to get done. There was two separate days of me being at home for two different tradesmen to get in the work on my place. And now, my Netflix doesn't work... but not to worry, I'll get onto that too.

Since the last time you all heard from me, I won a little shredder and have been shredding to my heart's content! So far, I've tossed out two big rubbish bags of shredded bags into the bin! Both these bags are from my 2-drawer filing cabinet - which I'm getting rid of in a few months! 

This is so exciting!

Well, I'm looking forward to this!

Otherwise, I've moved the big bookcase in the home office and got it to swap positions with Grandpa's handmade desk. It took some doing, but it all looks great! More light comes into the room now and I'm looking forward to saving up some money and buying a smaller desk which is just a simple student desk with drawers. I do need to replace an old bookcase and move another bookcase. But this will all take time... and this is something I have.

Otherwise, I've been cleaning out downstairs too. There's coffee mugs I've put into the donation bin and I've replaced my pen boxes with pretty little planter pots which were too pretty to put plants into - and were very cheap. Things are getting sorted and tossed out in my place at a swift rate; and I'm so pleased with my progress.

So, how is your house going? Do leave a comment and let us all know. It'd be good to swap notes on how you're all doing.

So Many Old Things

Wow! Just wow! I jumped into the home office wardrobe yesterday and really did a great thing! I pulled down everything I could get my hands on and filled 4 rubbish bags with junk, unusable things, pay receipts from 1996/7 and other things which I just simply didn't need anymore and tossed them away.

There were two collapsed concertina folders which were thrown into the bin and one which was still usable and one I'm still looking at to go through.

Then, I pulled down both boxes which were being stored for my Doc Marten shoes. Yes, I have two pairs of those. One I wear all the time, and the other pair which the company gave me for taking too long to repair the original UK-made pair. Well, I polished up the new pair and made them look lovely - now I just have to break them in for next year. 

I sorted through so much yesterday that after 3 hours, I had a full wheelie bin outside, and an empty wardrobe inside my house! How cool is that? I had the space to put my archive boxes which are now storing my current records for my car, banking files and other things as well. I also put away a few other things and cleared off the Reading Chair and found another bag of crap I need to go through - which takes it to 5 bags I need to go through now; but then, really I shouldn't be counting.

I'm on week 3 of cleaning out this room for the very first time, and I'm really happy that I've filled the wheelie bin (the one the local council collects) to the brim. It really is a great feeling to get rid of all of that is not need any longer and keep only what's going to relevant in my life. 

The hunt has been going on to find a good, old-fashioned desk and a nice solid bookcase to replace the corner desk and the saggy bookcase in my office... then? Well, once the home office is all tidied up and the art gear is off the walls, I'll get in and work on getting the books out of here and see how far I can really take this whole thing before I have to ask family for help moving things. 

So, how is your projects going? All great I hope. Do leave a comment on your project. We'd love to hear how your decluttering is going.

Searching and Donating

Well, the office renovation is under way! 

I have tossed out 2 bags of rubbish from the office - which totals up to a big bag of rubbish into the wheelie bin outside. And I have also donated my old kettle to the local charity as my new kettle arrived from Fly Buys - how cool is that?

There's 2 more bags I've taken downstairs to clean out this afternoon, and that'll clear more space from the home office.

Meanwhile, in the past few days, I've been going out and looking around for a desk and bookcase at op-shops and discount furniture stores. It's slow-going - as it always is at the beginning - but I'm positive I'll find what I'm looking for over the next three months. 

You see, I've given myself three months to clean out the home office completely and fix it up with the two newish pieces so I'm not rushing through it all. You have to be realistic about this kind of thing with cleaning out your place fully. 

First it started in my kitchen. I cleaned that out completely and it took me almost a year to get that area of my house working properly. Then, it was my bedroom and bathroom - together - and between those two rooms, I got them working well over another year. 

The living room is a work in progress; seeing I use it all the time and it's a high-traffic area. 

My garden has been completely gutted and cleared up to the point that it only needs to be maintained every Winter; something I'm really happy with. 

Now, the Home Office is the one room which is always in danger of turning into a Junk Room - and this is something I really don't want. So, cleaning it out over the next three months is going to do me good.
The air-conditioner was one of the big things which just had to be cleared out - an then after that, well, it's begun to snowball in the cleaning out process in a slow way, but still, it's been working out for me. 

Plus, the Home Office is the last room I've decided to tackle because it's the hardest room on the list. 

So, which room is your hardest room you've been putting off? Are you dealing with it right now? Or have you been putting it off like I have? 

One Bag Down!

Well, as I promised, I have begun cleaning out the Home Office. And I've done out one bag of crap...yep, it was all crap/junk in this bag. I looked at dates on the bank statements and medical items and made sure they were from 2014 and before and ripped them up into tiny pieces and then? Well, they went into a rubbish bag. 

The bag all of this came from began to fall apart and so that went into the rubbish bag too!

I came across bank statements and medical statements (which had been paid) and old Christmas cards (which I cut up and turned into Christmas tags for this Christmas by cutting off the front of them and cutting the main picture of the into little designs and then punching a hole into the top of them for the ribbon). I found a lot of things I had been looking for and have put them to one side - and the whole pile I sorted through came to about a fifth of the whole bag! A fifth! Woah! That's huge! 

The rubbish bag ended up in the bin outside and I now have another bag in the living room to go through tomorrow before I bring down two more bags to go through before the end of next week. This will be a great thing for me - to get this all done before the end of next week, mainly because then I can start planning out what will be going on in the home office. 

I have been looking on the Facebook Marketplace for desks and bookcases, but it's all too expensive - and it's too far to drive to pick them up too. But then, I have a few months to find the right ones, right?

How's your place going? 

Big Office Project

I've been looking at my Home Office and thinking that it's about time I did something about making it a place I enjoy working in.

Like I did with my kitchen and my bedroom, I have to make my home office a place I want to spend time in. 

So, over the next 3 months, I'll be cleaning out this entire office from top to bottom and throwing out everything I do not need any longer. I've already collected together a few boxes which I can put things into and know of a place - it's called Station 33 - to take my electronic do-dads I no longer need. 

And I'll be carting unwanted things to either the dump or the charity store, or better still into the wheelie bin outside my side door each week. The Home Office will be tidier than it's ever been by November. 

While I'm doing this, I'll be putting away money to save up for an op-shopped desk. This will be a desk which is solid and has drawers and, if I find the one I want, I'll get it paid and delivered to my folks' house so it's ready to use. I'll also be looking for another bookcase - a tall one - to replace the saggy brown one I have in my home office.

The whole office will be turned about and switched around. The corner desk will be tossed out (as it's falling apart) and the saggy bookcase will be tossed out too. The artworks I have up on the wall currently will be moved from the bathroom wall to the far car port wall. The books in all the cases will be boxed up and shifted into my bedroom (this will take a few hours to do as I'll need to label the boxes). Then, all the furnishings will be removed from the room, it will be cleaned, vacuumed and dusted completely before I get in and put in the new desk and attach the book cases to the wall (if needs be). 

I'm hoping to have more space in the room, less crap and it'll give me more light as well, seeing I'll be able to pull the curtains all the way back - and not just halfway - during the day. 

I've been planning this for around 6 months, and my folks and friends know I want to get in and really do this. I told my Dad that if I do find a good desk I'll get it delivered to their place just to store it while I'm cleaning out my place - and he said it was okay. I may have to fix it up a little too before it comes home to me; and their place is the perfect place to do that seeing they have the space and I can make a lot noise there. 

So... do you have any big cleaning-up projects you're planning around the house? Mine is the Home Office. It's going to take a few month, and will cost a little bit of money and time, but it's going to be well worth it. Do leave your ideas in the comments. I'm going to hopefully have a lovely home office by the time Christmas comes around. 

Cleaning Out A Little At A Time

I haven't been here for a few weeks, I know. And I must apologise for this. I have been working on the house, looking through things bit by bit and tossing out things in the bin, and putting things in my Donation Box by the door. 

The place is looking better by the week - I've just forgotten to tell you all about it.

Yesterday, I collected two large boxes from Bunnings and today I'm cleaning out the Home Library. Now, being a big reader, normally, I'd say don't touch it, but my collection is getting that way where I really need to look at what I'm going to read, what I have just look good, and what I'm definitely not going to read at all - and I have to be brutal about this too.

I'm going to try to sell some of the books on gumtree - seeing I look after them so well - and any Bookcrossing books I have are going to be given away in a Big Book Giveaway. Yep, this is going to be fun! 

This will mean I'll be making a right mess in the library and moving things around, and moving things out of here. I'm also going to look at replacing the large brown bookcase with a new one, which can hold all the books - as it's really saggy, and has been like that for a long time (and everyone notices it!). 

Well, how has your place been going? All good, please do comment below and tell us all what you're up to in your cleaning out. 

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!

Archiving and Cleaning Out

Yesterday afternoon, once I got off the computer and the internet, I jumped into the cleaning up of the home office - which turned into something totally different. Sometimes cleaning up one space does this.

I assembled the two archive boxes and sorted through some of the paperwork and the filing cabinet next to my desk. There were things inside the cabinet which needed to be archived - like 'The Flame' magazine from Epilepsy Queensland from 2006. I know that's a long time ago, but there's articles in those issues which are important to me.

Then, I tried to find some letters from a doctor which were addressed to my Mum and I from two years ago just in case my neurologist retired. However, I have yet to find them. I went through one box I had sorted out, and the letters weren't in that one. So, it may be in one I've already put into the wardrobe. 

But then, I sorted through my hand-written notebooks. These are notes from books I've written, like 'Ravenstine Kingdom', 'Angie', Fry Nelson' and other book and story ideas as well. I have archived those into another box so I have them put away for the time I need them at some point in the future. 

Now, what I did after that was reorganise that shelf of notebooks, looking through them and making sure they were in order. There are still books there which I need to use which are for current projects. Then, I looked up on the wall and realised I needed to hang a description of some art. So, I worked on that for about half an hour; which worked out well, as I needed a break from sorting. 

By this time, it was around 2pm and it was stinking hot! So, I cleaned up the office as much as I could and put things away. A lot of had been done in the way of organising the archive boxes. I didn't think I'd have so much archiving in my life by my 40's, but interestingly enough, I do. I did one last thing. I put up the 'Home' hook set Mum gave me in the wardrobe in my room and hung up my Japanese house coat and a brunch coat on it; along with some umbrellas as well. This helped clean up some of the mess in my room.

Then, last night, after I watched a bit of television, I did more cleaning up - this time in my bedroom. I made up the bed (as I had washed the sheets yesterday) and then folded and put away the quilt and the big, blue blanket (in their respective places). The bathroom towels which had been folded earlier that day were put into the bathroom, and so I organised the rest of the towels and folded the rest of them - taking them into the bathroom too.
Then, the wash basket was picked up off the floor and put on to the glory box/hope chest, and I took the paintings I've done and no longer want into the hallway. I'm going to offer them to my family first before giving them away. 

Before I knew it, it was past 10pm and I was really tired. A lot had been done yesterday; more than I had done in any given weekend in the past two months. So, how was your weekend? Did you get much done? You can see I got a lot of organising and sorting done in my weekend.

Things Going On

Over the past few weeks, I've had a lot going on in my life; but the one big thing was a new window screen going into the office window and a dead air-conditioner being removed.

Yes, it's all be done and dusted and now there's better air flow throughout the house!

It's so nice to feel a nice breeze at night and during the day too.

Tomorrow, I'm getting into this office and sorting through more of the things which need to be looked into; so I can clean up the place more and be ready to move out of this townhouse once the time comes up. 

Today, I gave away a bag of books and a briefcase of my Dad's (and yes, he knew it was going, I asked if he wanted it anymore, and he said no). So, I cleaned it out and cleaned it up and took it to the Vinnies in my area and told them the code to it. Man, they were relieved to know what that was! I said that Dad couldn't be bothered putting a code in, so he left it as the basic numbers it came with. The lady there told me that they had a suitcase with a coded lock they were stuck with for about a week figuring out the code on it; not a lot of fun when nobody knows the code on those things.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm getting in and slowly cleaning out what I no longer need. It's now becoming a slower process of giving away things; and more of a putting things in archive boxes thing. 

So, how is your clean-out going? All good I hope. Keep up updated in what you've been up to.

Busy

I haven't had much time to myself lately to clean out the house or the office. So, the archive boxes I bought are still not established and I'm still in a messy office.

You see, my air-conditioner broke down last month and I had to get my Dad to get it out and put in a new screen. This took time; and once it's been in, my brother and his girlfriend went on a holiday and my folks took care of their dog. Well, I've been caring for the dog off and on over the past few weeks, so I haven't been able to do any cleaning out because we're not allowed to have any dogs here at the complex.

This isn't what I planned for the past few weeks, but it's been happening. 

What I planned was to have my office completely tidied up and cleaned out. But I guess the best laid plans don't always go the way we want, right? 

Archiving My Things

Well, it's time to get the archive boxes going again; and that means I'm storing things away again to make space for my office.

This will take a day or two to get myself organised. And this also means a few bags of rubbish will be included in the clean-up as well.

I'm going to be cleaning out the filing cabinet and putting away all my saved magazines of 'Good Reading' and 'Witchcraft' - well, the ones I don't wish to toss out - and anything else I'm hoping to file away properly.

This will clear up one plastic box too which I'll be using for some of my art gear downstairs. 

How do you archive your things? 

A Little At A Time

I've been suffering from a bit of depression; and so I haven't been cleaning out as much as I thought I would be.

But today, while I waited for my internet to collect itself together and get back online, I pulled out a couple of books I know I will never read and put them by the office door. They're going to be put into the Donation Box to be taken away next week.

I'm also working on using up all my yarn to be made into beanies... I know that sounds strange, but I have a lot of knitting yarn; and why not make them into something cute? 

The air-conditioner died a few weeks back, so I'm getting in and cleaning up the home office to make sure we can get the old one out and put in a good screen to get air through the office again - it's been a long time since this office has had a good gust of wind through here. 

I'm also hoping to get myself a nice desk to replace my corner one - one which will be ordinary, have drawers and I can put my computer tower on it next to my screen. I have to get rid of the filing cabinet too - as it's just full of things I don't need anymore. There's a lot of sorting out that needs to be done there. 

This will take time, and some op-shopping later this year. I do hope it works out though. I'm hoping to put aside some money to save up for the next desk though. 

There is still some smaller things I need to get into to either put away, sort through or throw out. And that's the little things which normally get in the way isn't it? Anyway, how is your place going? 

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. 

It's Personal

I know it's a strange thing to talk about, but when you're decluttering, you come across a lot of personal items. These are probably things you don't want to part with, and yet you're not sure if anyone in the family want either.

I'm talking about your hand-written journals, magazines you bought about famous people from the 1980's and 90's, odds and ends you thought were great and then put them away somewhere safe and forgot about them until now... so, what I'm doing is collecting together a few archive boxes in a certain colour to make them my Personal Boxes. I've labeled them 'My Life' and I'm putting things into them that my family can go through (and I can add to or subtract from) during my life.

This makes things easier for when the time comes for you to move house. You'll know which boxes are which and where they'll go in your next place. I've colour coded mine and written on them. 
Now, I've only done this because I don't have big filing cabinets, and it's the best way I can work out what is my life stuff, my banking, my car, and other things which are part of the bigger picture of everything in my office. 

So far, I'm onto my 3rd purple archive box for My Life... yeah, I'm not making them boring and beige. They're going to be colourful and useful in my house. The funny thing is that I don't know how many of the purple boxes I'll end up having by the end of my life... and that's the thing, you won't have the same number as me either. So don't fret if you've got 10 of them or only 2 ... what matters is what goes into them. It's about you, and what you want to leave to your family - what really personal things which you want them to see, which really matters. 

Big Clean-Out Starts!

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

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

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

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

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