Late Night Decluttering Sessions

It's wonderful when it's late at night, quiet around the place and I really don't want to head off to bed yet. 

Yep, it was 10pm last night and I had turned the tv over to a science show on the discovery of Earth-like planets and found I really just wanted to clean up the living room - and I got into it and did it. 
The laundry was folded, and the clothes horse was put away, along with other things which needed to be put into the storage facility, and then I grabbed a rubbish bag and filled it with things that had been sitting around the place for weeks! Boxes, old news papers, plastic crap and other junk which has been invading my floor and - before I knew it - the bag was full and I tied a knot in it and set it off to one side to put out in the rubbish the next morning. 

I pulled the big cloth bag from next to my dinner table and went through it. There were reusable bags in it which I had been looking for. So, I pulled them out and put them to one side. The big cloth bag is going into my car (with the reusable bags) and the other bag with the other plastic bags and bubble wrap has been set off to one side for a moment - until I get a shelving unit to put that onto the top of. 

But I didn't stop there! I pulled the rubbish bag from the bin the kitchen and took that outside with the junk bag out to the big bin and ended up locking up the house by 10:45pm. Yep, it was a good clean-up. The science show had finished as well. I set out the rest of the cockroach traps around the house and took the laundry upstairs to put away - seeing I had folded it ready to do that.

When I came downstairs this morning, the living room looked and felt less cluttered and more like I know what's what and that I know which direction the living room is going. It's a good feeling to get back into this again. It's going to take me time to get back into the whole declutter thing after a little while away from it... but bear with me, and we'll be back on track again. 

Craft Gear Toss-Out

Being a crafter and painter, I find it difficult to throw out things to do with my creative side. Seriously, you should see how much paperwork I have to do with books and my writing still sitting around my office! 

It's atrocious! 

Anyway, seeing I'm down with a head cold this week, I've forced myself to open the house up and pull out my craft gear from my bedroom to sort through.

As Peter Walsh always says in step 1 of everything: pull it all out onto the floor! And that's what I've done. And wouldn't you believe it? I've got a vintage suitcase of yarn - yes I have that much knitting yarn that it requires a suitcase to store it! I've also got about 5 other reusable bags filled with yarn too!

Man, have I got some yarn! But that's what happens when I buy it on the cheap at craft group, have nowhere to put it and toss it into the wardrobe without thinking. Then, months later, look up there and think: 'Wow, that's a lot of yarn!' 

Anyway, I pulled down a few bags and the suitcase and began going through them in my living room - it's just that I find it easier to work in a larger space than my bedroom there; plus with the front window open, it was nice to get some fresh air into the living room. 
I tossed out a full bin of crap I didn't need, found some yarn I wanted to use, found some needlepoint yarn I had been looking for and then found some ties I had stitched up to sew onto some old cushion covers from the lounge. I reorganised the suitcase to take everything better - put the ties into colours in ziplock bags and then found I had a lot more space in it... which will mean when I want to put it all away this arvo, the space will be there! 

Wonderful!

Well, that was only half the craft gear I've stored away in bedroom wardrobe. Now, to see what other crap I've shoved up into the top of my wardrobe over the past 6 months. I seriously need a craft room - that means a 3rd bedroom. Yes, that means I have to move out of here... but where to? So, how is your cleaning out going? 

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? 

The Junk Room

We all have one. 

It's inevitable and unavoidable. 

It's .... the junk room!

I have a junk room and it's usually the toughest room around to clear. No matter how many times I've tried, how often I've jumped into it and cleaned it up, it all returns to being the junk room.

It's my home office.

I love being in here and enjoy being around my books and my Reading Chair (it's the chair you see on my blog profile pic). But the junk just seems to pile up around it in this room. 

The rest of the house is clean and tidy. I can manage it just nice. The bathroom has been kept clean. The living room is being managed nicely. The kitchen is perfect. But the one room I have always struggled with - and I think always will - is my junk room. 

I guess we will all have that part of the house which will come back and bite us for some years, right up until we get our butt into gear and work on it properly. So, what part of your house just doesn't pull together properly? Do you know what the problem is? If not, have you tried a number of times to get it fixed up? Let us know.