House Plans

I've been going well with my cleaning out this year - however, there's still nowhere to put anything I've cleaned out; which is a pity.

I've got so many things planned, and I can't put them into action as yet. And also, I have the ability to save a lot of money too... which is fantastic. I'm putting money away in accounts and enjoying the fact that I don't have to go out if I don't really need to. 

Well, last night, while I had the commentary of an episode of 'Supernatural' on dvd going, I decided to clean the tops of the cupboards. Man, they were gundgy! I couldn't believe how disgusting they were! Once they were clean, I put down newspaper on top of them and grabbed my servers from the credensa and then put towels and the old table cloth which covered the bigger two on them - to keep the grease from going on them. 

This has cleared the credensa so I can put plants on it - for now. 

You see, I'm still wanting to get rid of that credensa, the two china cabinets, two cd towers, and the large entertainment unit (the last one of which my late Uncle Allan gave me a year before he passed away) - all of this furniture is just too chunky. I've been looking on the Fantastic Furniture site and eyeing off a storage unit there which is really nice. I've also been saving some money up for that piece. 

But, first thing's first: the car has to get a service and its new speakers put in next week. I think by my birthday, I'll be able to get myself these things for my living room... yes, it'll be okay to get a charity to pick up my old furnishings then and install the wall unit for my living room - which will look great, and give me more room in the living room.

And along that wall in the front? Well, I'll be getting myself a nice 2-seater lounge. I do need more seating in the living room. 

So, what are your plans for the rest of year for you place? I've still got my donation items in boxes and bags around the place just waiting for the charity stores to reopen - but I do have the feeling that won't be for some time yet. 

Got Cleaning!

This morning, it was another crisp Autumn day here in Australia. I seriously didn't want to get out of bed, but there was a few things to get done around my place, as I've got an old friend coming over for coffee - and I mean, very old friend. He's somebody I used to date 20 years ago and he looked me up on Facebook, then messaged me, asking if I remembered him... seriously, I usually do remember somebody if I have dated them; but not this one. We didn't date for long, and well, we weren't on the same page by the end of the relationship back then. 

Well, we asked if we could catch up for a chat and I said that cafes were still a no-go zone for a sit-down chat, and he suggested my back yard... well, there's no harm in that.

So, this morning, I've been up bright and early in the chilled fingers of the day cleaning the parts of the house which really needed it. 

The downstairs toilet got cleaned, and the laundry tub did too. Then, I put away all the extra cleaning detergents I have collected over the past month and cleared the art bench and pulled out my spare table easel to put my large painting of the Harbour Wall II on it. Then, I shifted everything back under the bench (finding out it was all caught on something under there) by about a foot, and I could push my red chair underneath more.
The washing up got finished and the benches were wiped down and the iron found a place of its own - finally! I've been trying to find a place for it for about a week now, and it's now under the television again.
The vacuum cleaner is back where it's supposed to be and I put everything into a place again, making more space near the storage unit under the stairs.

Now, I have to put away the laundry and make my bed - which is something I've been trying to make a good habit of mine. Anyway, I'm hoping to get the house tidier than it's been in a week; seeing I've been just knitting and binge-watching my favourite television shows on dvd lately... yeah, I've been lazy. But the weather has been cold and that's great cleaning weather for me. 

I have been cleaning out my underwear drawer, which means I'm looking at my pajamas... yep, I've bagged up all of my cotton ones and tossing them into the donation pile; as I've bought some online which are more my style for this Winter. 

What have you been up to lately which is changing your house into more of a home? 

Kitchen Sorting

Here in Brisbane, Australia, there's been a few restrictions relaxed. We're allowed to go out for takeaway foods, coffee and other takeaway things - but not sit in cafes. So, that's something. 

Well, while I was out yesterday, I bought some coffee to take to a friend's house (which we're allowed up to two people at our places) and I spotted some coffee cups which had been on sale for a while. I loved this cups for a long time, so I bought them.

On bringing them home, I realised I had to declutter my kitchen to make them fit. So, I spent about an hour cleaning out and cleaning up and kitchen... and it's fun when you figure out to fit things - kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. And the best thing about this is that I managed to let go of two sets of cups I no longer use; packing them up for donation in future.

How cool is that? 

How is your place coming along?

Mine is slowly by surely.

One Shelf At A Time

Well, I'm getting in and cleaning my house in a big way this week. And I'm not being fussy about what stays and what goes.

Yesterday, I attacked a shelf in my pantry and pulled out all the herbs to get to my spice rack; and found I had 3 containers of Paprika! OMG! That's just too much - and two of them were smoky paprika, while one was sweet paprika. Jeez, now I don't have to buy any of that herb for a good while. 

Well, I cleaned up that shelf and emptied out the herb containers, wrapped them up and put them into a donation bag and readied them to take with me today to Vinnies. I also added a Disney glass too - one I no longer use.  I mean, why not? If I'm not using it anymore, it's better off somewhere else.

Anyway, I took everything to Vinnies and when I arrived home, I worked on the cabinets and put everything in their spots to cater for the glasses I have in the house. I'm looking forward to getting in and working on the rest of the house. I still have the bathroom to clean up, the vacuuming to do and the laundry to put away completely. 

Well, it doesn't seem like much, but really it is. I hope you're going well with your decluttering. 

Old-Fashioned for the Kitchen

Well, the rubbish truck came on Wednesday - which was a public holiday - and my very full bin became a very empty one; which I'm thankful for.

Anyway, I started cleaning out the dinner set in the kitchen. Yep, I've been searching for a new dinner set for the past few weeks; and last Thursday I found one!

It's lovely, Japanese and hasn't been on the market for over 30 years. The whole 5-piece setting cost me $6.00 and it's from a company - and a town - in Japan called Nikko. How cool is that? I love it!

I've already packed up the retro-ish pink one after washing it up and putting it into newspaper. And now it's ready to take to the op-shop for them to sell - or toss - whatever they want to do with it. I'm happy with the one I've got. 

However, the guy who packed the box, well, he didn't give me a secure box and all but 2 of the cups broke... everything else survive. That was a bummer, but you know, that happens at the best of times too. I'm also giving away some glasses I'm no longer using and getting in and working on looking at my wardrobe too this year.

Anyway, it's been a few days since my last post last year, and I thought to jump in and let you know I'm still at it. 

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. 

A Little and A Lot

In the past two weeks, I've been working on a lot of things in the townhouse. And this is why I haven't been here for a while.

But there's been parts of the kitchen worked on, and parts of the bedroom as well. In the kitchen I've packed up some cups and saucers which I inherited from my late-Uncle and given back to my Mum. I really needed the space in my cupboard and wanted to use my own cups and saucers which I've scored from op-shops instead of being scared of breaking the delicate ones I inherited.
So, once they were out the door and at my parents' house safely, I cleaned up the cupboard and moved all my Keep-Cups into the space in cupboard, and made more room on the counter! Woah, that was really cool to see that, and now I have more counter space I can  get more done around the kitchen instead of feeling as though I'm being squashed into the corner of my sink.

The bedroom has been changed around a bit. I've refurbished the use of my shoe box; cleaning it up and making it into a book case for my night time reading instead of tossing it out. You see, it's not your ordinary style of shoe box... and it doubled well as a book case too. It looks great! 

Then I found two large lampshades and tried to upgrade my old ones... which didn't work out. So, I asked my Dad to help me. My lamps I bought last year from K-Mart were super-glued within an inch of their lives - something I didn't expect from K-Mart, but it's happened. So, Dad worked something out and made them fit. And the old shades? Well, they're on their bedside lamps - and both my parents have said they've never had so much light in their room ever! 

I've taken another bag of goodies to the charity store and enjoyed finding those lamp shades while I was there. But that was about two weeks ago... I haven't been op-shopping for something in a little while. I'm still decluttering in a major way.

This next week, I'm hoping to pull out all my VHS tapes and look into getting them converted to DVD to enjoy them like I used to... as my 21st Birthday is on them, so is a few movies we taped and some documentaries we can't find on DVD. So, it's something we want to look into. After they get converted to DVD, it'll be a matter of tossing out the old VHS tapes to the recycling bin. 

Otherwise, the everything is going well. I've bought a plant for the bathroom and I'm no longer using any plastic bags. I tossed out my last lot of recycling of plastic bags yesterday - how good is that? I'm using all reusable bags in all things in my life from shopping bags to grocery bags. 

So, how is your decluttering 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. 

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?

Art Shelving

This has happened so fast, and I'm glad it has... well, the shelving I was planning on getting next week, I bought this week instead. And well, they're in and I've given away the old skinny bookcase to my neighbours (and they love it!) and I've reorganised my art area completely! 

It looks great!

I have already been to the market at the Logan Artists Association and fixed up my stock box, putting everything away into zip-lock bags and packing them into another box where it all fits completely and the other display boxes are empty and ready for other uses. Then, I've bought another 3 boxes to pack up and ready the stock box for another use around the house. 

Yes, this has happened sooner than I expected, and it's great!

I'll get the art area and living room pulled together before Christmas and the place will look and feel so much better than it has in years. 

I've already given away smaller canvases I don't need anymore and put my esky/cooler onto one of the shelving units. Then, I bought a box for all my laundry detergents and extra things - like extra bottles of vinegar and boxes of bi-carb soda - which don't fit anywhere else. I've got more room in the kitchen and around the washing machine now it's all put away in a place I can get to without much fuss.

It's a great thing to have this all sorted out before my birthday and before Christmas; as the townhouse will be looking so much better soon. Now, just to tidy up and bags of junk sitting around and put away the laundry which is piled up in the bedroom (yep, I'm lazy like that... it's just something I can't get around to doing some days). So, what have you been doing to keep yourself on your journey? 

Today - Friday Afternoon

Okay, I started my Weekend Challenge a tad early; and thought to post in my progress to you all.

It started out as a 'clean out the mug cupboard to make room' thing; but turned into something totally different! I opened the cupboards under the main counter and pulled out everything to do with some glass dishes instead (yeah, like I said 'totally different')... well, after I did that, I ended up climbing halfway to Narnia through my cupboards!

Only kidding! 

I have very deep cupboards and I pulled out everything from them and realised 'Holy crap, that's a lot of shit! And some of it I really don't need!' So, I put the bowls off to one side, found a metal serving platter I'd been looking for and three cake tins and put my food processor where it all of that was after cleaning up the shelves.

Everything looked pretty good and organised after around half an hour. My Corningware and bowls and mixing bowls were right where I needed them and right where I could lay my hands on them. 

Then, I turned around and found the metal serving platter didn't have a home... so there I was looking through the cupboards wondering where to put it! I pulled out my 3-step ladder and climbed to the top of my fridge and became side-tracked with scraping the greasy crap off that! OMG! It was disgusting! But the platter couldn't fit on there; not unless I wanted to forget its existence altogether! So, it ended up in the pantry with my cutting boards. 

At around 3:30pm, I had just had some afternoon tea and finally opened the mugs cupboard and thought to put sorting out the mugs for another day - and said 'Nope, not doing that again!' I pulled down some of the mugs off the top shelf, wrapped them up and put them into storage. And then, wrapped another 4 I hadn't used in over a year and put them in my Donation Box! I moved all the mugs from the bottom shelf and put as many as I could to the top shelf - putting my favourites towards the front - and pulled out my cups and saucer sets from around the house and setting them up in the cupboard to use. 

Yes! I got this part of the decluttering done and dusted! A broken pasta maker (it's missing 2 bolts to hold it to my counter-top so it won't work really) and a set of mugs with matching spoons is in the Donation Box... I'm very pleased with myself! There's more to do. And I'm hoping to get into the backyard a bit tomorrow. How's your challenge going?

Busy Week of No Time

I've been so very busy this week, and haven't had any time to get myself in here to chat and post about anything.

Well, this weekend I'm going through the kitchen cupboards and finding what I no longer use and donating it! Yes! I'm being brutal about things that aren't any use to me or my kitchen anymore.

The amount of things which have fallen out of the cupboards and nearly broken on my feet in the kitchen. So, this weekend and today is the time to get myself together with the cupboards and sort out what I really don't need anymore. There are certain things in my cupboards I use and things I don't.

Have you ever come across anything like this happen in your home? Well, it's time to go through your cupboards again (yep, we did this sometime last year) and redo them.

I find that going over the same area a year later in my decluttering refines the house a little better. It helps me figure out exactly what I need, what I don't need and work out what I'd like in the future too. But cleaning out the kitchen cupboards is a good way to figure out what I need and what I don't neet... and seeing I'm only using particular things around the kitchen; and have only used those things for the past year. It's interesting to find those unused items are just sitting around getting in the way.

I'm hoping to get into the yard this weekend as well, and make sure I get the unwanted plants out of there as well. The good thing is that I know which plants are due for the rubbish tip and which ones are going to be repotted. This is a good thing.

So, here's the Weekend Challenge: look through your cupboards in your kitchen and figure out what you don't use. Would it be those set of coffee mugs, or the chipped dinner set you've been meaning to replace? If you're sick of looking at it and really need it out of your house, this is the weekend to get in and do it! Make sure you have something else to replace it or have been using another set of plates instead (and you're not using paper plates for the next six weeks while you're searching for that perfect dinner set). As for the garden? Well, that's up to you? Do you want to that garden facelift like I am? 

Fridges and Freezers

The fridge is a huge thing to organise and I'd like to cover this for today; as it's Summer here and when you have stinking hot weather, you have to know exactly where things are in this appliance.

And if you keep opening and closing the door of this thing, your other items start going off.

So, to begin with, you have to make sure you have a good day to do this, know that you'll have to tackle one shelf at a time and you may not get the whole fridge and freezer done in one sitting.

Yes, this will take a few times to get clean in hot weather. If you're doing this in Winter, don't worry so much... the cold will allow for more time. 

How I cleaned out the fridge last time was that I tackled two shelves at a time, with a bowl of lukewarm water with dish soap in it and a cloth and I cleaned off one shelf of items, washed it down thoroughly, then wiped it over with a towel and put those things back - after looking at them carefully for used-by dates and making sure everything I put back was within date and edible.

The next shelf is dealt with the same way. 

It's not hard to keep the shelves nice and tidy with a weekly clean out and when the time comes to go shopping, don't be shy to take out the tupperware which you know hasn't been touched in over a week and to throw out the contents into the bin, wash up the containers and put them away.

I have a steadfast rule:  no science projects; and nothing that can make friends (fungus) while its inside my fridge. 

Deal with the freezer the same way. Look on the inside of the door and find out what you can and can't keep for how long. And if you can't recognise it? Well, bin it... it means it's been there too long. 

Remember to clean out the seals of your fridge - as they keep your fridge healthy and make sure the tops of the doors and the handles are clean as well as your crisper and other parts of your fridge door and dairy section. If this is done every week - once a week - it won't take much to keep your fridge working economically. 

Well, that's the fridge and freezer done. Leave a comment below and let us all know how you're doing with your fridge and freezer. 

Op-Shops Are Open Again...

Now, I know this is a decluttering and organising blog, but just to say this is a good thing - in a way.

It gives us the time to get out there and drop off whatever we've been doing during the time over Christmas - you know packing up the old and introducing the new - and take it over to our local op-shop/thrift store to donate.

However, I did this backwards today.

Yes, I went out and looked for placemats for the kitchen table and ended up with a box filled with other goodies I didn't know existed - or I needed.

But when I arrived home, I found that I was decluttering my place without a second thought. I pulled a bottle I haven't used in 3 years which I bought from Woolworths with the honest thought of using when I had visitors - to fill with ice tea or nice ice cold water at some point - but it's just been sitting there doing nothing but gathering dust. 

So into the Donation Box it went - straight away, without me feeling bad about it. I also cleaned up the nice little 3-set canisters and am now using them in the kitchen. The old tea canister will be used to hold my paint brushes and the lid will have to be thrown away as, well, if I take the canister into an op-shop they'll just throw it out. It's better to use the part that is usable, than toss out the whole thing.

I then scored these lovely boxes - one I found and the other was in the store somewhere and I found that after somebody told me about it. Well! they let me have the two for $3.00! What a bargain! Well, I will be using those for my bedroom; as they're just so pretty.

So, I've started decluttering in a big way... so far. And I've also joined Peter Walsh's 30-Day Challenge as well - and I do encourage you do this as well; to kick-start your decluttering year. This is how I got started decluttering my house. 

However, this year, I'm going to make sure this house is going to be ready to have me moving to another house. So, I'll be container ready... yep, things are going to be put away and stored in the readiness to move to another place to live. I can't wait to get in and do this. What are you hoping to get out of this year?  

Donation Day

Today is donation day. 

I've scored a good box from the fruit and veggie market and I've filled it with things I no longer want... an old fruit bowl, candles I'll never use, a bag I scored but just found I never used either and other things as well as pictures from around the house I used in the bathroom (you know the ones which just look pretty and make the room look nice - just to fill in the spaces). 

Yep, I'm filling up this box to put in the boot of the car and take to my charity today. The box will stay in the car and I'll take in the pieces; I'll ask them to please return the box to me so I can reuse it because it's a nice solid box. 

Anyway, I'll still look around the shop and see what's there, then come home - hopefully empty-handed -and that'll be something good; to leave the store without anything; unless I do need it. 

Like those plate organisers... they were great! I can't believe I found them for $3.00 each. Then, there were the smaller set for just $2.00, which my sauce pan lids fitted perfectly!  How cool is that? Well, that was my score for this week... and well earned I must say. I wasn't going to buy anything in Vinnies, but I'm glad I did. These things have made my life so much easier! Well, I hope your work on your house has been going well. In the past week or two, I've had some clarity occur - I don't know how but it's been happening, and life has been so much easier of late; it's been easier to get rid of things, to clean away things, to put away what's not needed... it's hard to explain, but it's all working out for me right now. How about you?  

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? 

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. 

Boxes

Today, I went out to a charity store and did some very cool op-shopping. I scored 2 ice buckets. One was 1970's and once was a much smaller one from around 1930's. The 70's one was plastic and insulated, while the 30's one was glass and metal and looked gorgeous and tiny. So, I polished up the glass one and displayed it on my piano, and looked around the house to put the 70's one so I could use it. 

But I couldn't find a place for it.

So, I opened the bottom doors of the entertainment unit and found it was filled with boxes from my kitchen items. However, these were lined so I could put my Bird Collection items away when the time came and I needed to move; and I could put them inside their right boxes. 
I pulled them out of the unit, and found just how many VCR tapes I had of some great films - all collector's items - and I have just kept them for one reason or another. But now, I really don't need them anymore. So, over the next day or so, I'll be pulling them out and bagging them up to sell online for a collector to buy off me.

Anyway, I grabbed the boxes and went to put them into the kitchen (where there's a cabinet I could fit them all) but I found there were still more boxes! These boxes were from mugs I have bought over the years. So, I organised which ones to throw out and which ones to keep and then bagged up the ones to toss and did just that! Now, I have room in the entertainment unit for my 70's ice box and my boxes for my Bird Collection mugs, sugar bowl, creamer and salt'n'pepper shakers are all under the counter where they belong.

The next thing I need to do - I think is create a bar for my growing collection of items... but where would I make it? There's so little room here. So, how is your decluttering going? Better than mine I hope... I'm still one step forwards and two steps back at times. But today was a good day.