I'd like to say that since I last wrote the houe is so organised and clean it is like living in a show home but I think that would be a huge exaggeration. However, I have made quite a huge difference. The living room was pretty clear and scrubbed clean but now is full of baby clothes that I am organising to get advertised or on ebay but I am still really pleased with it and the clothes are slowly getting sorted and going. Still wish they would go quicker though.
I even started to clear out my kitchen cupboards so that I could free up space on the worktops. Not totally got that done yet because having to prioritise our finances for a bit. We have had messy finances for too long and now we have to do something about it. It is a very depressing and time consuming job that we have been putting off but no more, time to tackle it head on. So the last few days have been spent gathering all the information and starting to build a workable budget. Think things are going to be hard for awhile but at least we have made a start on it and already my head feels a bit clearer. Also another incentive for clearing out and selling as much as we can. Plus while we are inside busy clearing out, we aren't round the shops spending money we don't have. Sound like a win win situation.
I've also making a bit of leeway in emptying the built in wardrobes in Monkey Madam's room, so that we can take them out. I'm desperate to decorate her room and make it into a girl's bedroom rather than a nursery but between all the clutter and the expense of doing it, it is a very slow process but I do have a bit of a plan for the next stage of organising it, plus the slowness of it gives me time to try and find some bargain furniture. I'm trying to buy cheap furniture or 2nd hand furniture to paint and personalise to our home. Much more fun that way.
Monkey Madam starts preschool this month, so I am going to be having a couple of hours a day to do things on my own. I keep thinking about all the stuff I can get done but in reality it will be only a couple of days a week but even so, 4 hours of uninterupted cleaning, selling, painting sounds like heaven.
Plan for next few weeks is to finish sorting out Monkey Madam's wardrobes, get more baby clothes advertised, sort out a budget and finish clearing the kitchen.
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Saturday 13 August 2011
Arrrgghhh
Why is it that no matter how much I seem to do to clear out and organise it just seems to get worse and worse?
It could just be that I haven't been able to do anything towards it for a few days and it leaves me feeling frustrated. There are so many things that I want to do but I always seem to be relying on somebody else to help me or look through things and it just delay things happening.
I now have a huge box full of things that are advertised for sale but nobody seems interested in them at the minute. I also have another pile of stuff that I still need to advertise but the photographing and writing the advert up is very time consuming and it makes me think I could be doing more around the house instead.
But I have to try and be more positive because when it starts to all seem like an impossible dream, it makes me totally unmotivated. On the upside, I've managed to get some furniture that Mum is getting rid of, so some free furniture, which is always good. The down side to it, is the sideboard that I'm getting for the room, to hide some of the little one's toys in, will need painting, so that is more time and I don't want to leave it for forever before I get round to doing it. At the moment, I'm not sure how to paint it. I need to do it in red, cream and brown but I also want it to be very personalised to us. I might need to do a bit of research into it and look round for some paint. I'm secretly excited about it.
I have a secret target for having the house tidy enough to have visitors round. Sometime in October Monkey Madam is being baptised and the church is walking distance from our house and I would like to be able to invite people back afterwards for cake and a cup of tea. At the moment, that seems like an impossible dream but I suppose from little acorns big oaks grow and each thing I sell or sort is another leaf towards the oak tree of a tidy home.
It could just be that I haven't been able to do anything towards it for a few days and it leaves me feeling frustrated. There are so many things that I want to do but I always seem to be relying on somebody else to help me or look through things and it just delay things happening.
I now have a huge box full of things that are advertised for sale but nobody seems interested in them at the minute. I also have another pile of stuff that I still need to advertise but the photographing and writing the advert up is very time consuming and it makes me think I could be doing more around the house instead.
But I have to try and be more positive because when it starts to all seem like an impossible dream, it makes me totally unmotivated. On the upside, I've managed to get some furniture that Mum is getting rid of, so some free furniture, which is always good. The down side to it, is the sideboard that I'm getting for the room, to hide some of the little one's toys in, will need painting, so that is more time and I don't want to leave it for forever before I get round to doing it. At the moment, I'm not sure how to paint it. I need to do it in red, cream and brown but I also want it to be very personalised to us. I might need to do a bit of research into it and look round for some paint. I'm secretly excited about it.
I have a secret target for having the house tidy enough to have visitors round. Sometime in October Monkey Madam is being baptised and the church is walking distance from our house and I would like to be able to invite people back afterwards for cake and a cup of tea. At the moment, that seems like an impossible dream but I suppose from little acorns big oaks grow and each thing I sell or sort is another leaf towards the oak tree of a tidy home.
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Whoop! Whoop!
I did it! I finished all the ironing that was in the living room - whooooooop! I even got most of it put away. The ironing board is back in its cupboard and when I've moved the last few things of it, the airer will be following it. I can actually see my bookshelves, which is great news apart from I can also see all the clutter on it. That leads me to my next challenge.......
........Operation bookshelf!
We bought the bookshelf in January. It was a Swedish bargain and the idea was so that Monkey Madam could have the lower shelves for her games and books and the higher shelves would have a few books and nic nacs. That was the plan, however it never got filled properly and then things just got stuck on the shelves so now it is packed full of more 'stuff'. I seem to just fill every available space with anything that is on hand.
I can see at a quick glance that there are piles of things that need selling. Console games and baby clothes to name a couple. The good thing about the shelves is that some of the books and games that are piled up all over the living room floor will be cleared away and now that the toddler is a bit older some of them can be sold or passed on to charity shops as she has outgrown them. I need to be harsh with them.
The bad news is I am a hoarder and I need to change that, I just don't know how to change that mind set of holding on to things 'just in case'. If I find out I will let you all know. I suppose the first step is to stop buying things. If it doesn't come in to the house, it can't become clutter. For my Disorganised life to become Organised, I need to clear out but also to change how I view objects.
Today's task is to start on the bookshelves. I'm not expecting to get them all done but I can certainly get at least the bottom 3 organised, which I'm hoping will have a clearing effect on the hearth, which is piled up with books and games. I also need to get more things advertised. They will only sell if people know that they are available. I just wish people would buy things quicker, I have so many things to get rid of.
Wish me Luck
........Operation bookshelf!
We bought the bookshelf in January. It was a Swedish bargain and the idea was so that Monkey Madam could have the lower shelves for her games and books and the higher shelves would have a few books and nic nacs. That was the plan, however it never got filled properly and then things just got stuck on the shelves so now it is packed full of more 'stuff'. I seem to just fill every available space with anything that is on hand.
I can see at a quick glance that there are piles of things that need selling. Console games and baby clothes to name a couple. The good thing about the shelves is that some of the books and games that are piled up all over the living room floor will be cleared away and now that the toddler is a bit older some of them can be sold or passed on to charity shops as she has outgrown them. I need to be harsh with them.
The bad news is I am a hoarder and I need to change that, I just don't know how to change that mind set of holding on to things 'just in case'. If I find out I will let you all know. I suppose the first step is to stop buying things. If it doesn't come in to the house, it can't become clutter. For my Disorganised life to become Organised, I need to clear out but also to change how I view objects.
Today's task is to start on the bookshelves. I'm not expecting to get them all done but I can certainly get at least the bottom 3 organised, which I'm hoping will have a clearing effect on the hearth, which is piled up with books and games. I also need to get more things advertised. They will only sell if people know that they are available. I just wish people would buy things quicker, I have so many things to get rid of.
Wish me Luck
Monday 8 August 2011
For Sale!
We've had a busy few weeks so blogging was way down my list of things to do but some decluttering has happened, not that it is apparant from the state of the house.
I have managed to sell one of the large pieces of baby furniture that was stopping me moving Monkey Madams bedroom round. Now, that doesn't sound like a huge event but it means that things got moved round a bit and it freed up some space in my living room - finally. I didn't just get used to having space but set my ironing board up as a permanent resident. I decided the ironing was more likely to get done if the board was there taunting me and making me feel guilty for neglecting it. And it worked! Every day I got the iron out and got some clothes sorted and hung but it was only hung on a airer in the room, thereby leading to the next problem, where to put them when the wardrobes were full.
And would you believe it, I spent a bit of time sorting the top half of my wardrobe out, freeing up the space to hang more clothes. I even managed to give a bag of clothes to charity.
So, the house still has so much clutter it drives me mad but little bits are starting to happen and while I am slowly shifting Mount Iron, I am advertising things to sell. Clearing out and earning pocket money in the process is my ideal solution. Advertising locally on Netmums or local boards is the first place to start, they don't have fees and don't normally involve posting but you don't always have a lot of success, so next stage is ebay. As I say, I've managed to sell a few things but I'm finding things to sell, quicker than I can get things sold, so today's new problem, is what to do with things once advertised but not sold? I'm afraid that might be an ongoing problem and I can't see a time when we won't have things that need clearing out and selling.
But before my panic about disappearing in a pile of 'stuff' takes control, I will set myself a small target for tomorrow and that is to finish the ironing that I have in the living room, so that I can take down the ironing board and clothes airer and get even more space in my living room. If and it is a big if, if I manage to get that done, then I have some more things to advertise.
It feels so good to make things happen, so now it is about sell, sell, sell and lets not forget the ironing!
I have managed to sell one of the large pieces of baby furniture that was stopping me moving Monkey Madams bedroom round. Now, that doesn't sound like a huge event but it means that things got moved round a bit and it freed up some space in my living room - finally. I didn't just get used to having space but set my ironing board up as a permanent resident. I decided the ironing was more likely to get done if the board was there taunting me and making me feel guilty for neglecting it. And it worked! Every day I got the iron out and got some clothes sorted and hung but it was only hung on a airer in the room, thereby leading to the next problem, where to put them when the wardrobes were full.
And would you believe it, I spent a bit of time sorting the top half of my wardrobe out, freeing up the space to hang more clothes. I even managed to give a bag of clothes to charity.
So, the house still has so much clutter it drives me mad but little bits are starting to happen and while I am slowly shifting Mount Iron, I am advertising things to sell. Clearing out and earning pocket money in the process is my ideal solution. Advertising locally on Netmums or local boards is the first place to start, they don't have fees and don't normally involve posting but you don't always have a lot of success, so next stage is ebay. As I say, I've managed to sell a few things but I'm finding things to sell, quicker than I can get things sold, so today's new problem, is what to do with things once advertised but not sold? I'm afraid that might be an ongoing problem and I can't see a time when we won't have things that need clearing out and selling.
But before my panic about disappearing in a pile of 'stuff' takes control, I will set myself a small target for tomorrow and that is to finish the ironing that I have in the living room, so that I can take down the ironing board and clothes airer and get even more space in my living room. If and it is a big if, if I manage to get that done, then I have some more things to advertise.
It feels so good to make things happen, so now it is about sell, sell, sell and lets not forget the ironing!
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Tourist visits Mount Ironing
I'm procrastinating! I should be tackling the rather large pile of ironing that is taking over the living room, but instead had a urgent desire to blog, hmmm, maybe that is my problem, I've always found it far too easy to find something better that I could be doing. I think the only time the ironing has been my priority is when I've been studying and then it was always the lesser of two evils.
I got up today and had my usual chore of weekly shopping to do but then wanted to tackle another clutter problem in my living room. The toys aren't finished yet, but the next pile to sort includes books and drawing paper and the area of the room they need to go is covered in The Unironed. So the ironing it was then. Just the thought of it made my heart sink. I never have a problem keeping on top of the washing but ironing and putting away is another problem altogether. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy ironing or should I say used to. I never seem to be able to stand for a couple of hours at a time to do the pile of it, so end up doing a few things at a time but unfortunately it gets worn and rewashed quicker than that, so eventually it takes over. I think when Monkey Madam starts nursery for 5 mornings in September, my first month will be spent catching up with the laundry.
I need a solution to it but I'm yet to find anything that feels right for me. I've read loads of tips and advice about only having certain wash days, making sure you wash, dry, iron and put away on the same day, to hanging everything to dry it so it doesn't need ironing. Who are these people? I struggle some days to even get the load of washing dry before I go to bed and most nights I go to bed with the washing machine on, does that means it belongs to the following days clothes? I get confused very easily. I then realised that a lot of these people live in the USA and have laundry rooms and most things are dried in a dryer. I would kill for a laundry room, imagine how much ironing I could pile up in that!
Well, that 30 minutes of blogging means that I've managed to avoid the ironing for now and it is time to prepare the evening meal but the clothes are still there needing to be done. Looks like a long, hot evening of ironing for me.
I got up today and had my usual chore of weekly shopping to do but then wanted to tackle another clutter problem in my living room. The toys aren't finished yet, but the next pile to sort includes books and drawing paper and the area of the room they need to go is covered in The Unironed. So the ironing it was then. Just the thought of it made my heart sink. I never have a problem keeping on top of the washing but ironing and putting away is another problem altogether. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy ironing or should I say used to. I never seem to be able to stand for a couple of hours at a time to do the pile of it, so end up doing a few things at a time but unfortunately it gets worn and rewashed quicker than that, so eventually it takes over. I think when Monkey Madam starts nursery for 5 mornings in September, my first month will be spent catching up with the laundry.
I need a solution to it but I'm yet to find anything that feels right for me. I've read loads of tips and advice about only having certain wash days, making sure you wash, dry, iron and put away on the same day, to hanging everything to dry it so it doesn't need ironing. Who are these people? I struggle some days to even get the load of washing dry before I go to bed and most nights I go to bed with the washing machine on, does that means it belongs to the following days clothes? I get confused very easily. I then realised that a lot of these people live in the USA and have laundry rooms and most things are dried in a dryer. I would kill for a laundry room, imagine how much ironing I could pile up in that!
Well, that 30 minutes of blogging means that I've managed to avoid the ironing for now and it is time to prepare the evening meal but the clothes are still there needing to be done. Looks like a long, hot evening of ironing for me.
Monday 11 July 2011
It's the toys!
Well, I thought about it for a couple of days but the toys in the living room had to be the pile that I was going to start with. It is a huge job that I knew would be hindered by the toddler, so it really was going to be jumping in the deep end.
The decider was that it is Monkey Madam's birthday in a couple of weeks and therefore another pile of new toys to try and fit in the house so I decided it made sense to clear out the existing ones to make room for the new. I have tried to sort them out in the past but find it quite difficult to do. I look at expensive toys or good quality toys that she doesn't use much and I think we should keep them but then want to throw out all the cheap plastic rubbish that she plays with all the time and then I feel like a bad mum. Then I came across this blog entry http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/04/managing-your-pre-schoolers-toy-collection/. Sounds like the perfect solution to dealing with it, let the toddler decide.
So, this afternoon I came home from picking up Monkey Madam from my Mum's and was determined we were going to start. I found a large box and we slowly, very slowly, went through all the toy drawers and mountain of toys off the floor in the living room. The large box is now nearly full but I do feel that the toddler has not always chosen wisely but they won't be going forever, they are just going on "holiday to the loft". I might even be really organised and schedule a date on my calendar for bringing them down and going through them again.
The living room looks like a war zone at the moment with toys everywhere, now just waiting for stage 2 of the toy clearance. This involves waiting for Monkey Madam to go to bed so that I can clear through them again and throw away all the broken and cheap rubbish bits that we have 3 huge boxes of.
It isn't over yet but it is a start
The decider was that it is Monkey Madam's birthday in a couple of weeks and therefore another pile of new toys to try and fit in the house so I decided it made sense to clear out the existing ones to make room for the new. I have tried to sort them out in the past but find it quite difficult to do. I look at expensive toys or good quality toys that she doesn't use much and I think we should keep them but then want to throw out all the cheap plastic rubbish that she plays with all the time and then I feel like a bad mum. Then I came across this blog entry http://smallnotebook.org/2010/01/04/managing-your-pre-schoolers-toy-collection/. Sounds like the perfect solution to dealing with it, let the toddler decide.
So, this afternoon I came home from picking up Monkey Madam from my Mum's and was determined we were going to start. I found a large box and we slowly, very slowly, went through all the toy drawers and mountain of toys off the floor in the living room. The large box is now nearly full but I do feel that the toddler has not always chosen wisely but they won't be going forever, they are just going on "holiday to the loft". I might even be really organised and schedule a date on my calendar for bringing them down and going through them again.
The living room looks like a war zone at the moment with toys everywhere, now just waiting for stage 2 of the toy clearance. This involves waiting for Monkey Madam to go to bed so that I can clear through them again and throw away all the broken and cheap rubbish bits that we have 3 huge boxes of.
It isn't over yet but it is a start
Friday 8 July 2011
One step at a time
Apparently the first step to anything is admitting it, so here I am admitting that I am a disorganised person. I always considered myself to be organised, I love files to be in order and cupboards to be neat but anything that doesn't fit in to my system gets left lying around making a mess and now it is time to step in and take control.
Today is day 1 and that just involves saying it outloud. So here I am shouting on the top of my voice - My house and my life is disorganised and consists of me running round with a head full of ideas and plans that I can't do because of all the clutter.
This blog is for me to try and put in writing anything I achieve in my war on clutter or tell you all any problems I can't resolve. Watch this space to see where I'm going to start, should it be the kitchen, the cupboards, the toy heap or the ironing?
Today is day 1 and that just involves saying it outloud. So here I am shouting on the top of my voice - My house and my life is disorganised and consists of me running round with a head full of ideas and plans that I can't do because of all the clutter.
This blog is for me to try and put in writing anything I achieve in my war on clutter or tell you all any problems I can't resolve. Watch this space to see where I'm going to start, should it be the kitchen, the cupboards, the toy heap or the ironing?
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