I spoke to my mum on the phone this afternoon whilst I was sorting through stuff in the garage. She’s a great sounding board for me when I’m not sure what to do next (I was just shuffling things around with no particular plan). She doesn’t always know the answers but she’s good at listening. After 50 minutes of chatting and talking through each item that I picked up I’d made really good progress.

Items that I don’t want: I’m organising these by putting them near the entrance on one side of the garage. This is a mix of what needs to be thrown in a skip/taken to the tip, what can be sold, and many charity bags. I left some boxes near there ready to sort through next time I go into the garage so that I can hit the ground running rather than work out what needs to be done next. It’s good to have a plan.

Items that I do want: One of my readers suggested putting things I do want into see through boxes and labeling them so that it’s clear what’s in them. As I’ve already got stacks of pull out clear drawers I’ve started to use these for smaller items (I need to label the drawers too). I have some larger plastic boxes which arrived today which I’m going to use to store larger items and then label them up. It’s still a very packed garage but I’m getting a much better feel for what’s in there and having categories is going to help with the sorting.

I have even positioned the two spare dining room chairs in there so I can sit down when I want a 5 minute break.

Saving the marigolds

The marigold seeds that I scattered in a small border in the garden a couple of months ago have been getting a bit lost in the weeds (weeding is another job that I haven’t done for a while). Today I was determined to get them out and put them in one of the red pots that also had weeds and ants in!

Even though I was shattered from working this morning, spending three hours in the garage this afternoon and cooking roast chops for dinner, I managed to find a little bit of energy to make this pot look pretty by taking all the marigolds out of the border one by one and separating them from the weeds. I then placed them in the pot with fresh potting compost that I bought the other day.

The evening

After sitting down with the family to watch a bit of TV (I actually fell asleep in front of it!) I remembered that I had a load of washing on the bed that needed putting away. I only mentioned it briefly, but my eldest went upstairs and started hanging it all up. I gave her a big hug and told her how grateful I was. She’s so lovely. I don’t want to leave my youngest out as she’s helpful too… today she helped me finish off dinner and laid the table. I’m very lucky to have such lovely daughters. If you ever read this girls… thank you.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra