It’s the best feeling ever when you wake up thinking that it’s Monday… and it’s actually still the weekend. I think that this was mainly because since finishing work on Friday I was so busy with the garden until late evening, and then yesterday was a long day too with the barbecue and everything.

I knew that today was going to be a productive day; I could just feel it. I threw on my clothes and went for a brisk walk to enhance the motivated feeling. As so much was achieved today, not just by me but by the rest of the family as well, I’m going to write it under four main headings, although so much more happened in between. It also seemed to be that every 20 minutes or so, someone would ask me where something was or if I could get some thing for them. It was like a test for me to see if things really are in their place… and they mostly were (apart from the painting clothes).

‘Fixing’ clutter (an old table)

My husband seemed disappointed that I was decluttering the garage this afternoon instead of spending time with him, so I said that I’d get a bit done and then we could do something together. I really didn’t feel like just sitting around in the lounge though as I was in a ‘decluttering’ mood. As I was moving stuff that I wanted to get rid of into a pile, I stumbled upon a old square table that used to belong to my mum and dad. We borrowed it from them, and one of the legs broke off so we never gave it back. I did apologise last year but my mum told me it was fine and to just get rid of it.

Anyway, I was about to put it in the ‘skip’ pile when I had an idea that maybe my husband could fix it and I could help him and that way we could spend time together. He was happy with that, and it was also good practise for me asking for help. (Can I just add a note here to say that he is always willing to help me in the garage, it’s just that his idea of clearing and decluttering is completely different to mine – he won’t mind me saying that he would literally just throw everything away, and as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not ready for that as I like to go through everything. That’s just the way I am – I have to process it all).

Back to the table… we took it into the garden and he fixed the edge that had come off by filing it. There was a bit of water damage so the wood had swollen a bit. He then used gorilla glue to stick the broken bit down as much as he could. Once that had dried, he made a hole a couple of centimetres towards the centre where the wood was more solid, and screwed the table leg in. He then made three other new holes for the other legs and moved them inwards to match. Within no time at all, the table was standing on all fours.

He did an amazing job with the table. Unfortunately I forgot to take a ‘before’ photo, but the above photos show the ones I took half way through and at the end.

‘Dismantling’ clutter (a broken old kitchen cabinet)

After a quick break of tea and biscuits, I called my husband back into the garage to get his opinion on whether we should fix or dismantle the old kitchen cabinet that was filled with clutter (there were charity bags piled on top of it just before taking the photo but I put them to one side). The cabinet was missing a foot, a top and doors. We could have used it as shelving but decided against it as we thought it would be nice to get all matching shelving eventually. So, we opted for dismantling it.

I can’t actually remember why only one cabinet got left in the garage anyway, as the rest of the kitchen went into the skip three or four years ago. We dismantled it together and put the wood aside – some we’ll get rid of and some we’ll keep.

I was happy that we had some more space and my husband was happy that we’d got rid of something. It was a win win situation.

‘Selling‘ clutter

Whilst all of the above was going on, I advertised a few items on Facebook Marketplace. Within five or ten minutes of submitting the items for sale, a lady messaged me asking if the kid’s play tunnel was still available.

She came round late afternoon and picked it up. Apparently she’s going to use it to train her dog. She was happy with the tunnel, and I was happy that it was going to get used after all these years just sitting there. The £4 received is pocket money for the girls. Another win win situation.

My teens are motivated to paint again

Last night, my youngest daughter asked if she could paint her room white. I said that I was okay with that. She knew that I was probably going to be busy with other things and said that she would do it with her sister, and that she wouldn’t need any help from me apart from finding everything she needed to do the job. Today, the girls made a start by sanding down all the rough bits after my husband filled the holes from where she used to have curtains.

The painting began, and I literally left them to it and only popped up now and again when they called me, and to check if all was going okay. It was a hot day and I think they struggled to get a good air flow through the room, but they survived the heat. They will be painting a second coat tomorrow. Poor thing is having to sleep on the sofa tonight!

I’m a little bit tired now, but very pleased with today’s progress. One last job of dishwasher and kitchen and then I’m done for the day.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra