Day 340: The Chandelier Has Gone, The Decorator Has Begun, and the Clearing Continues

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I had to get up early this morning as Ben the electrician was returning at 8am to remove the chandelier and my husband and I were going to try and help.

A plan to take down the chandelier

Also, the decorator was arriving at 9am and I had to get my daughter up and out of her room and remove her bedding, mattress and other items left in there.

It all went well, although it did take longer than we thought to remove the dusty chandelier. I tried to clean it with a long-poled duster before he arrived, but the dust was flying everywhere, so I just put on a facemask instead. It was a tricky exercise but Ben and my husband worked on a plan. First the bulbs and delicate shades were removed.

Straps were then wrapped around the chanderlier just in case! At one point I heard a loud noise and thought it had fallen but it had just slipped down after he had released the bolt. Ben was then able to disconnect the light and my husband and I took some of the weight of the chandelier and moved it across onto some wooden beams resting on the bannister.

I videoed the last bit on ‘time lapse’ on my phone, so if you want to see the 22 second video on Instagram, please click here.

The landing looks so much bigger and brighter now that we just have spotlights (installed yesterday)

The decorator’s first challenge is complete

The decorator worked on my youngest daughter’s room today. She did an excellent job and it kind of put our painting efforts to shame. We’re not professionals like her though 😀.

No more brown plaster on the ceiling

The door to the room is actually white now, not an off white/yellow colour like the other unpainted doors coming off the landing. The radiator and windowsill in her room is so glossy and perfectly shiny – the whole room looks amazing.

Perseverance with the Never-ending clutter

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Day 339: An Unpleasant But Productive Hour in the Loft, and Three More Rooms Have Spotlights

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Three areas of the house now look fresher and brighter all because of a hard day’s work from the electrician to install some spotlights. It took him over half a day to do the lounge because he wasn’t able to cut the holes for the lights from above (due to the chipboard flooring in our bedroom).

New spotlights to replace very old ceiling lights

He did a fantastic job though and we have now got rid of our two very outdated ceiling lights that we’ve hated for years but done nothing about. One of them hasn’t even worked for almost two years. The room will be plastered on Tuesday.

Next on the list was the upstairs landing. These spotlights were replacing the outdated six bulb chandelier that’s always been a dust trap, and because I could never reach it to change the bulbs, there was only one left lit.

He also installed a new mains powered smoke alarm. The old one fell off a while ago so I’ve just had battery ones dotted about the house.

The last room he did for us today was our bedroom. The landing and bedroom took him much less time than the lounge because he was able to clearly see where to make the holes because he could access from the loft above.

My unpleasant but productive hour in the loft

Once the plasterboard was unscrewed from the temporary loft opening this morning, I was able to get up there to clear the area above the upstairs landing. After a busy morning working, I put on my old clothes, rubber gloves and facemask and prepared myself for the mess.

Although the area up there was difficult to get to, very dirty and ‘dead-mice-smelly’, it was easy to throw things away because they weren’t mine and I wasn’t attached to them in any way. The previous owner had left some boxes and bags of stuff there when they moved out and we’ve never got round to seeing what was there. Over the years the boxes and bags have got moved about and started to rip and break. It was very satisfying bagging them up.

I found games, toys, paperwork, basketball nets, newborn cards, framed pictures, a blanket, a mattress and other bits and pieces. There were also about 20-30 empty plastic water bottles and one empty plastic milk carton all over the place. I’m thinking that maybe a bag of recycling had been thrown up there one day by mistake instead of recycling it all. Who knows? There was also a stuffed owl with its feet chewed off (possibly by mice?) and a really cute stuffed dog – never seen either of them before.

All of it went into a couple of large rubbish bags and I also bagged up the plastic bottles for recycling. I threw one bag down from the top of the ladder and it accidently got caught on a nail causing the bag to tip upside down emptying its contents including the cute dog all over the landing (bottom left picture below). Bagging it up once was enough, I then had to do it all again.

An hour in the loft produces results

It was very difficult moving about in the loft today due to there being only joists in that area and no fixed floorboards. I was holding on and balancing the whole time and had to be careful where I put my feet. It was an interesting hour though and quite an eye opener as to what is actually up there. There’s not really that much to get rid of and I think that if I spent a few more hours up there next year before we get the loft boarded properly, I could tidy up what I want to keep and throw the rest in a skip.

The electrician needs to pop back in the morning to remove our chandelier – it was too big a job to fit in at the end of the day as it’s heavy and awkward. Our decorator starts tomorrow as well, so she’ll make a start on the ceiling in my youngest’s room. There’s no way I’m ever doing ceilings again after doing my other daughter’s room. It’s such an awkward job and gave me a neck-ache.

We have had a massive programme of work this year and so many jobs are getting ticked off. I am starting to feel like we are getting somewhere.

Wishing you all a happy weekend whatever you do.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 338: Thoughts from Today’s Clearing Efforts

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Getting the thoughts of the day down in the evening allows me to reflect on the day’s events and log my progress. It also encourages me to give myself a pat on the back when no one else has noticed 😊. I’ve tried writing the blog earlier in the day but even though I get some notes down, the real detail only appears late in the evening. It’s like I need the day to be over before I can see it properly.

Anyway, back to the clearing. I’ve actually done so much today that it feels like two separate days, ha ha. It’s been non-stop. I’m yawning as I write this, so I’m going to try and be brief and get to bed a bit earlier (ha ha, not much chance of that).

Swapping the single beds around

When my eldest daughter moved into her new room just over a month ago and got a new double bed, I propped her old single bed on its side in her old room (now the new study). This bed is better quality than my youngest’s single bed so today was the day that I had planned to swap the beds around. Sounds quite easy doesn’t it?

The problem was, last week when I was emptying the bed drawers and taking items to my daughter’s new room, I broke the drawer and didn’t realise now much damage I had caused when I wedged it back in… oops.

So, in order to swap the single beds around I had to first fix it, so I called my husband in to help. We had to take the other drawer out as well as the covering that’s stapled to the underside of the bed; however, it wasn’t budging. We started off being careful but then had to resort to a hammer to break the round bit that sits on the rail. In the end the drawer came out but the runner was all bent. Oh well! We managed to get the drawer back in and it seems ok without that round bit that we smashed. At least it’s still usable.

Then came the swapping of the beds which seemed to be the quickest part even though I took the opportunity to clean under and around her bed in the process.

Swapping single beds around

The bed looked good afterwards (bottom picture above) as it has a much deeper mattress. I just ended up just storing some lighter pillows and cushions in the broken drawer. The spare bedding can go in the other one.

A quick bit of painting

Then I had around 45 minutes before I had to start work and calculated that it would be enough time to quickly give my eldest daughter’s cupboard door, and wood panelling next to it, another coat of paint. I achieved it with 10 minutes to spare and then quickly ate some lunch before dialling into my first meeting of the day.

Work and dinner

Work was busy until just after 5.30pm. I couldn’t face cooking so I went out to get fish and chips. It was so cold out there – apparently we are going to get some sleet tomorrow. I didn’t enjoy the fish and chips very much.

Helping my daughter

I was really pleased that my eldest asked me to help her with her personal learning statement for applying for 6th form. She’d written it really well and I didn’t really have to give her much constructive feedback. We just found a few additional phrases together that she could add in. It was lovely spending time with her working on it.

Preparing for the the electrician’s visit tomorrow

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Day 337: Decluttering Has to Come Before Cleaning… and Today I Was Proactive Whilst Waiting in the Car

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I think that this is why I struggle to clean, because there is always so much to move out of the way first. I’ve also had a lot of work done around the house recently and there’s more being done before the end of the year so things are constantly being moved from room to room.

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel though as I’m getting better at discarding. Once I can learn to live with less around me and then keep on top of it I think I’ll be ok.

I’m already starting to find certain areas easier and quicker to clean which is good. There’s nothing worse than walking into a room that needs cleaning where I’m faced with decisions that still need to be made about stuff. The space underneath the clutter just never gets cleaned as it’s such a waste of my time and effort moving it all first.

Routines help too

When I wrote about routines in Monday’s post, a couple of readers commented on how important it is to have them in place and they are so right. I have a few daily and weekly ones but nothing is set in stone. I can’t wait to get into a proper routine that I don’t need to think about instead of just doing things as and when and not doing some of it at all. Most of you have probably learnt the hard way that you can’t do without your cleaning routines.

One particular reader Vikki Thompson recommended The Organised Mum Method (TOMM) by Gemma Bray and it rang a bell with me. I looked back on audible and realised that I had downloaded that book over a year ago. Why didn’t I remember the content?

So, I’ve been listening to the book again over the last couple of days and low and behold there’s a chapter that’s all about clearing the clutter before attempting to clean. When I listened to it last year, I think I must have stopped there and parked the rest of the ideas in the book 😀. I’ve been paying attention to that chapter this time around, and I’m realising that I need to follow the ‘clutter buster’ method first and then move onto the ‘messy house bootcamp’. Only then does the book suggest implementing the other normal cleaning routines, although it probably wouldn’t hurt to start fitting in the quick 15 minute daily ones as a way of making a start. I’m a quick learner!

The routines in the book are downloadable and printable, and apparently there is an app where you can tick things off as you do them. First things first though, I’m going to continue listening to the book and follow the_organised_mum Instagram page and also the blog. I like the look of what I’ve seen so far. Thanks for bringing it to my attention again Vikki 😊.

A bit of painting

I spent my lunch break today adding the first coat of emulsion to the wooden panels and cupboard door that had been replaced on one wall in my daughter’s bedroom. I painted the area with wood primer a couple of weeks ago. These jobs don’t take long when you fit them in around other things in the day. I’m going to do another coat tomorrow. I’m leaving the tricky painting in the inside of the cupboard for another time as it did my neck in last time!

Things to do whilst waiting in the car

I picked my youngest daughter up from school today and we had a good chat in the car whilst my eldest was attending an after school lesson. As I knew we’d have around an hour’s wait, I brought my new Shark handheld vacuum cleaner with me (as you do) to see how good it was with cleaning the inside of the car.

I didn’t bring the right crevice tool along, but it does have a lot of suction so I managed to get some of the dirt up from the seats and the floor. I just need to go back and do the difficult to reach areas another day.

Again, this was another good use of my time today. I did a bit of admin in the car as well which got a few things ticked off my list.

I had to do some more work when I got home and then I made chilli con carne with rice which went down well.

I felt shattered this evening for some reason – probably the painting. I fell asleep on the settee in the study and really could have stayed there for the night, but needed to get up and get myself organised and ready for bed.

The kitchen has stayed pretty tidy since I cleaned it this morning so there wasn’t much to do in there this evening. Whilst cooking, I had emptied the dishwasher and there actually wasn’t anything to put in there for the first time ever. I must be getting this routine business right!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 336: Boxes of Christmas Decorations Adds to the Clutter

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

It doesn’t feel like 11 months since we put the Christmas tree back in its box. I remember writing a post on Day 6 Goodbye Tree, See you in 11 Months. At the time, the rest of the decorations, wrapping and cards were dumped in the conservatory and I didn’t get around to boxing them up and putting them in the loft until Day 65 on 5th March when I wrote the post No Need for Expensive Boxes to Store Christmas Decs.

Little did I know back then, that approximately one week later I’d be working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic and would need to use the conservatory. This year has gone so quickly and I’m still working from home and have completely cleared the room and changed the layout.

Back to the boxes…

Being 1st December, my daughters were very excited about putting up the tree and decorations. We did the outside lights at the weekend.

We needed to get all of the boxes out of the loft to see what we were going to use this year.

It was a struggle to get into the loft because we’re still waiting for our new loft hatch to be fitted, so there’s currently just a piece of plasterboard secured there with a few screws. My husband had to help us get the board down and I then went up there to find the boxes and pass them down.

I’d numbered all 11 boxes last year so, even though the builders had moved them about up there, I was able to locate them easily. There’s not that much up there anyway.

The loft is so dusty and the boxes were too. They all got dumped in the hallway and dining room downstairs and we opened each one to get what we needed for the tree. My daughter took a few decorations for her room but then they all ran out of energy and went to bed. I was left surrounded by mess and half filled boxes. I tried not to worry about it as I have a plan this year to declutter these boxes and throw or give away what we never seem to use.

I got the vacuum cleaner out and cleaned the landing and stairs as bits of the plaster from the temporary loft hatch had got all over the floor and I could taste the dust. I did a quick bit of tidying up by literally pushing all the boxes into the dining room to keep the hallway free.

I then retreated to the study to take some time out for myself. The day has been non-stop since I got up and work has been so busy today.

Time for a soak in the bath.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 335: Saying Goodbye to the Skip and Looking at Routines from the past

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Goodbye to the rubbish

I watched the skip being picked up from the side of my house this morning after I came back from the school run. It was quite uplifting seeing it all being carried away. It’s also bin day tomorrow, so this evening I bagged up some other rubbish to take out. All very satisfying. I also remembered to place my old slippers on top of the bin for the textiles collection.

Keeping things tidy around the house

I’ve actually been noticing over the last 24 hours how much tidier certain areas around the house are becoming. Although I’m still a long way from it being the way I want it to be, I’m feeling confident that I’ll get close enough. I’m starting to clean areas as I see them dirty and untidy. For example, I noticed this morning how much clutter was on the counter top in the main bathroom. I moved some items into my daughter’s new en-suite and then cleaned all round the sink area. The bathroom looked more spacious after that and it didn’t even take that long for me to do it.

Routines from the past

As mentioned the other day, I want to come up with some routines to make sure everything and everyone gets equal attention and I don’t forget to do anything. I’m already have my to do lists and a few basic daily routines but I want to add more.

I recalled doing something in Excel about ten years ago when the girls were little. I found the spreadsheet on an old drive and it amazed me how organised I was back then listing down each task I did and categorising it into daily, weekly, monthly etc. It was so detailed.

Back then I was actively involved in the girls’ morning and bedtime routines – helping them get ready, reading stories, bath-time etc. Although I still do spend time with them in the evenings it’s in a different way e.g. chatting, listening, helping them with stuff, cuddling etc.

I’m going to spend some time this week adapting what’s on the task list and come up with something that’s workable for me. I think it will really help keep on top of things.

I feel so tired now as I’ve had a busy day at work, so I’m going to make every effort to get to bed soon and then hopefully I’ll wake up refreshed in the morning.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 334: A Cosy Corner in the Study

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I’ve had one of those days today where I didn’t really get any time to get on with the decluttering until early evening. Firstly I spent time making Sunday lunch and then I assisted my girls outside in the cold, as they were trying to find a way of attaching the new Christmas lights out the front. They did a great job and they look fantastic. We’re not switching them on until 1st December though.

Evening decluttering

I was in the right frame of mind to just pick each item up and make decisions about them. I had a bin bag and a charity bag to hand to make things easier.

My main aim was to do the following:

  • Get the middle of the floor clear so that I could vacuum it
  • Move anything out of the room that doesn’t belong in it
  • Make the desk accessible and clear it so that I can sit at it
  • Clear and vacuum the sofa and make a cosy corner; somewhere to sit and put my feet up with a cup of tea as an alternative to sitting at the desk. It proved to be a good spot to Skype my mum and dad from this evening as well.
My cosy corner

I did all of the above and then later my daughter wanted to watch something together. We found an easy watching soppy Christmas film, and I actually put my feet up.

I didn’t quite complete the decluttering plan that I made on Friday but I’ve made lots of progress this weekend.

Bubble bath time now!

Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend doing something you enjoy 😊.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 333: Clothes, Clothes, Clothes and a Cupboard

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Having had almost nine hours’ sleep last night, I was full of energy to move forward with more decluttering steps today, and what better way to start than going through a large suitcase of old clothes which was on my plan from yesterday.

I’d been through the clothes once already this year when I got rid of about 30 items, but I ended up shoving the rest back in because I didn’t feel like making decisions about them at the time. Today I was ready to make those decisions.

Asking for help for a change

I asked my husband if he wouldn’t mind commenting on each item of clothing as I tried it on. I knew that he would tell me exactly what he thought and although I would still consider keeping items if he didn’t like them, I thought that it would at least allow me to weed out some of the surplus ones that I wasn’t sure about. Normally I would do the decluttering by myself because his way of sorting is to get rid of it all; however, today I involved him and we actually had quite a laugh.

Some items fitted me better than I remembered and there were a few items that I’m going to wash and keep; however, I was also being very ruthless and filling the charity bag as I went.

My husband did get a bit bored after 1-2 hours and we had to stop and then he said that he’d rather carry on with it tomorrow, so after lunch I abandoned that job and moved onto the study cupboard.

Clearing out the cupboard

I couldn’t even get into the cupboard in the corner of the new study because there was a lot of clutter in front of it. I moved it all onto the sofa and other corners of the room allowing me to open the cupboard door.

I took out everything belonging to my daughter and moved it into her new room in baskets. I left the clothes on the rail. These are some of my work clothes not being worn at the moment that got transferred from when we knocked out wardrobes in our bedroom.

Empty shelves longing to be filled

I filled the rest of the shelves with things that I want to keep in the study.

I looked at the remainder of the room and although it still felt cluttered, I had a better feeling about it all. I knew that there was one more drastic change I wanted to make to the room today that would make me feel good and possibly make me rest for the rest of the day….

So, before I made dinner (fajitas), I pulled out my daughter’s old single bed that was standing up on its side in the corner of the room (the divan base and the mattress) and pushed it over to the other side of the room.

I then moved the old sofa against the far wall knowing that this was going to prevent access to the cupboard I’d just filled, but also knowing that I didn’t need access to any of that for now. The plan is to get a new narrower sofa bed once I’m happy with the new layout of the room.

I was exhausted after all this pushing and shoving and literally flopped onto the ‘still messy’ sofa and switched on the Calm app so that I could listen to ‘daily calm’ for 10 minutes. My body and mind needed a rest.

With the sofa now facing the TV, and the middle of the room having free space for sorting, I decided to leave the rest of the room a mess and then went to make dinner. I was happy that I’d moved forward enough today and know that I have a plan for tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the evening watching TV with my husband.

A productive day all round. Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 332: A New Pair of Slippers, and a Plan for Weekend Decluttering

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I noticed this week that the slippers that I bought back in March had split at the back and were starting to look a bit shabby. It’s probably because I’ve been wearing them most days. So, here are my new ones which had miraculously been reduced to half price after they’d been in my Amazon basket for a few days. They are sooooo comfy…

My new boot slippers

Normally I would have thrown the old ones in the cupboard under the stairs just in case… I actually don’t know why my old self would have kept them. Anyway, because I don’t want a continual clutter build up (I’ll be doing this forever otherwise), I’m actually going to throw them away. The are by the back door ready to go out with the textiles recycling on Tuesday. Well done me!

A tidying and decluttering plan for the weekend

As I’m getting closer to the end of the year, I need a plan. Today, I’ve made a list of what I still need to tidy up and declutter in each room and it feels like a lot, as everywhere seems untidy at the moment. I have routines that I’m sticking to which are helping, but think I need to add more. So, here’s the plan for this weekend:

  • Actually make a list of my daily routines rather than just have them in my head. I was writing them down in my planner, but stopped when I had committed them to memory. However, my thoughts are that I was doing better at them when I was ticking them off.
  • Go through all clothes that I own, trying them on and making a decision there and then if I want to keep them or not (suggestion by one of my dedicated readers Living Everyday, thank you). I’m hoping to free up some space in the temporary wardrobes and drawers whilst we are waiting for the other ones to be built.
  • Finish painting my daughter’s cupboard and wood panelling following the new cupboard being built. Wood primer layer has been done, but we have a few more coats to go.
  • Completely clear the study of clutter that’s been put in there following my daughter moving into the ‘old’ study. It’s a mix of old study clutter and some of her stuff which can be moved into her new room now. I bought baskets for her cupboard which are crying out to be filled 😀.
  • Time permitting, I will deal with the stuff by the back door, but I’m not so worried about that

I think that’s enough for one weekend, but if I don’t commit to doing something that will move me forward, I will just firefight what’s in front of me and not really get anywhere.

Wish me luck!

As for this evening, I have thought about starting on the above list but I think I’m going to put my feet up instead. I’ve had a busy day at work and I’ve cooked and cleaned up in the kitchen so I think I’ve done enough.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 331: Thoughts About Living With Less In My Wardrobe

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I’m not usually one to lay my clothes out the night before in order to make getting ready easier the next day; however, last night I did because I needed to save a bit of time this morning. It was easy to do this because I’ve been alternating the same clothes to wear.

It got me thinking why I have so many combinations of outfits taking up space in my wardrobe and drawers, when over lockdown my wardrobe choices have been from a limited selection.

At the moment I’ve been rotating t-shirts from a small selection (mostly black, but there is one pink and one red in that selection as well). On the bottom half I’ve worn either a pair of jeans or a denim skirt (the latter paired with tights in the winter). If I’m going out for a walk, I will choose one of two pairs of leggings and I have 2 or 3 hoodies that I tend to alternate. In the summer, I had a few light dresses with a couple of cardigans as an optional layer.

The rest of the clothes have hardly been worn and although I probably will wear them after lockdown, I’ve been quite content and comfortable with the limited selection. Comparing this to when I was travelling over 17 years ago, I had an even smaller selection to choose from. I managed then and I’m doing it again now.

Feeling brave

I wonder if I could reduce my wardrobe now before lockdown is over. This way, I will have less to wash, less to store, less to manage etc. I’ve always kept clothes just in case. Can I really change?

At the weekend I might tackle clothes again and maybe list down exactly what I have and work out what I actually need. I have a charity bag run on 15 December where I’ve committed to ten more bags so I can use that as my deadline.

Have you realised over this year’s lockdowns that you can operate out of a limited wardrobe? Have some of your clothes not seen the light of day this year?

I know that I will struggle to get rid of clothes so any tips would be useful… thank you.

A Busy day… so time to relax

Today’s been busy at work so not much progress on the decluttering side. I also had a coaching assessment via zoom today which is going to determine if I’ve passed the course that I’ve been working on for the past year. Fingers crossed, as I did beat myself up about it afterwards thinking that I could have answered the questions better.

Time for a nice bubble bath to relax. I really need to create some space in my mind.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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