I think that there are many reasons why I’m not feeling stressed about the mess…
I have a plan so I know what is happening
I know where most ‘out of place things lying around’ are going to go. They are only there because of the work being done. It’s just about getting the time to go through it all
I am more motivated when I’m working towards a deadline
I’ve been listening to Your Spacious Self by Stephanie Bennett Vodt again and her words of advice always make me feel calm. She says not to identify with the clutter. I am starting to feel that connection loosen a bit.
I feel clear minded enough to know that I can turn a mess into something organised pretty quickly when I feel motivated
I have booked a couple of days off so that I can have a long weekend
I go to sleep listening to my relaxation program every night
I have me-time once or twice a day.
This afternoon I sat in the conservatory surrounded by bits and bobs that I’d stored in here when the bedrooms were being plastered.
I’d sort of ignored the mess because the builders have been here, and it feels like an excuse for me to be messy and leave things out (not a good habit). I also have my back to the stuff when I’m working in the conservatory. I wasn’t working this afternoon, so I took some time out, made myself a cup of tea and lit my candle.
I started thinking about how and when we were going to make a decision about the carpets with the opposing views on colour, and then my mind wandered to the clutter around me. Without feeling any stress or worry, I looked at each item and decided in my head where it needed to go. It made me realise that a lot of this clutter can be planned and organised in our heads; it’s just doing something with it that takes the time and effort.
I planned my morning around getting clutter out of the house and garage, and to the Sue Ryder charity shop. I booked the appointment just over two weeks ago and had committed to a further ten bags today, making the grand total of bags donated in the last few weeks to 20. I think that I’m doing okay and it’s getting easier each time.
Some bags were already full and tied up in the garage and a further two were in my car boot. Then there were the two bags of clothes in the house from my husband’s wardrobe that he made quick decisions about last week.
I had to find a further three full bags so started pulling out some boxes in the garage that I’d put to one side, and filled them with games, books, shoes etc. I even took some toys out of my ‘waiting to sell’ pile that aren’t selling and bagged them up. It was a good feeling packing up the car with the ten bags and driving to the shop.
It was raining slightly but that didn’t stop me making four trips back and forth from the car to the shop to carry them in. The lady asked if I wanted to book another appointment and asked how many bags I would have. I said ‘yes, another ten please’. I’m booked in for two weeks today. She seemed concerned that I’d have nothing left. I told her not to worry, as I have loads!
I’m pleased that I hoarded the many empty charity bags as they don’t provide them anymore. I think I’ll run out eventually.
I had a busy afternoon at work and then cooked fajhitas for dinner which everyone seemed to enjoy. I think it was because we haven’t had them for a while. My daughter and I then watched a few episodes of Friends (we’re on the last season now).
Detoxing salt bath
Himalayan Bath Salts
I read somewhere recently that bath salts are good to soak in after a decluttering session. After today’s clutter clearing success, I felt it was only right to treat myself to a detoxing Himalayan Salt bath. This is the third night running that I have used these salts and it definitely makes me feel different to the normal bubble bath.
It has a silky feel when you are in it, a divine smell (the one I bought was lotus flower), and each morning after I’ve had one of these baths, I’ve woken up without a single ache in my body. Is this a coincidence?
Removing clutter from the garage today was detoxing in action, and putting it in my car gave me great joy.
Another full and busy day today. I was pleased that I managed to empty most of the spare room last night because the plasterer was waiting outside when I got back from the school run this morning. He started on the spare room which meant that my husband had to work downstairs. The spare room was finished by lunchtime. I think it looks really good.
Before and after plastering ceiling
My daughter is pleased that something has been done about her new room (she’s been waiting for months for me to clear it).
The only bit of plastering left to do was our bedroom walls which needed making good after the wardrobes had been knocked out last week. Some of the wall to the left of the window where the wardrobe was, was a different level to the rest of the wall (from when the house was built 25+ years ago). To fix this, the plasterer cut some plasterboard to size, fitted it and then plastered over it. It looks fantastic.
Before and after plastering sections of wall
By 5pm he was clearing up. All of the upstairs is now complete!
Recycling
It’s recycling day tomorrow which means that I had to drag the bin round and the other containers. I didn’t have as much cardboard as usual which is really unlike me. I think it’s the first time this year that I haven’t had to put out separately filled cardboard boxes in addition to the plastic tub that the council provide.
Charity Bags tomorrow
Can you believe how quickly this day has come round? A couple of weeks ago, I committed to taking ten more charity bags to the shop on 13 October. I haven’t been in the garage to bag things up for almost a week as I’ve been busy clearing in the house.
I have the morning off so I’m going to spend a few hours in there getting bags tied up and into my car. Looking forward to creating more space in the garage.
I sold some clutter!
I sold these two very different items yesterday and today on Facebook Marketplace and they are being collected tomorrow.
Clutter be gone
I don’t know what made me sell the mirror so quickly because we haven’t bought any other furniture yet and I now won’t have a mirror. This really is against my ways to get rid of clutter before I need to 😀. Am I changing? I probably could have got more than £5 for it because I had two people interested soon after posting it.
Anyway, as usual clutter doesn’t leave as quickly as it should… the lady (who lives 20 minutes drive away) tried to find my house and couldn’t and she gave up and went home. She messaged me and I didn’t see it straight away. She’s coming back during the day sometime this week. Once it’s gone, that’s one less thing in the house collecting dust.
As far as the build-a-bear Santa outfit is concerned, I can’t believe that I ended up selling that for more than the mirror… for £7. That’s being collected tomorrow.
So, an eventful day and a good start to the week. I hope it’s been the same for you.
Our shopping trip was partially successful today. Still no decision on the carpets, sofa or wardrobes; however; my daughter did find a bed she liked so I ordered that, and also a bedside table lamp which I will wrap for her birthday. I also picked up a couple of large really useful boxes to store shoes, bags etc., and some ‘scrub daddy’ and ‘scrub mummy’ sponges along with a holder, which I’ve been wanting to try for a while.
Some purchases today
Decluttering
I’m starting to learn the hard way that clutter is anything that hasn’t got a place in the house. As I was moving all my bags and shoes back into the spare room this afternoon and placing them into the really useful boxes, I took a good look at what I had.
Most of my shoes, sandals and boots
I saw this exercise as an opportunity to get rid of some. I really don’t know how I’ve accumulated so many and although I think I may use them one day, I’m not so sure that I will. There are always going to be one off bags for going out etc., but when it comes to work type bags, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to one that I’ve decided that I don’t want to use anymore. This made it easier to choose… here are my decluttering choices to either sell or donate…
Clutter going out the door
I think I could have been more ruthless, but at least I got rid of a few items.
Sunday roast
As we’d been out, I was late putting the roast lamb in the oven. It wasn’t our usual shoulder or leg of lamb, as Tescos had substituted it with rolled breast of lamb. I’d never heard of that cut of lamb before but thought I’d give it a go. This is what is looked like after I’d cooked it for 2.5 hours:
Rolled breast of lamb
It smelt good, but when I cut into it, it was quite fatty and not easy to get the meat off. We all ate it though, but I won’t be buying it again.
The evening
When dinner was over, I’m watched Friends with my eldest. She finds it quite calming whilst she is doing her art. She’s been working so hard on all of her GCSE subjects all weekend, and only stopped for our shopping trip out today.
It’s only a week until school holidays again! I’m hoping that they don’t give either of them too much work to do so that they can have a bit of a break. I might take some time off too.
I’ve just finished shifting stuff from the spare room to my room this evening. I’ve completely covered the bed and have thrown a sheet over it so that the plasterer can finishes his work in there tomorrow.
I heard from the electrician this evening as well, and he can install the spotlights in the spare room next weekend. This is perfect timing as the bathroom is being started a week tomorrow. I’ve updated my project plan and it’s all falling into place!
I’ve waited years to be able to put everything in its place and this is the year that I’m going to be able to do that; however, not right now as we have work being done in a few key rooms. The amount of stuff that’s lying around at the moment has made me wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t got rid of anything so far this year. We would literally have been caved in I think.
Last night I slept on the floor in the lounge on cushions. Although my fitbit app gave me a star and good sleep score for my sleep, I woke up very stiff and achy. I slept in until 10.25am – I must have needed the sleep. A few stretches and a walk helped; however, it was so cold outside that I only walked for ten minutes. The cold went right through my head and it hurt!
When I got back from the walk, I felt like I needed some me-time so I took my breakfast and cup of tea to the conservatory and sat there listening to calming music, breathing deeply and relaxing… allowing my thoughts to wander. I was there for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was wonderful. This obviously meant that I didn’t start on the mess upstairs until after 1pm.
Clearing, cleaning and shifting
I knew that my first job was to clean our bedroom from all the plastering that was done yesterday. It still smells of plaster in there, and I think that I can taste it in the air, so I’m not sure if I’ll sleep in there again until all the plastering has been done and it’s fully dry.
I dusted the windowsills, wiped the windows, dusted the walls, wiped down the furniture and cleaned the tops of the freestanding wardrobes.
Once I was happy that I’d cleaned it enough, I started the long job of moving boxes and bags from the spare room back into our room. If you’re as exhausted as me at how many times I’ve done this, you’ll be pleased to know that this should be the last time 😀. Nothing will be going back in the spare room for two reasons (1) it’s the next room to plaster and (2) because it’ll be my daughter’s room soon.
The contents of our built in wardrobes got shoved in the spare room in a rush last week when they came to knock them out. Some stuff was boxed up and some not. For this reason, I can’t put things away in their places right now.
Funnily enough, I’m not feeling stressed, overwhelmed or anything, as I know that we have a plan and it’s all coming together. What helped yesterday was the little project plan that I created. Everything that is happening over the next couple of months is on there. The only time that we will be held up is where we need to make decisions as a family. We’re going out to the shops tomorrow to get some ideas.
The plan for the spare room
This is the exciting part because I’ve seen my daughter’s plans and have ordered some items. It’s also the room that is going to be finished within the next three weeks or so.
On Monday I’m booking the plumber who will start the following Monday. He will rip out the existing en-suite and make it good. As part of this, he will be assessing whether he can make the bathroom bigger. I don’t know if you remember my blog on the spare room cupboard where I organised the games and musical instruments etc. Well, the plumber said that this cupboard space could be used as part of the en-suite. We’re in two minds whether to keep the storage or have a bigger bathroom.
My daughters and I all like the storage cupboard, but my husband thinks that we’d be missing a trick if we keep the cramped en-suite instead of opening it up.
After much debate, we came to the conclusion that we’d leave it to fate. When the plumber rips everything out, he will advise us whether it can be made bigger or not, It might not even be possible because of pipework etc. We can then make a decision on how much of the cupboard to use.
A busy weekend
So, today has been about clearing, cleaning, shifting stuff, washing and cooking. My daughters have been busy doing homework all day so they weren’t able to help. We’re all leaving tomorrow free as much as we can so that we can go shopping.
We have a long list of things we need to look at and make decisions on. We still haven’t decided on carpets and we’re going to look for a sofa for the lounge. My daughter wants to look at beds and mattresses and we also want to look at bedroom furniture ideas for our room. Fingers crossed we’ll have a good day and will come back having ordered something. Wish us luck!
As I sat down to write this at 10.30pm, I realised that I hadn’t relaxed all day. It was a full day of work including a long zoom call. The plasterer was also here for over 9 hours. Firstly he focused on the landing ceiling and used the wooden shelf (taken from our bedroom wardrobes that had been knocked out yesterday) to balance on the banisters. This way he could get to the tall ceilings.
Plasterer standing on a large board across our banisters
It looked dangerous but it worked for him. I couldn’t go upstairs most of the day and my husband couldn’t come down from the spare room where he’s working. I passed the teas up and we communicated by text, ha ha.
Sounds like a lot for one day doesn’t it? I didn’t do any of it, I just ran around this morning moving last bits of furniture. As I packed the girls off to school, the builders were outside. It was only 7.45am. I’d only just got up. I hadn’t even brushed my teeth or had my breakfast or had my me-time. I still had a whole shelf full of shoes to take out of the wardrobes that were going to be knocked out.
I handed my husband a cup of tea and said “You’d better get dressed, the builders are here”. The next hour was a bit chaotic, trying to work out which ceiling they could plaster first. It had to be one where ‘other’ work wasn’t being done in that same room. It also had to be one where the spot lights could be fitted from above (a job that hadn’t been scheduled in before the plastering for various reasons).
The only room he could plaster was my youngest daughter’s room. The problem was that I hadn’t told her that we were going to do her room today so it was full of her stuff, and things that I had put there from my room. I had to move it all including her bedding, and other personal bits and pieces.
The other guy had started knocking our wardrobes out and there was dust everywhere. I gave up trying to cover things up. I decided that it was easier to leave the dust falling on everything visible in our room that I hadn’t had a chance to take out. The plasterer covered everything in my daughter’s room which was good.
I stayed calm, brushed my teeth, made the teas, had my breakfast and then logged onto work for the day.
Here’s how the wardrobes looked before they were knocked out
Here are the various stages of the day
Here is the space we are left with now
We also had the loft hatch made bigger and a bit of ceiling fixed where there had been a leak once.
I didn’t get too many interruptions throughout the day, but it was a bit noisy and there were a few decisions to be made.
The plasterer is coming back tomorrow to plaster the walls and ceiling in our room, and plaster the hallway.
I still have a few jobs to coordinate with the builder and I’m working on a schedule with the electrician
Cleaning after they’d gone
They did clean up after them, but I wanted to remove dust etc. I actually enjoyed this bit. I took all the bedding off and washed it. I opened the windows, and dusted the ceilings, walls, furniture etc.
Room was all ready, bath was running when something out from the corner of the room flew at me! I panicked and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I got my husband upstairs to see what it was. I said that it looked bigger than a bumble bee.
We couldn’t find it and I’m not going back in! I’ll have to sleep somewhere else. Bit pointless cleaning it now. Oh well!
I should have started writing this earlier as I’m shattered now. It’s been a productive day but as I’m tired, I’m going to write in bullet points:
Took the girls to school – no traffic for once
Had the morning off
Listed everything in my little notebook that I needed to achieve today as it was a lot (by midday I was doing well)
Cleaned bathrooms
Plumber came round to look at the en-suite in the spare room, and gave us a similar (high) quote to the other guy. Now we need to decide if it’s worth doing
Started to clear out the wardrobes before they are knocked out tomorrow
Did half a day’s work – got a lot done
Made a simple dinner for me. My husband cooked the girls pancakes
This evening, my husband started emptying out his wardrobe and we filled one and a half charity bags with clothes that he didn’t want. The bags are all tied up and by the front door ready to go into the garage.
Took everything else out of the wardrobes by myself and either fitted it in the spare room wardrobe, my daughter’s other wardrobe in her current room, and in baskets all around the house/garage
I’m filling every spare space in rooms where ceilings aren’t going to be plastered tomorrow
I’m not feeling stressed – just taking one step at a time even though I am sooo tired
Everyone else is asleep now
My daughter was asking earlier when her room will be ready – I said “the plan is for you to be sleeping in there on your 16th birthday even if it’s just on a mattress on the floor” (The bed she wants is now out of stock!)
Once everything left lying around is out of my bedroom, I will have a relaxing bath
I’m leaving the kitchen until tomorrow!
The builder hasn’t confirmed what time he will be here tomorrow, but I’ve managed to get someone else to take the girls to school. I’ll be up and about early as I will be doing packed lunches and seeing the girls off
I’ve just had to do a load of washing – the girls both need their PE kit for tomorrow.
It’s dusty work so I’ve been wearing a face mask
I found 22 x 1000 piece jigsaws in the depths of the wardrobe (the round the corner bit). Will need to give some of those away!
That’s about the gist of it. Here are a few pictures whilst sorting things out…
In the process of emptying
Almost empty, just shoes snd coat-hangers to take out and put somewhere…
Almost empty!
I’ll show you pictures after they’ve been knocked out tomorrow.
If I was to close my eyes and really concentrate I can visualise places for everything in this house. Until recently I’ve been struggling to turn this into reality.
These are things that have been helping to move me forward. I need to:
Stop when I feel overwhelmed, and remember never to continue in that state. I’ve realised that overwhelm is an invitation to slow down
Quieten my mind at least twice a day even on days when I am already feeling calm
Introduce routines and realise the absolute importance of sticking to them. And then add one more routine each week
Breathe… slowly… in through the nose out through the nose… all day if possible. I learnt this from James Nestor’s book called Breath
Listen to feedback from my readers and my family (the way I was doing things clearly wasn’t working)
Stop procrastinating – just starting with doing something for 5 minutes tends to trigger a feeling to carry on
Take action on what I intend to do rather than keep talking about doing it
Taking action
I started listening to Your Spacious Self by Stephanie Bennett Vodt’s again today (great book and it’s my third time listening through). The following quote stuck in my mind…
“If intention is what steers the clearing vehicle, action is what gives it gas”
Stephanie Bennett Vodt, Your Spacious Self
I have so many good intentions to clear the clutter but sometimes struggle to take action on actually getting rid of it all. I just shift things about. I think it’s because it’s all there in my face every day not allowing me think straight.
Today I saw it all in a different light and felt really motivated to get rid of things (I do love days like that when I really have the energy to take action).
Knowing that I have someone coming into my home this week to knock out wardrobes and plaster ceilings really made me take a good look at the bedroom and how much stuff is lying about.
Today’s actions
I spent a good couple of hours sorting the boxes that have been sitting there in the bedroom for a while, and making decisions about the contents. A couple of boxes have gone into the garage for the charity run next week. They just need to be bagged up. I think I’m going to quite easily fill the ten bags that I’ve promised them.
Another positive step forward today is that I’ve ordered a few bits of furniture for my daughter for the spare room (her new room). There’s no going back now 😀.
The quote for redoing the en-suite in that room came back very expensive, so I have another plumber coming round tomorrow to quote on it.
A few months ago (Day 204), I wrote about items in vs. items out and you will see that both can be positive moves forward. I think it’s important to put the brakes on any spending unless it’s been thought through. Stuff coming into the house is a target for future clutter.
Recently I started a list of items that I think I want to buy e.g. bulb planter, and then if I still want it after a week or so I’ll buy it. This particular item has been on the list for about a week now and I still want it, as I think it’s going to help me to make holes to plant bulbs. It won’t need to be stored in the house either so it can go with the rest of the gardening tools. Has anyone else used a bulb planter?
Getting rid of things
Throwing it all away
It’s rubbish day today (it comes round quick) and I was disappointed that I didn’t have a full black bin outside. My routine now is to empty the bins around the house daily, so as I did this after the school run there was nothing more to pick up inside the house. I was desperate to throw something else away, so I did the following:
I popped into the garage and found a few things that I’d already thrown in the skip pile. I bagged up what would fit easily in the bin and threw it all away.
I went round the garden picking up rubbish that had blown in. I also decided to throw away two old toy water guns that were down the side of the house. Not sure why I was keeping them – the girls haven’t used them for years and no one else is likely to use them now they have been left out. Things get spoilt if they get left out. Not ideal, but at least it helps me make a decision.
I found an old bag of clothes which I was going to use as rags. This went in a bag on top of the black bin for the textiles collection which is also tomorrow.
Bedroom Designer Visit
We had another designer come round today to go through how we could build new wardrobes and get some matching chest of drawers. This man wore a mask the whole time he was here. He was also much more professional and patient with us than the guy yesterday, and together we came up with a really good plan of the bedroom. He is going to email me tomorrow with the design and all we have to do is choose a range etc. As soon as we decide this, it will take 6-8 weeks until it can be fitted.
Sandra Madeira 