It’s so calming just staring at a perfect flower (in this case my geranium plant), especially when you know that you’ve grown it and nurtured it yourself. That’s also how I feel about my two lovely daughters.
They said to me this evening ‘do what I wanted to do, not what everyone else wants you to do’. I said that I wanted to cuddle up and watch a film with them, but then we all realised how tired we all were so they decided to go to sleep. I think the change of routine and going back to school has exhausted them.
This gave me the idea of running a bath, lighting a candle and taking that me time that I’ve struggled to find over the last few days.
I bought a couple of new bubble baths the other day…
I chose the stress release one with rosemary and eucalyptus and it smells amazing. I think that I put too much in though (although I don’t think you can ever have too much stress relief 😊).
Can you ever have too much bubble bath?
I shall now sit back and have a nice soak and…
Listen to spa music
Reflect on my week
Think about more space clearing that I can do this weekend
After that I will go to bed and switch on my relaxation/meditation program, and drift off to sleep.
When everything you do feels effortless you will have found your path
In yesterday’s post, I expressed my sadness about the plans to cut down the two silver birch trees in our garden, to allow the space for my husband to come up with a new design that we are all happy with. I’m struggling to offer any inspiration at all as I quite liked the garden the way it was; however, I will try my best to help.
If I was to think about what I want from a garden, I would say… somewhere relaxing with pretty flowers and a tree that blossoms in the Spring. We’ve recently bought some roses so I’d like a place for those in the garden, and all my other plants and flowers that I’ve been tending too all Summer. I do like pottering around as well.
Anyway, back to current day… the tree surgeon (LSR Tree Surgery) and his helper made a start cutting down the trees early this morning and it actually wasn’t too noisy. I was still able to work in the conservatory. They were so friendly.
The girls went back to school today after six months of being at home. It was a bit daunting for them, but they got through it. I was proud of them. The routine for me of making sure that uniform is all washed and ready, packed lunches done in the morning etc etc will all start up again. I’m hoping that it doesn’t mean less sleep for me! I was enjoying my lie in every day.
What made the transition easier for the girls, after working from home for so long, was for me to take and pick them up from school so that they didn’t have to get the bus. It was actually quite nice getting out for a drive and also having a chat on the journey.
After work, I went to pick them up and got there a 15 minutes early to get a good parking space. I took the opportunity to have some quiet time in the car. I did some deep breathing and almost nodded off.
When I got back into the house, I tried to continue with some me time, but it didn’t really work out. The routine will need to settle down a bit before I can work out where I can fit myself in again. I’m hoping that it will be soon, although work is still as busy as ever.
I tried to be positive and started preparing a roast dinner and whilst I was peeling the potatoes (a task that gets my mind going) I was thinking about how I would prefer to be clearing some space somewhere rather than cooking. I just needed to do something to move things forward.
I thought about these new grey plastic baskets that I bought yesterday and how a couple of them could possibly fit nicely in the medicine cupboard in the kitchen and would be an interim solution to tidying up the mess in there.
I just knew that sorting the two shelves out would make me feel better (as it’s been bugging me for a while) and I could easily fit the task in whilst cooking a roast. Clearing is all about small steps, so even though I didn’t have a lot of time, I knew that I could easily fit in a few steps today and do the rest another time.
Badly organised medicine cupboard
Many months ago I created labels for each type of tablet and although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it has been too difficult to maintain. I still get asked where the paracetamol is even though it clearly has a label. The problem is that things rarely get put back in the right place and I think that it includes me sometimes when I’m in a rush or the space is full! So, it was time for a change.
It felt very satisfying dumping the contents of the two shelves onto the floor which I literally did in minutes once the potatoes were in the oven. I then did a quick check for anything that didn’t belong in there as well as expiry dates on bottles, packets and tubes. I was surprised how much of it went into the recycing/rubbish pile (below).
Recycling and rubbish after sorting out medicine cupboard
This clutter pile made me feel very pleased that I was going to be putting less back in the cupboard. Unfortunately the baskets (which weren’t bought for this purpose anyway) wouldn’t quite fit next to each other so I went for one on each shelf for now whilst I research if they do other sizes. I found a couple of other temporary baskets to hold some of the other items.
I still need to organise the contents of the baskets properly; however, it’s amazing how doing these few small steps today changed the way that I felt. The space is now being used better and we should be able to find things.
Temporary solution for an organising medicine cupboard
… and the roast was good too.
Thoughts about tomorrow
I’m feeling a little bit sad about something today and wanted to share my thoughts with you. Tomorrow we are having two silver birch trees chopped down in our garden. It’s something that my husband has wanted to do for years but I’ve always persuaded him to keep them; however, they are getting a bit overgrown and the roots are now visible through the grassy area around the garden. The trees are in the wrong place as well, so I finally agreed to get someone round.
After eating my dinner this evening, I stayed at the table staring at the trees for the last time. This morning I took photos of the sunlight reflecting off the white bark. The swing seat is going to look odd on its own without the trees there so that’ll need to be the next thing that gets moved. The tree stumps will need to be removed too (the guy won’t be doing that tomorrow). We also need to sort out the grass as it’s mostly moss and weeds.
I supposed I should be seeing it as clearing more space in the garden rather than trying to hold onto things that don’t fit anymore (a bit like the clutter). My husband has a lot of ideas for the garden but I’ve never been able to picture anything other than what we’ve got. Maybe once the trees have gone I might be able to visualise something and be of some help to him when he’s coming up with the design.
I’ll be posting before and after photos tomorrow so that I will at least have some memories of them on my blog. The ‘silver’ lining is that we are planning on buying some new smaller trees to be planted in different parts of the garden, so I’m looking forward to doing that soon.
I would love a blossom tree or something similar. That’s a positive thought that I will go to sleep thinking about. The tree surgeon will be here around 8am and I need to take the girls to school, so I’d better get some sleep.
As you know, I sorted out the games cupboard yesterday (click here if you missed the video). As a result, I found myself tipping out the pieces of a few old games and toys to see if they were worth selling or donating.
Funny Face Game
Just the same as the concept of trying clothes on to see if you like them, you can do the same with games for 2 reasons:
To see if you like it – too old, too babyish, too boring, too [fill in the blank]
To see if all the pieces are there
You can even take a photo of it if you were once attached to it or it meant something to you.
I now have a problem giving the above game away. There are face parts missing.
Same with this:
There are two days of the week that only have three pieces of the puzzle as opposed to four.
This is why clutter piles up in my spare room. I wait to find the pieces.
There’s a yellow pail missing on this ship…
The car and Mr Monopoly is missing from the ‘My First Monopoly’ game….
Half of the tree top is missing here…
I have the same issue with jigsaws from when the children were little. There’s at least one piece missing from each jigsaw. I was chatting to my mum about this and she said that as I haven’t found them by now, I should just throw them away. My answer to that was that I have a pot somewhere with missing jigsaw pieces… it’s just that I can’t find it 😂.
This morning during my usual me time, I sketched something that resembled the clutter that I’m attached to in my head.
Clutter sketching by Sandra
I felt a bit fed up after that as this is my last day off before I go back to work and I really wanted to have got further than I have. I listened to Stephanie Bennett Vodt (audio book Your Spacious Self) for some more inspiration and guidance. She says that “Letting go is clearing”, and how doing nothing is beneficial.
I see this as things like doing nothing whilst having a cup of tea, doing nothing whilst listening to the girls, doing nothing when speaking to someone on the phone and so on.
“Practising doing nothing for a few minutes every day opens us up to a whole new side of ourselves that we didn’t know was there… You may discover a yummy spaciousness, a quiet stillness, a deep peace, a blissful space that doesn’t feel cold or empty at all”
Stephanie Bennett Vodt, Your Spacious Self
I’m now realising how important self care is. Without this, there is no clearing or spaciousness.
The Games Cupboard
This is the cupboard in the spare room that I’ve been wanting to sort out since the beginning of my week off. I knew that it was going to be a big job with lots of decisions but I was determined to get everything out of the cupboard. It made me feel worse when I looked around the room afterwards at what I needed to sort out. Then I had an idea of videoing it all so that I could hold myself accountable to you, my readers, to get it finished today. So, thank you. Here’s the short 49 second video.
After doing the video, I suddenly became motivated, and after a bit of lunch I gave the cupboard a good clean and vacuumed the carpet inside.
I asked my daughters to help decide what games to get rid of but they got distracted by the first game they saw – Kerplunk. I did struggle to get their attention after that but we did make some decisions together. The picture below is the pile I’ve left them to play over the next week to see if they still like/want them and a stash of unwanted games etc. that I need to put in the garage.
Games to decide / give away
I then had less to put back and they all fitted in nicely on two shelves. I’ve also decided to store the guitars and keyboard in there. Here are the before and after photos of the games cupboard…
Before and after sorting cupboard
The bottom shelf is reserved for some of the games that we have downstairs or for the ones the girls need to go through and decide that they want to keep.
It’s been a busy day and I’ve still got a lot to do in that room but both cupboards are tidy now. I’m happy with my progress 😃.
We spent the evening playing games, first poker and then Creationary (with lego). My husband’s very good at poker and the girls seemed to pick it up quickly. We haven’t played it since they were babies.
Table top poker game
I’m not usually one for games, but we did have some fun family time.
Stephanie Bennett Vogt in her book Your Spacious Self, explains that just because we are practising acceptance with our stuff around us, it doesn’t mean that we won’t change.
“Acceptance means that after you have put into motion your intentions and acted upon them responsibly, you’ll get out of the way and detach from the outcome. You allow change, you don’t force it. You feel your feelings completely and fully without owning or personalising them.“
Stephanie Bennett Vogt, Your Spacious Self
After listening to the above words today, I had four people messaging me to ask if they could collect items that I had advertised on Facebook Marketplace over the last week. It’s amazing that three of them turned up to collect them today. I’ve sold two brand new games still in their cellophane and a set of 20 kids books called Happy Families. On Wednesday someone is coming to pick up more books, so including that, it will be £28 in total.
Clutter sold!
These and more have all been sitting in my wardrobe collecting dust for years, and I feel pleased that I’ve been able to part with it all so that someone else can enjoy them.
During my ‘quiet time’ session this morning, I started drawing my cup of water with a slice of lemon it it.
As I drew the circle for the rim of the cup, I remembered the song All My Life’s a Circle and it brought back memories of me singing it as a child. After feeling quite nostalgia about the song, I found a fun version of it on You Tube. I only ever used to sing the first verse but the whole version is in the video clip below.
I was vacuuming the lounge earlier and had to stop to write a few things down. It got me thinking that when I am doing something else, the words flow from my mind so much quicker than when I’m sitting at the laptop. It happens to me whilst vacuuming, cooking, showering pegging washing on the line, listening to or reading something inspirational, and so on. It’s amazing how thoughts are sometimes under potato skins, under the crumbs on the floor, behind a wall of clutter, under a layer of dust…
Doing something else is a good way of uncovering true thoughts and feelings that are buried deep. Although I’ve been out and about today, I’ve had quiet day off; getting in touch with my inner self.
This morning
A brief walk before the rain
I had my usual quiet time in the conservatory this morning and then popped out for a quick walk before the rain came. I wanted to be out enjoying nature and seeing the blue sky which I haven’t seen much of during my week off.
This afternoon
I took my daughters to the hairdresser’s house today. The lady used to have a shop but after she retired she now has a room in her house that she works from. The girls have been going to her since the youngest one was crawling (and they are now teenagers). It’s been six months since they’ve had their hair cut so they were looking forward to it.
I got to spend two whole hours in Jan’s lounge with each of my daughters individually whilst the other one had their hair cut. It was so quiet, except for the sound of the rain outside. I actually had a twenty minute snooze towards the end which was amazingly refreshing. I said that I’d be back tomorrow at the same time, ha ha. She said that a lot of people say how calming her lounge is.
I treated the girls to a MacDonalds on the way home which pleased them.
Nuggets sharing box, fries and a milkshake
A new author to listen to and learn from
I do love a new author to add to my collection, it has a sort of freshness about it and I do like getting different perspectives on things. I discovered Stephanie Bennett Vogt on Instagram today where she was advertising a clutter clearing course called A Year to Clear What is Holding You Back. As you know, I already have enough going on so decided to give it a miss. I looked to see if she had any audio books and she did. The one I ended up downloading was called Your Spacious Self.
In the write up, I discovered that the book is more about feelings and uncovering things than about physical clutter, which is exactly what I’d been thinking about before even discovering this book (life has a way of bringing the right teachers to you at the right time). She interestingly says that clearing isn’t about to-do lists or sorting out the stuff that’s piling up around us. Her explanation is as follows…
Clearing is not about any of those things, it is how you relate to them. It is the space between the problem and the solution where the real juice is; where the real living happens. The only way to release what isn’t working for you is to enter the sometimes scary zone called feeling. Feeling the overwhelm, resistance, attachment, guilt, sadness, worry, despair, shame. Feeling it all, without judging it as good or bad or taking it personally.
Stephanie Bennett Vogt, Your Spacious Self
She goes on to say that we shouldn’t be trying to fix ourselves as apparently we’re not broken as such, it’s more about getting in touch with our true selves and getting balance back into our lives.
Mental and Emotional Clutter
I have been very focused over the last 240 days about actual material clutter, only occasionally giving myself days here and there to declutter my mind, and more recently having time to myself in the morning. I love Stephanie’s message about clutter magically melting away by doing a bit more self care. I’m so looking forward to listening to the rest of the book. I can only hope that this new book will complement my existing approach and take my decluttering journey into a slightly different and interesting direction.
Exciting times!
Ooo, just one more pic… I’ve just taken these cheese twists out of the oven. I didn’t know what to do with the leftover pastry from yesterday’s pie and my mum told me about a recipe that my niece told her about. Here they are… and they are delicious
My daughter joined me in the conservatory this morning during my quiet time. I had spa music playing and she said that the atmosphere was really nice. She seemed to want to chat about this and that so I went with the flow. I do love these kind of moments; they seem to be popping up more and more with my daughters recently. Mostly with each one individually.
After my daughter left the room, I set a timer for my usual 24 minutes. My mind kept thinking about the benches I saw in Herne Bay yesterday as well as the one I sat on in my mum and dad’s garden. I felt drawn to sketching again.
Sketching benches
I look forward to my quiet time every day and I’m hoping that I can still carry on with it after my week off.
A few decluttering hours
I spent hours and hours downstairs today decluttering the kitchen, dining room, hallway and shoe cupboard areas (again). I am amazed at how long it took me to shift the stuff. I tend to move things around when sorting out other rooms so I was left with bags by the back door and items on the table to sort through which were a mix of recycling, charity stuff and things that I needed to find a place for. I was also out yesterday so I got behind with things in the kitchen.
The shoe cupboard looks better though – I did sort things out in there early on in the year, but items have crept back in such as carrier bags due to the extra ones that have been arriving with the shopping these days, and there was even a bag of books that I thought I’d put in the garage to be given away.
I moved out the stuff that shouldn’t have been in there and threw away a few old pairs of flip flops that had seen better days. I also thought about how I could make a bit more space in there by transferring the shoes that I’m not wearing at the moment (i.e. work shoes, holiday flip flops) to my wardrobe upstairs. I’d created a whole shelf for my shoes a couple of days ago so that worked out well and there’s still space.
Before and after photos of the shoe cupboard
Let’s see if it can stay tidy in there. I’ll be keeping my eye on things.
I eventually had to stop to cook dinner… home-made meat pie with mash and vegetables.
Home-made minced beef pie
It was quite tasty if I say so myself. After that I was faced with all of the clearing up. So, by 9pm I was able to sit down to write.
How am I feeling?
The purpose of today was to clear some space around me downstairs so that it feels like it does when I’m in my tidy conservatory (where I can be totally calm). I spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining room area and it’s felt very cluttered lately. Like most homes, it’s a high traffic area where everything happens, so it’s understandable that it gets like that. I couldn’t believe how many times my husband came downstairs to get a cup of tea today or something to eat, and the girls occasionally rushed down and then back up again after grabbing this and that (they’re busy preparing for going back to school and have lots of school work to do).
What doesn’t help with the clutter build up, is that I have a habit of bringing things downstairs or in from the garage and then I run out of time to put the stuff away or sort things out because I get interrupted with having to make dinner or do something for someone. It’s a well know fact that the area by the back door seems to be the place that I dump things until I have time to sort them out.
I think I’ve made a dent today, but it’s still not completely how I would like it. I’m sitting at the tidy breakfast bar listening to the feint hum of the dishwasher. It’s so satisfying knowing that all the dishes are being washed whilst I am sitting here just listening to it. I’m very grateful for my dishwasher as I know that not everyone has one.
I know that there is still a box of stuff to sort out in the dining room area behind me, so that will have to wait until tomorow as I’m feeling tired now. The space by the back door is clear so that’s positive.
I know how important rest is for me so I’m going to call it a day now and get this posted. Instead of thinking that I’ve not finished, I should reframe that thought and be proud of myself for what I’ve achieved today. There’s always tomorrow…
The girls and I drove to my mum and dad’s in Herne Bay today. We took a packed lunch and sat in their garden to eat it so that we could still practise social distancing. Then we all popped down the road to see my brother for a short while in between his meetings.
After that, I really wanted an icecream and a walk around by the sea. We were so lucky with the weather as the sun came out just at that point and we were able to spend about an hour wandering around. It was so lovely and I so needed it. Did you spot me in the photo sitting on the grass staring out to sea?
Before the long drive home, we went back to my mum and dad’s garden for a cuppa and a slice of cake that I made yesterday.
A Home-made Victoria Sandwich Cake
I think that it was the fresh air that made me start to feel really tired; however, I managed to wake myself up enough to drive home.
I’m ok with having a day off from decluttering today as I’ve done loads this week. I’ll consider it as a day to clear some space in my mind. As I’m not back at work until next Tuesday afternoon, I still have plenty of time to get more work done around the house.
I am now going to curl up and watch a film and maybe go to bed early. Really looking forward to it.
Thanks for a lovely afternoon mum and dad! It was so good to see you.
Sandra Madeira 