Sandra Madeira

It’s been a busy day today juggling home and work life and trying to get ourselves into a new routine. Like most of us around the world at the moment, we are all contained within our homes for the foreseeable future and we have to make the most of it. I think we’re doing a good job as a family so far.

My decluttering challenge continues although it has felt like I’ve been taking a few steps back over the last few days; I’m not getting the quiet and focused pockets of time to do it. So, today I didn’t worry about all that, as I’m confident that a new pattern will emerge. I ignored the mess piling up around me and picked just a small new decluttering job – cleaning and sorting out the pans drawer.

Just after loading the dishwasher (for about the third or fourth time today – I lost count) I took everything out of the pans drawer, wiped out the dirt etc., and placed the clean pans back. It’s amazing how little steps forward can make such a difference to how you feel. There’s something very nice and satisfying about tidying a ‘new’ area rather than the ‘same old, same old’.

Family time

My husband loves to cook but never has much energy to do this after a day in the office (and I usually complain about having to clear up after him anyway 😊). The last two days, he’s cooked some delicious meals. Even though he’s working from home all day, he hasn’t got the long and tiring journey. Yesterday he made slow roast beef and roast potatoes and today we had honey and mustard chicken with egg fried rice.

Apart from the dinner, what I loved most about today is that we all sat around the dining room table after dinner with a tub of Haagen Dazs ice cream each. We actually talked and laughed together as a family with no other distractions. Everyone seemed relaxed.

Decluttering continues

No work this weekend and no going out, therefore, lots of time for getting the main areas of the house organised again. I am also looking forward to doing some more decluttering.

We might even play a few board games!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

We’re very lucky to have two large cutlery drawers in our kitchen. Like all drawers, random items creep in there as well as crumbs and stuff… I’ll spare you the photos of that. For absolutely ages I’ve been meaning to take everything out, wipe them, clean the cutlery etc, take out the random bits that shouldn’t be there and put it all back nicely. Today was the day!

It was very satisfying seeing them clean and then putting what we actually use back in the drawers.

I’ve used the drawers several times since this morning and everything felt lovely and clean. A couple of observations though… I seem to be missing a lot of teaspoons. Where do these things go?

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

I was about to prepare some salmon fillet for my dinner earlier this evening when I remembered the dill that I have been growing in the indoor AeroGarden. So, I gave it a hair cut and chopped some up to sprinkle on the salmon.

I wrapped up the salmon in some foil after adding olive oil, garlic pepper and the freshly grown dill, and then popped it in the oven for 18 minutes. It was very tasty served with salad (sorry, forgot to take a photo).

Starting on the cutlery drawer

I also started decluttering the cutlery drawer, but got interrupted half way through. Our kitchen has suddenly become very busy (and messy) since we’ve all been home protecting ourselves from the coronavirus. I only got as far as taking out there unwanted items…

Update and photos tomorrow as most of the contents of the drawer went in the dishwasher for a good clean.

Until then…

Sandra

This table has been in my life for many years as it has a special meaning. It’s always been useful somehow, even though it doesn’t really go with any furniture I’ve got. Whenever I put it in the garage, it’s never long before it finds it’s way back into the house again.

Today I took it out of the garage, gave it a clean and set up my new workstation for home working for the foreseeable future (until the coronavirus situation is over). It’s the best thing to use as a desk for now because I’m not sure what I’m doing with the conservatory so there’s no point buying new furniture.

Being a busy day, I didn’t have time to clear much out of the way, so my work chair and a few other items never made it in there. I will have time to sort all of this out over the course of the week. For today, I just cleared enough space to work comfortably.

The sun shone through the conservatory whilst I worked and it became quite hot this afternoon. I opened the windows and doors and could hear the birds tweeting. Other than that, it was very peaceful. Tomorrow I’m going to find a fan to put in there, just in case the sun happens to shine again. I already have a heater for the cooler days.

All in all, it felt like a very pleasant place to work. It’s just a shame that I forgot to take a photo when it was sunny.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

This is quite a simple room to declutter so I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about doing it before now. I was cleaning the toilet and sink today and noticed soooo many cleaning products lurking around as well as an empty toilet roll, cleaning gloves and so on.

I took out all the cleaning products and sprays and the rusty bin, and only put back the essentials.

I ordered a new round plastic bin which arrived in time for me to include it in the picture.

Being moulded plastic with a touch swing lid, the new bin isn’t going to rust. It’s also going to be easier to clean, which ticks all the boxes for me.

For now I’m using the inside of the old waste bin to house the minimal cleaning products needed for this bathroom (see black bucket under towel). This is only until I can find a way of hiding the stuff out of site or getting a matching white container of some kind.

It looks so much cleaner and tidier now as I walk in and I feel very pleased with myself.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Every time I open certain overcrowded and organised drawers in the kitchen, I see untidiness and crumbs. It always seems to be a job for another time.

This morning after breakfast I emptied the dishwasher. As I was putting away the baking trays, I made a decision to focus on just two drawers as part of my decluttering challenge. The two below the ovens seemed appropriate because I was struggling to get the trays in.

I took all of the contents out and then cleaned the drawers inside and out. Everything went back with a little bit more thought and it all fitted in much better.

I stood up to open one of the ovens to check for more trays and noticed remnants of burnt food etc. Being Saturday I had a bit of time, so gave each oven a spray and wipe round (not the nicest of jobs but I was in the right mood to do it).

The ovens have a self-clean mode which I used last year, so they weren’t that bad. It’s always best to do this in the summer months though, as it’s advisable to keep the windows open. That option doesn’t clean the shelves or large roasting trays so I gave those and quick soak and scrub today.

Like any decluttering project, every little bit helps. There are a lot more cupboard and drawers in the kitchen. If I do one of two at a time, I can hopefully free up some space by reorganising and also working out what’s not needed in the kitchen.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

I didn’t really get the chance to tidy in the conservatory after boxing up and removing the christmas decorations a couple of weeks ago, so today I gave the chairs a quick wipe over, swept the floor and tidied up a bit. The above is what it looks like so far which is better than it was. At least it can be used now.

What shall I do with the conservatory?

We’ve lived in this house for quite a few years and in this time have used the conservatory space for various things. When the girls were little it served as an additional area for them to play. Then when we got a new sofa we put the old armchairs out there. It stayed tidy for a few years and it was quite a pleasant area to sit and relax. I’m sure I have photos somewhere.

Then we had a period of time where the roof was leaking and so we didn’t use it for a while until it was fixed. Due to it being cold in the winter and hot in the summer, there are only a few months of the year that it can be used. Also, most of the time it’s too messy and dusty to sit out there and I don’t think about including it in my cleaning routine which needs to change. (usually because).

Just after Christmas, I dumped all of the Christmas decorations out there and a couple of weeks ago spent a few hours boxing them up and putting them in the loft (see blog: No Need for Expensive Boxes to Store Christmas Decs). They stayed in there a long time because it’s easy for things to do so. It’s another ‘clutter habit area’ like the spare room. The room is out of the way and not easily accessible from the kitchen diner, which is where I spend most of my time. If I could pick the whole conservatory up and attach it to that room, it would be lovely.

So, as you can guess, the room doesn’t have a purpose, so my plan is to work out what that might be. Looking on the positive side though, we are very lucky to have this additional space.

Some random thoughts for the space

• I’d like to turn it into an inviting space where I can relax
• I could work out there, as I need to work from home until the coronavirus pandemic is over
• I would like the temperature to remain constant so that I don’t have to go out there and put the heater on in advance. I’d like to find a way where it can be cool in the Summer.
• I would like to relocate or get rid of some of the items e.g. stereo unit, boxes, magazines, dining room chair, broken picture frame, sun lounger and other random items. I even spotted a deep fat fryer in the corner of the room earlier! I think it’s from when we used the room as storage when we were having our kitchen done a few years ago. If it hasn’t gone back into the kitchen now, maybe it’s time for it to go.
• I quite like going out there to get on the exercise machine, but not sure if that’s the right place for it.
• I’d like a small TV out there
• It would be a good space to entertain in the summer months
• The girls could have their friends over for sleepovers and they could use that space
• I’d like to extend the whole conservatory across the back of the house (not even sure how to go about that or if it’s even possible)

I’m feeling very tired at the moment, so I’ll have a think about it over the weekend.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Due to things potentially heightening with the coronavirus, myself and some other colleagues have been asked to work from home from today. This means coming up with a new routine at home particularly since my husband’s been asked by his work to do the same.

He’s working from the spare room (good job I cleared the desk and the path to it) and I’ve set myself up in the kitchen dining room for the time being.

I brought limited stuff home from work as most of what I do is on the laptop. We both brought home a desk chair though. My husband’s one is in the spare room and my ergonomic one has taken up residence in the dining room area, meaning other chairs need to be relocated before they start getting in the way.

My decluttering challenge today was to make sure that I don’t overcrowd the downstairs area again with the two surplus chair floating around and prepare for the screen and docking station that I will be picking up from work next week. I have a feeling that some of this is going to end up in the conservatory, or I might end up basing myself out there (with the heater on of course!)

Switching off from work

At the weekends and evenings we are going to discipline ourselves to put all work stuff away and switch off, so that we can have some family time and I can get on with more decluttering.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra