February Decluttering Reflections

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

It’s been 60 days since I challenged myself to declutter or improve something around the house every day. Today seems like a good day to reflect on what I’ve achieved in February, how I am feeling about the challenge in general and how I am planning to tackle things in March.

Is the house looking clearer? Yes and no, as I tend to move things around when I’m decluttering. It’s a habit that I need to break; I think that will come with practise. Our bedroom is definitely feeling more spacious since I removed the ironing board. There’s still a lot to do behind the closed cupboards and drawers though.

How can I get rid of more stuff? I’ve bagged up a lot of stuff for charity but for some reason they haven’t actually made it to the charity shop. The bags are still lurking around the house so that I can add to them. It’s not like I’m short of charity bags as they are always coming through the door and I can also pick them up from the local charity shop. (Note to self to get better at tying these up and putting them in my car – maybe add the task to the calendar). I’m doing well with rubbish and other recycling but I think it helps that we have set collection dates so I’m driven by that.

Am I on track? Yes. Still making small improvements daily. I’m not going to pretend it’s been easy but as I’m a very determined person, I’ve kept going. My only deadline is that I do something, however small (10 mins max, but can do more), by midnight each day.

Am I getting buy-in from the rest of the family? Although I could sometimes do with more help from the rest of the family (and I am getting better at asking for it when I need it), this decluttering really is something that I enjoy more then them so I tend to do it on my own. Having said that, they are buying in to the new processes. My eldest daughter is insistent that everyone (including me) put their shoes neatly in the cupboard rather than kick them in, which shows her appreciation of the clear space and what I am doing. I’m also getting questions from my husband and girls about recycling such as ‘where do plastics and glass go now?’ when they open the pull-out bin. (Note to self to create labels or something).

What am I going to do in March? Continue with sorting through clutter and creating pockets of clear space but with more focus on keeping the spaces I’ve already created clear. I need to eliminate the habit of moving temporary stuff into areas I have already done. I call this repeated clutter, and when I notice it now, I try and change my habits.

What’s the feedback from other family members? The house feels a lot brighter and cleaner. When it’s clearer it looks cleaner. Thank you for hovering my room.

Some highlights over the past month

A Multi-Purpose Airing Cupboard (Now Decluttered)

61 Pairs of Shoes and 4 Cans of Paint

Does Emptying the Bins Count as Decluttering

How Many Carrier Bags Do I Actually Need?

When Do You Throw Away Fruit and Veg

Decluttering the Indoor AeroGarden (update below)

Just as I’m moving forward and growing in my 2020 decluttering challenge, so is my AeroGarden.

Look how they’ve grown

I just need to find some recipes that include Parris Island leaves or Dill herb :-).

Some highlights back in January…

Clutter is One of My Biggest Problem Areas

Declutter Your Mind… Take a Bath

More Weekend Decluttering

10 Minutes Away from Having a Clear Desk

Start with a Corner of Clutter

Looking for Something in a Box of Papers Has its Benefits

A Reason to Buy Beautiful Fresh Flowers….

I’ll be back later with today’s decluttering post…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Day 60: Yippee! The Kitchen Drain is Now Unblocked

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Outside kitchen drain

For a while now we’ve had an issue under the kitchen sink with water coming out of the air pipe, every time a lot of water goes down the sink or drains from the dishwasher. We’ve tried all the obvious things including checking that the pipes inside and outside of the house were clear and used a metal drain cleaner to poke down the overflow. No luck in finding any blockages, and the water still came out the air pipe.

Life then got busy and we left it. I put this self-made contraption under the sink to collect the water and emptied every now and again.

Catching water under the sink

A few weeks later whilst pottering around the garden, I noticed that the kitchen drain outside was blocked and full. I stuck a pole down there and a mouse floated to the surface! I don’t think that was the reason why it was blocked, but it did put me off going anywhere near it or doing anything else for a while.

Blocked kitchen drain

Life got busy again and to be honest it seems to have rained every day since. So, we were waiting for a dry day to work out what to do next instead of paying a lot of money for someone to come and look at it. In preparation, I ordered long rubber gloves from Amazon and some caustic soda. They are still sitting by the back door and we were still waiting for that dry day.

You can’t leave these things

Yesterday morning the kitchen didn’t smell very nice. I went outside to the recycling bins and it smelt even worse out there. The cupboard under the kitchen sink didn’t smell too good either. I decided to give in and called the experts, as I didn’t want to live with that smell all weekend and I didn’t want it to cause any other problems. Another storm was forecast so not the best weather conditions for us to be doing something that we have no experience in.

The results

A nice friendly man from the drain cleaning company came round first thing this morning and solved it in no time at all (5 minutes to be precise by using some sort of plunger on the end of a drain rod). It cost us £125!

Although it’s solved (and I’m very pleased), the lady on the phone yesterday didn’t tell me that it would cost more on a Saturday. Oh well, it’s done now and it resolved the issue under the sink as well. Dan the drain cleaning man spent the rest of the half an hour that he was here, making sure that no water came out into my self-made contraption under the sink.

He even gave us a few tips to prevent it happening again (including a trick with washing up liquid) and showed us some tools that we could buy to keep at the ready just we had to unblock the drain. I’m sure he wasn’t really supposed to do that, but I think he felt bad that we’d paid so much money for such a simple job. I did make him a cup of coffee as well.

So, that’s it for today apart from spending absolutely ages looking for something important around the house which I actually ended up finding in amongst a whole load of clutter that’s accumulated on the landing upstairs. Definitely one of the areas that I will be tackling tomorrow!

It’s now been two months

I’ve been making small improvements around the house for two months in a row now. Tomorrow I’ll also be posting a summary on how February’s decluttering has been going and how I’m feeling about it all.

Until then…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Day 59: Tidying Uninviting Corners

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
A tidy corner of the lounge

It’s Friday! I wanted to get a quick bit of decluttering done this evening so that I can relax and do something nice. I spotted the untidy and uninviting corner of the lounge when I walked in from work and decided to tackle that.

Lounge corner before and after tidying

We are looking to improve the layout of the lounge and do some decorating at some point later this year so this isn’t a room that I will be focusing on much during my decluttering sessions. There’s not much that needs doing in this room anyway.

We’re also looking to make the whole room more cosy and inviting, by changing the sofa and adding better ceiling and wall lights. I would love everything to be brighter. We’re just struggling to agree on colours and fabrics. That’s the hardest bit, so it could take a while.

Until then, I will just focus on keeping this corner tidy so that I have somewhere to sit and have my cup of tea and write if I’m not in the mood for watching TV. That’s over the other side of the room, although I can watch it from here.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Day 58: Storing Your Important Belongings

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
A lifetime of memories

I read a good blog titled Jettison the other day from the site Something Over Tea which got me thinking about where all of my important possessions are around the house. I also learnt about the word jettison which (according to the Online Cambridge Dictionary) means:

to get rid of something or someone that is not wanted or needed

This idea of getting rid of things is fine for lots of reasons and anyone following my blog will know that I’ve been doing it nearly every day this year. Now and again I come across a keepsake. I tend to just stick it in a pile ‘somewhere’ hoping that eventually the pile would be big enough to put ‘somewhere else’. Occasionally I put it in an already unorganised drawer, hoping to return to it one day to make it lovely and tidy (another blog for another day).

I don’t want me or someone else in the house to accidentally jettison things that are important to me. Having said that, I’m a bit overprotective when it comes to stuff lying around the house so that’s not likely to happen; however, when I’m gone… what then? Would the rest of the family (if they outlive me) want my precious keepsakes or even know what my precious keepsakes are? Will it even matter?

At least if I keep them in one place they can decide. So, I need to create a new system and get better at storing those things. I used to be mega tidy and organised when I was younger, so I know it’s possible. I’ve just got lost along the way, which makes sense when life gets busy.

Memories Keepsake Boxes

The other day, I found a two of these ‘memories keepsake boxes’ in the spare room that I was attracted to whilst shopping years ago.

Memories Keepsake Box

They were filled with papers and other clutter and had things piled on top of them. I emptied them and put them on top of my wardrobe with some keepsakes. I haven’t been adding to them since then; I sort of forgot they were there.

Today, I took them down and went through the contents and decided what I was going to store in each one. As and when I find things around the house now, I can put them in these boxes. It’s good to have a place for things – it makes the decluttering process much quicker.

These ‘lifetime of memories’ boxes may not last long as they are collapsible boxes with those popper things on the side, but at least I can keep things in one place for now. I can always transfer them to something sturdier later on.

How do you store your most important possessions?

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Day 57: No More Ironing Board in the Bedroom

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I have been slowly working on putting away the stuff on and under the ironing board so that I can remove it out of our bedroom. This is an annoying decluttering step that I have blogged about a couple of times since the beginning of my challenge, so I didn’t want to waste another day on it. (Previous posts: Repeating Decluttering Steps and 13 Days in Decluttering Mode)

The Space Before and After

This morning I finished it and vacuumed the floor underneath! Before I finally collapsed the board for the week, I ironed a few work shirts for my husband. He’s usually quite happy to do this job himself; however, his preference is to do it ‘in the morning’ just before he wears it. I’ve decided that if we are going to live without the board in the bedroom, our habits have to change.

He was very grateful as his ‘next few days’ shirts are all hanging up (never been this organised before) and now that the ironing board has been put away the bedroom feels so much bigger. This might even get us thinking about decorating (mustn’t get carried away 😀).

Today’s decluttering feels like a positive step forward as it’s going to change the habit of me lazily dumping the clean washing on the board. It’s not like I iron things before putting them away anyway, so there’s no reason why the clothes need to be dumped there.

Putting everything away immediately is definitely going to save me time in the long run, although there are other places I can lazily store baskets of washing, so I’ll have to be careful. I did spot a couple of small ones in the main bathroom.

Testing out the process

This evening I was able to test this new decluttering step and just put all the clean washing away in the wardrobes and drawers. Yes, they are still bursting at the seams (a job for another time), but I did take out two pieces of clothing from my wardrobe and put them in a charity bag (well done to me). It’s all about baby steps…

I also identified that we need a new iron as we haven’t descaled the current one for a very long time and I think we’ve ruined it (it’s one of those ones that sit on top of a water container). It’s been in our lives for over 12 years so we’ve had lots of use from it. Is that a long time to have a iron? I could keep it as a spare once I get a new one… or am I setting myself up for another clutter trap?

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Day 56: Tumble Dryer to Drawers in Five Minutes

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Tumble Dryer

I took the clothes out of the tumble dryer this evening and piled them on the dining room table ready to be dealt with later.

Tumble-dried clothes

Then I remembered that we were having pancakes for dinner this evening so we needed to eat at the table. I had to move the clothes!

Eliminating Habits

Things piling up on the dining room table and kitchen counter tops is a habit that we’re all becoming more aware of in this house. I’m trying to get the others to put their stuff away before they leave the room and also take their belongings upstairs, which is beginning to work. (One of my supportive readers made a very good point recently – I can’t do all of this by myself).

As this new habit includes me, I set the timer for five minutes (whilst the bacon was cooking) so that I could to sort through the clothes and put them away in the various drawers in each bedroom. I knew it wouldn’t take long and would save time in the long run.

Putting the clothes away immediately also prevents me adding to the pile of clothes on the ironing board in our bedroom. Even though I blogged the other day about putting the board away, I admit that I didn’t completely finish it as clothes kept getting added to it (blog: Repeating Decluttering Steps). I’m slowly putting things away ready for it’s removal out of the room (there will possibly be a blog about that tomorrow if I finish it).

Five minutes is all it took to put the small about of tumble-dried clothes away. This was just in time to finish cooking the bacon and put it in the oven to keep warm, ready for my husband to come home and make the pancakes.

Selection of sweet and savoury pancakes

He did a great job and they were delicious. Was I being greedy having five large pancakes with various fillings this evening… ? I don’t think so; after all it is pancake day.

I had a couple of savoury ones and a few sweet. I experimented a bit, which is quite unlike me… and I’m not saying which ones that I added the ice cream to… 😃.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Inspiration, Time management, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Day 55: Finding a Way to be Ok With the Clutter Whilst Decluttering

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

This post isn’t meant to sound negative, and there’s a point I’m trying to get to… so bear with me. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time over the last couple of days reading other people’s blogs on clutter. I’m not quite sure of the reason – part of me wanted to see if there were others that were going through the same thing as me, and part of me wanted to see if someone had found a magic solution that gets it all done quicker.

I didn’t find anything that is going to speed things up, nor did I find anything to help me make quicker decisions. What I did discover is that so many of us are dealing with so much of it. Some of us are doing well and know that it’s going to take time, some of us haven’t got a clue where to start, and some of us find that when life takes over we almost need to start again.

Life can take over sometimes

During certain busy phases in life, the every day stuff doesn’t even get done, let alone the backlog. And all the time we are dealing with life, that overwhelmed feeling is at the back of our minds. Stress and anxiety take over.

Continue reading →
Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Household chores, Inspiration, Life, recycling, working mum | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Day 54: Tackling a Small Pile of Papers Before it Gets Out of Control

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Tackling a small pile of papers and stuff

I quickly dealt with this small pile of papers and stuff today and felt proud of myself. It might not appear to be anything big, but this is one of my interim solutions that really has worked for me over the last few months, so it’s worth posting an update.

All I do is keep a lever-arch file, a hole -punch, shredding scissors, a concertina receipts file, a pending box and a few other obvious bits in a cupboard under the kitchen counter.

I then deal with each item quickly by filing, shredding, recycling, adding items to pending box and so on. Things are easier to find, and they are not even filed away in a detailed filing system, they are just hole-punched as they come in.

Continue reading →
Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Household chores, Inspiration, recycling, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Day 53: I’m Not Ready for Death Cleaning Yet, But It Won’t Hurt To Learn About It

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Audible book

A friend told me about this book and I was intrigued, so I downloaded it from Audible to listen to on the train on the way to London to meet my friends (yes, I’m out two nights in a row!)

I messaged her back saying that it all sounded good and that maybe that’s my problem – I’m giving myself too long to do the decluttering seeing as I’m planning on living until I’m 100. Maybe I should trick myself into an earlier expiry date 😀.

She said that I can still aim for the 100 expiry date, but don’t need to drag the clutter with me the whole time 😉.

I love how honest she is. We help each other!

Margareta Magnusson, the author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, says that…

“Death cleaning is not about dusting or mopping up, it is about a permanent form of organisation that makes your everyday life run more smoothly”

Just hearing those words ‘permanent form of organisation’ made me want to write it down and tell the world. How lovely would it be to have a permanent home for everything.

She goes on to explain that you should start with the large items which is an interesting concept. Deep down I knew that the smaller items carry a lot of weight, such as cards, photos etc. I’m certainly not ready to go through those yet.

Train coming into Victoria… so I’ll finish up this post now.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Health and wellness, Inspiration, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Day 52: Spotting Future Clutter

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I fitted in a lot today: taking my girls to the dentist, going to work, running errands and then came the lovely part – having a facial and hair cut before going out with some really good friends for a meal.

My girls loaded and unloaded the dishwasher for me during the day which was a lovely surprise, and then hung up some washing without any fuss. Less for me to do this evening.

So, where did I fit in a quick bit of decluttering?

There were a couple of bags of random clutter lurking around the dining room… the usual dumping ground (must work on resolving that one!)

Future clutter if not dealt with

I can speak from experience that random items in bags can turn into future clutter. They end up taking up permanent residence ‘somewhere’ and become a list of items that no one can find.

Continue reading →
Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, delegating, Getting organised, Household chores, Inspiration, Wellbeing, working mum | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments