Day 26: A Reason to Buy Beautiful Fresh Flowers

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Sometimes life happens and you are on your feet all day attending to everyone else’s needs, giving you little or no time to focus on your own projects – in my case, my decluttering/improving challenge.

As this happened to be one of those types of days for me, I just decided to go with the flow to see where it would take me. My daughter needed to draw some flowers and other items for her Fine Art GCSE which isn’t the sort of things we had around the house, so I suggested a walk to the local supermarket to buy a bunch. We had a lovely stroll and a chat and came back home with a beautiful variety of flowers, a few of which she arranged with other items to take some fantastic photos (much better than I’ve added here). I’m looking forward to seeing which ones she chooses to paint tomorrow.

When she finished the photos, she helped me arrange the bunches into different vases and they looked beautiful. We cleared some spaces in the lounge, hallway and kitchen to display them. We bought this lovely ‘love’ jug (below) as well which looked great in the hallway.

The rest we put in the lounge…

Although I’m slightly stressed about the rest of the house being a mess, at least I have some beautiful flowers to look at.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

 

 

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Day 25: Can Clutter in Front of a Radiator Make the Room Colder?

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

After moving the stool, a box and some other clutter from in front of the radiator in the kitchen/dining room today, I could actual feel the heat radiating from it.

Do you think that all this time it’s been heating up my clutter? It’s probably been stopping the flow of heat around the room.

By doing my 10 minute challenge today, I actually feel like I have made a big difference with a small change.

Until tomorrow

Sandra

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Day 24: Decluttering Your Handbag is a Quick Win

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

This is a very easy bag to throw things into when I am in a rush. So much so, that the stuff needs to come out when I’m looking for something. A bit like this…

The contents were not placed for the purpose of the photo, this is exactly the way it fell out when I decided to go through it. About half of it went back in and the other half was thrown away, put away or recycled.

Well, that was a quick and easy decluttering task for today. Being a Friday, I sort of needed that after a busy week at work.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 23: Recycling Unwanted Electrical Items

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

We signed up with a new internet provider recently which resulted in a new router, which they placed by the front door. As the new one has been working well for a few days, I decided that today was going to be the day that I scramble about behind the chest of drawers in the bedroom, unplugging and detangling the router leads from other ones that need to stay there.

Luckily for me, I had hoovered behind there the other day during my decluttering weekend, so it was a bit cleaner than usual.

It was a quick and easy less-than-ten-minute task to add to my 2020 challenge.

Now I just need to work out how to or dispose of the old router. Maybe I can return it to the provider or recycle it in some other way, rather than add it to my already cluttered spare room or garage.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 22: Looking for Something in a Box of Papers Has its Benefits

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Paperwork decluttering

Over the years I have used different methods for organising paperwork. Some years I have gone through months of putting things straight into beautifully labelled hanging files, and other years they just get thrown in a box like the above. Since October last year I got fed up with not being able to find things and bought a brand new lever arch file and have been putting things straight in there as they come into the house.

So, imagine my annoyance this evening when I wanted some paperwork for my upcoming tax return and knew that I would have to go through both of the ‘papers’ boxes and other random places around the house.

I did this whilst watching a movie with my girls; however, I didn’t want to put everything straight back into the boxes, so I took the opportunity to divide the papers into 5 or 6 different categories at the same time. These have gone back into the box in different colour labelled carrier bags for now.

Light at the end of the tunnel

This feels like it’s bringing me close to filing/organising them properly, and even if I don’t get around to that for a while, I will know which bag they are in.

Did I find the papers I was looking for?

No! About 15 minutes ago, I remembered that I’d put them in a tray in the utility room downstairs labelled ‘To do’.

I really must take control of all of this paperwork once and for all, and I think this weekend might be the time to do it whilst I am hyped up and motivated. It will not only move me forward with my daily challenge, but also tick off a long outstanding and annoying job from my list.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 21: Don’t Procrastinate… Just Sew the Button On

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

This morning my youngest daughter kindly handed me her school shirt as well as the button that fell off it. Much better than hunting everywhere for the missing button or trying to find a spare one on the inside of another shirt.

Usually, I would put the piece of clothing and the button safely somewhere around the house and then many weeks (possibly months) later, have found the shirt and… the button would be nowhere to be found.

This was mainly because I would move it from room to room muttering to myself ‘I must find the time to do that’. During this time, the item of clothing would be out of circulation and more items would get added to the pile, making the job much longer that it needed to be, and not so appealing.

Taking action

Today, I used my challenge ticket, got out my sewing box and threaded a needle with some white cotton… yes, the same day as the button fell off. Firstly because I wanted to prove to myself that it wouldn’t take long and secondly so that I could show my daughter how to do it. She did well.

So, a double win for today:

  1. Teaching a teenager how to sew a button on
  2. Not decluttering the house with sewing jobs

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 20: Getting Another Five Minute Task Done

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Who collects the sharps bin?

Every time I see this full medicinal sharps bin in corner of the room, I say to myself ‘I must find the number to call to get someone to collect this’. If it wasn’t for my challenge, I probably wouldn’t have stopped in my tracks today to look up the number for the council’s waste team.

I said that if they didn’t answer straight away or I get put on hold, I would give up; however, they did answer and within a few minutes the collection date was booked and I found myself making a note in the diary for when I need to put it outside. And they are going to drop off an empty one at the same time.

It felt good to get such an easy job done that I’ve put off for so long. There are so many of these five to ten minutes tasks around the house, but I don’t feel stressed about it anymore as there are plenty of days left in the year to do them.

The good thing is, every new improvement around the house that I’ve made so far this year is staying that way. Things are feeling tidier, which is making us all happier.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 19: Dining Room Echoes After Decluttering

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Do you find that once you clear the items that shouldn’t be there, the room not only feels clean and clear but it also echoes? I believe that it’s because there is less stuff to absorb the sound.

Being the weekend, I had a bit more than 10 minutes to spare for today’s challenge, so I was determined to declutter the dining room as it just attracts clutter that we bring in or leave around. This is what I was faced with…

Not as bad as some rooms in the house, but no one could really get around the table to sit down because there were bags and recycling in the way. Not to mention the unnecessary items on the table.

As you know, I started with the right hand corner of clutter yesterday, leaving today to finish the rest.

So, I cleared the space and found a place for everything lying around.

I don’t particularly like our table so popped a tablecloth over it, which brightened up the room.

To top all of that we actually sat at the dining room table as a family this evening to eat our dinner.

So that’s a double result!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 18: Start With a Corner of Clutter

Posted on January 18, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

It’s easier to tackle a corner of clutter when you have time on your side, which isn’t often when you are a busy working parent. Usually it’s something that you walk by and say under your breath… if only I had time to sort that out. You know it won’t take long, but there’s always something pulling you away from it.

Today, I sat at the breakfast bar looking at the dining room area and knew that I wasn’t going to have the time to declutter the whole thing. So, I focused on this pile of magazines and papers in the corner…

… and recycled the ones that I didn’t want, leaving just a small pile for reading.

This motivated me to make a start on the other mound of stuff sitting next to it – most of which ended up being split between plastics and cardboard which I took straight out to the recycling bins.

After a quick sweep of the floor, the dining room corner looked much tidier.

That’s it for today’s challenge.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 17: A Purse Full of Stuff…

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

A purse full of stuff

Today, I wanted to quickly find a handwritten credit note that was given to me in a local clothing shop. I took a whole chunk of papers out of my purse and (typically) it was the last one that I checked, but at least I found it!

So, that brings me to today’s mini decluttering challenge, which is to clear my purse of unnecessary stuff.

These ‘wanted’ receipts go in my concertina file under December for easy retrieval if I need them…

Receipts to file away

and the papers that I don’t need can go into the paper recycling bin (making sure that I shred anything confidential).

Now I have a much slimmer purse to put back into my handbag and I have also done some recycling.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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