Day 4 (Part 2): Desk Drawer Organising Continues

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Whilst organising one of the desk drawers yesterday, I resisted doing the one below it so that I could introduce another mini system around the house today.

I do feel quite hopeful that organising daily will reduce the clutter round here. It’s only day 3 of 2020 so a long way to go. I’ve always tackled the clutter in the same way, which made me think of Einstein‘s definition of insanity which is …

…doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

So, slowly but surely, I should be getting new results.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 3 (Part 1): Clutter is one of my biggest problem areas…

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Today after breakfast I took a picture of my utility room and then turned around and saw the cluttered windowsill in the kitchen and then turned around again and saw the stuff in the corner of the dining room and….. it goes on.

If you look back at my blogs over the year, you will see that clutter is one of my biggest problem areas… but in 2020 I’m going to do things differently and be much more positive about it.

Yes, I might still take photos of the whole room and think that I can tackle it in one day, but the only challenge I have set myself daily this year is to do one-small-no-more-than-10-minute-job-per-day. I can do more, but I only have to do 10 minutes. I can only hope that I stick to it, but if you followed me with my other writing blog that ended in 2012, you will know that I stick to challenges that I set myself.

There must actually be an answer/method/way forward with achieving a decluttered house and I am determined to find it. Part of me worries about doing it this way as it might feel too slow and I’ll only want to carry on doing some more; however, that’s the beauty of this method, I don’t need to stop. As long as I have done one small area e.g. one shelf, one drawer, my handbag, one shelf in fridge, I will have moved forward. Some days I will have more time than others.

What area shall I pick today? Check in later for my update.

Until then…

Sandra

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Day 2: A New Place for A4 Paper

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

The new place for A4 paper and similar items

Carrying on from yesterday’s theme of mini systems, the idea for today’s blog came to mind as I walked into the house from work this evening to my daughter saying ‘I couldn’t find any A4 white paper’. From memory, I said that it was on the desk in the spare room in a box under some other books and stuff. As I said it, I realised that where I store the paper probably isn’t somewhere obvious, and to be honest I wasn’t entirely sure that I was right about where it was.

Later, I went to look for the paper and I am ashamed to say that it was in this box surrounded by the usual clutter…

img_3233-e1578005960794.jpg

A4 paper is hidden somewhere

So, today I created a home for the A4 paper in the top drawer of the desk and quickly made a written label. I did think about looking for the electronic label maker but I would surely have got distracted in the process and wouldn’t have finished today’s mini system. I also got so carried away that I ended up sorting out two desk drawers and found other items that could fit neatly with the paper and clearly labeled those too.

I call that my second new year achievement!

Until next time…

Sandra

 

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Day 1: A Place for Those Things

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I struggle to find places for things around the house, but when I do systemise something, it tends to stick. For example, I have a place where I put receipts as soon as I get them (first 12 tabs used as a Jan to Dec concertina file) and a lever arch file just under the kitchen counter to hole punch and file away stray papers as they come in.

So, being New Year’s Day 2020, I am going to start focusing on introducing more of these mini systems. That would be a much better idea than walking around the house getting miserable about all the of the non-clear spaces that are filled with clutter and other stray items.

Just after I wrote the above two paragraphs, my laptop ran out of battery and for a moment I couldn’t remember where my charger was. How can my inspiration flow onto the page with an uncharged laptop? Just when I was thinking about how life tests you sometimes, ‘the new place for my charger’ popped into my head. The other day when I unplugged it from the wall, I thought: Where would I look for this next time? and placed it under the kitchen counter underneath the shelf with the new lever arch file. I might… just might… have created another system that just took a while to register in my brain.

I’m looking forward to introducing more systems around the house to help me declutter. Let’s call it my 2020 Challenge!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Have you got a safety pin?

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

Sounds like a simple request doesn’t it? However, in the morning rush when everyone is trying to get out of the door, why is it that I can never find what anyone asks for? I knew that I’d recently seen a safety pin around the house somewhere, so (knowing that my daughter’s bus leaves in 4 minutes and she has to walk down the road to get it) I tip out a few pots of clutter in different rooms around the house…

… Voila! I find one, in a small glass pot on the bedroom windowsill; however, I have left a trail of mess in the process.

The safety pin was only needed because the skirt that my daughter was wearing for school felt loose and didn’t feel like the one that she wore last week. I knew that I’d seen another skirt somewhere, so baskets of washing were also tipped out all over the beds as I looked for the ‘other’ skirt. I never found it!

As I sit here quietly having my breakfast, I’m wondering why after all of these years I’m not organised enough to find the ‘right’ school skirt and a small safety pin. I felt the urge to write. In an ideal world, I would have clothes nicely hung up in wardrobes instead of baskets in different rooms. I would have safety pins in a little pot called safety pins. Why is it that I’m never at that stage after all of this decluttering? Why is the clutter still all around?

I think that clearing clutter is one thing, but creating places for the things you want to keep is also important. Today, I’m going to create a pot called safety pins and place it in my sewing basket and place the sewing basket in the cupboard.

That’ll be one thing fixed around here.

Does this kind of mad searching happen in your house?  

Until next time…

Sandra  

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Dreaming about a decluttered room

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

Just over 3 hours ago, I walked into the spare room to do some decluttering (again) and spotted an old CD on top of a pile off other stuff that had accumulated from the last time that I was decluttering in here. The title ‘Begin with the End in Mind’ was staring at me and I wondered if this could be my new approach to deal with all the stuff in here.

I had purchased this title by Steven Covey many years ago in book form and also as part of the box set ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. I have also previously downloaded it from audible. I felt like it was time to listen to it again.

Before I did, I laid back on the sofa and closed my eyes imagining a room that I would be happy to walk into and relax. I must have fallen asleep by accident and here I am 3 hours later not quite knowing what happened.

It made me think… should I just vitalise this room and the stuff in it and work out in advance what I will be doing with it all? I could combine this with Mel Robbin’s concept of the Five Second Rule, a book that I have listened to twice over the last couple of weeks, and just count down five, four, three, two, one…. blast off, and just make a start.

Steve Covey, in Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind, explains that “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you are going so that you better understand where you are now, and so the steps you take are always in the right direction”

Let’s make a start…

Until I write again.

Sandra

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When someone else is cooking…

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

…you can get on with other things. How very helpful!

Today I mowed the lawn and pottered about the garden pulling out weeds, sweeping up the leaves and now I’m about to eat the most wonderful-smelling dinner… roast lamb with the best-looking roast potatoes ever.

I am grateful to my husband-to-be for spending all day preparing and slow cooking the lamb so that we can all sit down and have such a wonderful family dinner.

And my garden is starting to look tidier.

Until I write again…

Sandra

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Having compassion for others

Posted on May 11, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

Should we always have compassion for others even when they get rude and frustrated with us? This goes for adults as well as children. They sometimes sound out without a care for anyone else… and we react.

I’ve learnt over the years that it’s best not to shout back but instead, calm the fire or disconnect the bomb. It’s not worth adding more fuel when the other person is on fire.

I’ve just walked out of the kitchen having been on the receiving end of my daughter’s anger and frustration with me…. over not much at all actually… I just made her the wrong sort of lunch. I sat on the sofa, sighed, and turned on a movie that had just started called Love Finds a Home. The following words touched me deeply and I just had to stop and write them down…

“Can’t we all get caught up in our own lives at times, and lose sight of the compassion we should have for others?”

It was like I was meant to hear those words.

So often we feel angry and frustrated with others; sometimes silently, by keeping the frustrations inside, and sometimes by losing our temper. It’s difficult to know what to do for the best in the heat of the moment, but after hearing those words above just now, I now know that I will try my hardest to have compassion for others. After all, how could we know what is going on in their heads, or their lives for that matter.

Until I write again…

Sandra

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How do you motivate yourself to tidy up?

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

At first I didn’t think that I would be able to relate to the title of this blog. After all, who could possibly need to be motivated to tidy up? I used to think that I would always feel like tidying up if I just had the time.

As the children are getting older I am finding myself with just a tiny bit more time on my hands, but this doesn’t appear to be enough to motivate me, because I see all the clutter as such a big job. Every room needs decluttering making it difficult to do a quick tidy up. Every corner; every drawer; every surface. I have to find a trigger to motivate me…

So, what did I do…

I didn’t wait for the right moment.

I didn’t say ‘I’m going to tidy up later’.

I just started decluttering, but I started small.

I set a timer for 2 minutes…. and something triggered inside me within that time, and i was motivated to come back and carry on for another short spell.

A 2-5 minute pick up, or clear up of your desk can really energise your home and clear your mind.

Look around you and pick some easy wins… bundle like things with like things. Put all books in a pile, or place all carrier bags in one bag. Throw all bits and bobs into an old shoe box for later sorting, if you really don’t know what to do with them.

Tiny steps is what it takes.

I’ve been doing this over the last week. With a few minutes to spare, I just pop into the spare room and take something out or put something in its place. It wasn’t noticeable at first, but this has spiralled over the week, to me spending quite a few hours on the space over the last couple of days. Later pictures to follow…

I’m now sitting down to write, because I all of a sudden I felt the urge to jot down my thoughts… to inspire others to just get started.

Until I write again…

Sandra

Posted in decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Toys, mess and clutter | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

What happened to me?

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Sandra Madeira

I’ve almost finished listing to Mel Robbin’s audio book ‘Take Control of your Life’ and one of the questions that she asks her clients to ask themselves is ‘What happened to me?’ instead of ‘What am I going to do?’ The former question resonated with me particularly in the clutter area of my life.

I used to (and think I still do) want a tidy, decluttered and clean house, but this question made me think that maybe I like talking about the clutter or doing the decluttering more than I actually want to finish it. It got me thinking… what if the thought of decluttering energises me more than sitting in a tidy and organised house with nothing left to do? This surely can’t be the case, because I’ve always wanted to live in a decluttered house; however, I have never totally got there, so how do I know how it feels? The clutter is alway there somewhere in other rooms. Am I keeping it there so that I have something to do?

This morning (just like yesterday) I got up early and started re-decluttering the surfaces and cupboards in the kitchen. Yet again, I moved things into the bin, by the front door to go to the recycling bins later, or to another room in the house, and the sentence ‘What happened to me?’ popped into my head again. I stopped to write, knowing that somehow by writing or researching I might get the answer.

Maybe my family are right, unelsss I throw it all away, I will never shift it all out of my life. The stuff in the garage, in the spare room, lurking in the cupboards… it’s all been there in some shape or form for many years waiting for the day that I do something permanent with it. I do have phases where I get a lot done, but then it piles up again.

I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago and it’s made me think a lot more about life and how long we all have to do the things we want to do. I’ve always envisaged living until I’m 100, so I’m not planning on going anywhere just yet; however, I don’t want to leave this world with a cluttered house. So, the question is, when in my plan will my house be the way I want it to be? What happened to the ‘me’ that wanted it so badly that I’d do anything?

I haven’t got all the answers today, so please watch out for further updates. I’m going to try my best to change the way I am. This won’t just be for me, but for my family who have been living with (and helping me contribute to) the clutter for years and listening to me saying that I am going to do something about it.

They would throw it all away if they had the chance, and maybe they’re onto something. It worked for a client that Mel Robbin’s was coaching in the book mentioned the beginning of this blog. When she questioned her client during coaching, and pushed her to move forward with her ‘stuff’, I reacted the same way that she did. It was like she was coaching me; however, her client eventually did something about it by facing her fears instead of turning away from them or hiding them somewhere.

Until I write again…

Sandra

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