Day 6: The Socks Question

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Today was a bit of an achievement, 6 socks of exactly the same size and colour came out of the dryer, which is rare. Although I could write a whole paragraph about odd socks, that’s not what today’s blog is about… it’s about the question I get asked regularly ‘Where are my socks?’

I was prepared for my daughter asking me this question this morning and had them out ready before we went out, but I obviously can’t keep them on the breakfast bar forever. As those who are following me will know, I’m blogging daily about the mini systems I’m creating around the house in order to stop the clutter and save me time, and today is the day that I’m going to label the sock drawers in my daughters’ rooms to prevent the sock questions.

That is, if I can actually get to the sock drawers in their bedrooms… wish me luck…

I’m also going to buy more socks to buy me some more time to wash them.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Day 5: Decluttering Batteries and Helping the Environment

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Recycling Batteries

I can’t believe how simple this one was. I gathered up all the batteries scattered about the house, which can only be because there isn’t a place for them. I used the tester (that I found in the desk drawer the other day) to check if they were working and was surprised that most of them were showing full. The whole process took me no more than 10 minutes whilst the dinner was in the oven.

The good batteries now have a home in the ‘good batteries’ box, meaning less searching for them when someone asks me for one! I even found a couple of rechargeable ones which is possibly a much better way of doing things.

The old batteries have a place too and will eventually make their way to the recycling centre. In fact, I just paused to research where I can do this and it appears that my local supermarket will take them or I can leave them out with my collection bins.

I even identified a place for the 2 containers which took a bit longer than planned as I had to move a couple of things in the kitchen cupboard.

Another step forward on the decluttering front for day 4… and I am helping the environment.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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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

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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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