I’m fed up with the clutter

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Sandra Madeira

imageThat’s it. I’m doing something about it (I’ve said that before) and I’m going to be really ruthless and throw things away (I’ve said that before too!).

What shall I do with all the clutter and stuff lying around? I’ve been a homeowner for almost 27 years now and it’s probably only the first few years of that time that I had a tidy and clutter free house. So, what’s happened over the years and why do I always seem to be clutter clearing and tidying? My daughter thinks that it’s because I like doing it.

My excuses are that I’ve lived in different houses, lived with different people, bought too much stuff, not had time to get rid of things etc. There’s stuff of mine, stuff of theirs, stuff I can’t bear to part with, stuff I don’t know how to get rid of, stuff that has no designated place, stuff that brings back memories and so on. However, I’ve been in this particular house for almost 9 years now, so why do I always appear to be clutter clearing and tidying the same rooms? And why does no one else in the family seem to worry about it as much as me?

I’m going to change from today. Follow me on my journey…

Until later…

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Calm in a day

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Sandra Madeira

We sometimes don’t realise that taking just one day off can reduce that feeling of overwhelm and chaos. It could be that you are disorganised with the washing, have unorganised paperwork, can’t find time to put things in their place, or you just want to find places to put those things.

Today I took a long-awaited day off and although I could have quite easily stayed in bed for longer, I motivated myself to get the kids ready for school and then off to the gym. It was hard work as I hadn’t been for a while (had just been doing lazy swimming instead only once a week). I didn’t push myself too hard in the gym today but managed to stay there for 45 minutes doing something!

I tackled some tough things on my to do list during the rest of the day until school pick up time.

It’s just after 6pm and I’ve just taken the dinner out of the oven – which is a lot earlier than normal. The kitchen is tidy, the music is on in the background, I’m shaking my hips to Robbie William’s Rock DJ, and I’m feeling rather pleased with myself.

Try taking some time out for yourself now and again, even if it’s just for one day.

Until next time…

Sandra

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Almost hit by a clotheshorse

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

I have a lot of determination at the moment to clear my surroundings of clutter and mess. So much so, that I spent an hour sorting through baskets of washing and putting things away in the nice tidy baskets that I bought for my daughters’ wardrobes.

I was feeling quite organised and relaxed pairing up socks when, out of corner of my eye, I could see the clothes horse falling towards me. Don’t ask me how, but I managed to catch it and push it back up to its upright position.

The same thing happened the day before when I wasn’t in the room. I think that I might need somewhere new to put the clotheshorse rather than balancing it in the bath as it’s becoming quite dangerous!

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Had a productive evening though as nearly all clothes have been put away.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Keep calm and tidy up

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

I applied the 10 minute tidy rule when tidying my spare room yesterday evening. I set the timer and began. When the alarm went off I felt so motivated to carry on that I ended up resetting the timer 3 more times.

In amongst the mess, I stumbled upon 2 red ‘click and store’ boxes that had been collapsed down and shoved behind some other clutter. imageThe very appropriately named phrase displayed on the top read ‘Keep calm and tidy up’ which motivated me to do more clutter clearing, especially when I realised that I could fill them with things left lying around. Dangerous!

Until tomorrow.

Sandra

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A ten minute tidy up

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

I took a different approach yesterday and just spent 10 minutes picking things up and putting them in their places. It’s surprising how much you can get done in a short space of time. I went to bed thinking that if I do this daily, I will start to clear the cluttered surroundings.

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It’s also worth noting that it’s no use moving the stuff somewhere else. This might give you immediate satisfaction, but you know deep down that you are going to come across these items in a future decluttering sessions. Get into the habit of doing something with them.

Off for today’s 10 minute tidy up…

Until tomorrow

Sandra

 

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Noticing your clutter

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

My decluttering challenge has made me much more aware of my surroundings. Today I noticed an area under the ironing board that has had ‘stuff’ sitting there for I don’t know how long!

Before the decluttering
After the decluttering

It took me no more than ten minutes to put items away that have a home; throw the rubbish away; and fill a bag with the bits I wanted to keep (making a mental note to go through this bag at some point).

What I concluded from today is that it doesn’t take long to clear a messy area once you’ve put your mind to it. Decisions will always need to be made about items you don’t know what to do with. Just box these up if you are short of time and sort them when you are feeling more energised.

I finished today with a quick swim at David Lloyd followed by some time in the steam room and Jaccuzi. This totally eased the tension in my back and neck and decluttered my mind.

Until tomorrow

Sandra

 

 

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Decluttering starts with the smallest of steps

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

It’s got to 9.50pm and I haven’t decluttered anything, nor have I finished reading Monday’s chapter (about wardrobes) in Erin Rooney Doland’s book Unclutter your Life in One Week. I have, however, had a full and busy day at work; given my attention to the children; made dinner and had a relaxing facial. So you could say that I would be overdoing it if I was to start decluttering now.

(pause)

Just tipped out the contents of my handbag and reorganised. It’s a small bag so it didn’t take long. imageI found some expense receipts that need to be claimed back along with a couple of appointment cards that need to be scheduled in my diary. Not quite as big a job as clearing out my wardrobe, but it made me feel like I’d achieved something today.

As I have the audible version of the book I will listen to chapter one before I go to sleep, visualising how I want my wardrobe to look. So, no time will be wasted during my decluttering challenge and I will try to work on my cluttered closet (which I must say is only half filled with clothes, the rest is just ‘stuff’!) over the coming weeks – donating or tossing as I go.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Feeling motivated to declutter

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

Today I did lots of decluttering. My goal was to put the mountains of clothes  away in various family members’ wardrobes and drawers, but I also ended up pottering about downstairs whilst cooking a roast and cleared half the dining room.

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A mountain of clean laundry to put away

Whilst peeling the potatoes I had an inspirational idea about placing wicker baskets in the girls’ wardrobe shelves in order to organise their clothes and make them more accessible. Found a few baskets holding existing clutter around the house and garage, cleaned them, and they are now serving a much better purpose.

Found an audible version of the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week  by Erin Rooney Doland and listened to it as I decluttered. I sneeked a quick listen to Monday’s chapter about wardrobes. Although I know that I’m not going to tackle my entire wardrobe space tomorrow, it’s made me think about what I should actually keep in there along with thoughts about how I should present it so that I when I open it, it makes me feel good.

It’s only day two and I’m starting to feel a lot more organised and looking forward to tackling a small amount of clutter tomorrow. Baby steps….

Until tomorrow

Sandra

 

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Weekend decluttering

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

After writing this morning’s blog, I read ‘The Weekend’ chapter in Erin Rooney Dolland’s book Unclutter your Life in One Week and it was like it was written for me. It described how you should relax after a busy week of routines and work. As you will know, I haven’t done the delcuttering part yet as I’m reading the book in reverse order (weekend first, then weekdays), but I have had an extremely busy week at work. Although the house was in need of a declutter, I just couldn’t face it today.

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Chapter 7: The Weekend

The sub heading on the first page said ‘Taking Care of Yourself’ and it struck a chord as she described what I was about to experience: the trip to the massage therapist’s salon; my tense muscles; and the knots in my neck and back. She even suggested having one of these sessions scheduled monthly which I have recently been doing.

I floated through the rest of the day and instead of stressing about the mess, I decided to pick just one small place to declutter: the shoe cupboard. It took me no more than 30 minutes to reorganised the contents and at the same time place all of the shoes that the children had grown out of into a charity bag. As I’m writing this, I’m still thinking that I could have kept some of them to give to friends and family, but to be honest I’ve already got bags of shoes like this in the garage. I never get round to giving them away. I then thought I could sell them, but it’s the same story. I never do it.

So, this charity bag is going into the boot of my car and on Monday I will take it to the local charity shop.

Benefit one: Someone can make use of the shoes, sandals and trainers that have hardly been worn, rather than them sitting in my garage for a year or so.

Benefit two: On Monday, everyone’s shoes will be easily accessible. No more being called to the shoe cupboard to help find the ‘other shoe’ in the morning rush! This is going to save lots of time.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Doing something about clutter and mess

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Sandra Madeira

Clutter and mess can take over your life. You walk into every room and it’s the same; there’s no getting away from it. Some would try to help by saying ‘tidy just one room and have this as your go-to room whenever you want to get away from things’. You do this and somehow it gets messy again. You try a different room and this time it works (you think) and then somehow it gets messy again. The pattern continues. Is it just you? Is there some force working against you?

You glance over at your bookshelf and amongst DVDs, books, CDs an other stuff wedged in, you spot a title that you bought a couple of years ago that you never read: Unclutter your life in one week by Erin Rooney Doland. Great, you think. That’ll do it. You turn to the contents page and feel like you’ve read it all before; however, this time it might just work. Maybe it’ll change your habits, maybe there’ll be one chapter that makes you do things differently. 

You notice that the book is structured into days of the week starting with Monday. As it’s Saturday, you turn to the weekend section at the end and decide to read that first. The journey begins…

Follow me over the next week to see if I am going to unclutter my life in one week….starting with a massage.

Until tonight…

Sandra

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