Day 358: When You Feel Overwhelmed… Eat Chocolate and Watch and Film

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I had a busy couple of hours before work this morning clearing stuff from the corner of the dining room. It was mainly packaging, carrier bags, paints and stuff that needed to be put in the garage. I was able to put the tree in the corner with a few presents around it so that the dining room looked a bit more festive.

In between meetings and the rain, I had a lovely walk to the shops with the girls. Although it was a bit chilly, the sun shone for the time we were out. The girls went into Asda to get some gifts and I queued up to get a prescription from the chemist and then queued up again outside Waitrose to pick up a parcel – there were actually quite a lot of people about. The girls got a hot chocolate each from Costa for the walk back. It was really pleasant, and we said that we might go for a walk again tomorrow if I’m not too busy with work.

My car gets a bit of attention

I had to clear out my car last night as it was going in for a service and MOT this morning which was one of the reasons why we had the walk today. Around a month ago, before I knew we were going to be in tier 4, I organised for it to be collected and brought back instead of having to take it to the garage. I was really impressed with Peugeot and how they organised for everything to be done in a socially distanced way.

The instructions were for me not to use my car for 3 hours before they picked it up and the driver wore a mask when he knocked on the door and I assume he wore it in my car as well. Payment was organised over the phone before he brought it back and it cost me far less than the price we had originally agreed.

The evening

I had so much to do this evening and to top all of that I ended up cooking two meals because I had a big pack of mince to use up. Three of us had chilli con carne and one had meat pie. The good thing is that we have a little bit of pie leftover for lunch tomorrow.

After dinner I spoke to my friend quickly because she wanted my advice on sorting paperwork. She also had 17 things on her list to do this evening (we are so alike!). When we spoke I told her that I didn’t have a proper filing system yet for papers or a space tidy enough to start organising one, so all of my papers were in boxes or on the counter in the kitchen. I explained that whilst she was waiting for her new workstation, my advice was to put all paperwork in one place and sort it out a bit at a time.

And then overwhelmed feeling hit me..

I didn’t know whether I wanted to wrap presents, clear up after dinner, or just have a break for a while and come back to it. I sat quietly for a few minutes in the study to collect my thoughts and saw the Terry’s Chocolate Orange on the side. I knew what I had to do – eat chocolate and watch a film. That would make me feel better.

I can’t even remember what film my daughter and I watched because the next thing I know it was now (2am) and I’ve just woken up on the study sofa. I vaguely remember the girls saying goodnight and I mumbled something about the kitchen being a mess from dinner. I also vaguely remember one of them saying that they were going to do it.

So, here I am quickly editing and posting this before going back to sleep – luckily I wrote it quickly before the film started.

I didn’t even get my soak in the bath this evening. Bit late for that now.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Added note… just found this downstairs. What a lucky mum I am 😊

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

Day 357: It’s All About Storage, and Today I Repurposed a Cupboard to Free Up More Space

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Once I got going this morning (and it took a while as I got stuck on Amazon researching last minute gifts) you should have seen how quickly I cleared the breakfast bar! It was amazing the energy I found inside me. It was also useful that I had the morning off.

It helps to have storage

‘It’s all about storage’ my friend said when she temporarily filled a cupboard with stuff before her new wardrobes arrive in February. This gave me an idea to change what I’m storing in the utility room cupboard. I currently use four shelves of it to sort and store laundry in baskets in different colours/types.

So, I took everything out and thought that if I get better at keeping up with the washing I won’t need to store it in the only cupboard I have in the utility room. This gave me some of the additional storage I needed downstairs. It cleared the decks as they say!

An idea came to mind when my friend was also clearing her utility room today. She messaged me a picture of a white chair that belonged to her son when he was younger.. This is my similar chair that I’ve had since I was a child. My brother and sister have one exactly the same and none of us can part with it. So, I’m going to put it in my utility room to sit on when I’m transferring the washing from the washing machine to the dryer etc…

Do you think I should do it up a bit and paint it white… like I started doing all those years ago when I painted my name on it 😂?

Shopping and wrapping

After work this afternoon, my youngest wanted to go to Asda to get some presents for the rest of us and I needed to get a few bits of food shopping. When we got home we got wrapping and had quite a laugh. The girls put some music on in the kitchen and we spread out and got into the festive spirit. We even put fun Christmas hats on (well, mine was a headband with a hat on it). Everything we needed for wrapping was in the new Really Useful Boxes that I bought the other day so there was no searching around for paper, gift bags and tags.

Time to relax

Now it’s time for me to wind down and have a relaxing bath after a long and productive day.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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

Day 356: Update on my 2020 Challenge With 10 Days to Go

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I yawned when I wrote this blog title. It’s been a busy, challenging, eventful but also tiring year. I didn’t even know about Covid-19 when I started day 1 of this challenge. I had no idea that I’d be staying in with the rest of the family from mid-March and also working from home. I’m lucky that we had the space to put desks for us but we did have to move things around a few times.

My plan was to declutter every day for a year, with the purpose of creating space in my house, my garden and my mind. There was no plan of getting trees chopped down, ceilings skimmed and plastered, spotlights installed, decorating done, or renovating the spare room bathroom. It all just happened as the year went on. So, I suppose you could say that I achieved much more than I set out to do by taking the focus off decluttering.

But… do I feel like I met my challenge or am I more overwhelmed than when I started? I’ll write my full thoughts down on New Year’s Eve. What I do know is that I’m unlikely to get everything decluttered in the next 10 days but I’m aware that it’s not a race. I’ve done plenty to be proud of myself for including donating around 40 bags of stuff to charity.

I think that the following quote sums things up nicely…

Clearing is a journey to be lived not a task to be completed by a certain deadline. Go as slow as you need to but keep moving. When you are rushed, vital connections are lost. Stop and feel.

Stephanie Bennett Vodt, Your Spacious Self

I’ve lost count how many times I have listened to Your Spacious Self by Stephanie Bennett Vodt. Every time I listen to it, I learn something new about myself. I think that it’s because I’m changing as time goes on and the words I’m hearing mean different things to me each time. Things are starting to click into place. For example, I would never have thought that resting was the best thing to do when it’s the last thing I want to do. I’ve learnt that the more overwhelmed I feel, the more important it is for me to take time out.

What have I cleared today?

Not much. I’ve had a really busy day at work so I just managed to do the basics around the house and tick off other important tasks that were a priority today, including collecting the recycling and taking the bins out. I really could have done with clearing all the stuff that I dumped on the breakfast bar yesterday when I cleared the dining room table. I have a few hours off in the morning so I’ll tackle it then.

Hope you’ve all had a good Monday.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Goals and direction, Inspiration, Life, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Day 355: Decluttering the Dining Room Table, and Christmas Shopping With a Difference

Posted on December 20, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

For the first time in a while I was able to have a lie in as I had no builders/decorators coming round, no shopping being delivered and nowhere I needed to go. It was a good feeling; however, I did feel like I’d lost half of the morning.

I decided to cook Sunday roast at lunchtime, as that always gives me potter time around the kitchen/dining room. My challenge this morning was to clear the clutter off the dining room table by 1pm so that we could actually sit there and eat as a family. It’s been covered in stuff from other rooms for a few weeks now. As the decorating is paused until the New Year, most items can go back to where they need to go and if they are not needed, I need to be ruthless with the items and get rid of them for good.

I used the method of ‘picking one thing up at a time’ and it went well; however, I ran out of time to get everything moved and some of it ended up on the breakfast bar. At least we could see the table again and we enjoyed dinner together.

Catching up with my friend

I had a Whatsapp video call with my friend today and she was feeling the same as me in terms of stuff being everywhere in her house. She is also having decorating done, as well as wardrobes fitted and moving furniture around. We were talking about how overwhelming it all is when we have stuff lying around with nowhere for it to go because you are waiting for things to happen. I have always thought of her as a tidy and organised person with everything in its place, but where she’s swapping wardrobes around and moving furniture, it has uncovered stuff that she now has to deal with. She’s busy like me with family and work and has limited time.

This made me think about how important it is to keep the inside of cupboards and drawers clutter free as well, because you never know when it’s all going to have to come out. Once out in the open it sort of hits you in the face and reveals part of your inner self i.e. what’s being covered up.

I once read a book by Julia Morgenstern called Organising From the Inside Out and that’s always in the back of my mind when I’m decluttering. The concept is that you can’t really put things away until there’s somewhere to put them, So, decluttering behind closed doors and drawers should always be your first step, otherwise you are just shoving things in spaces that are already jam packed.

Christmas Shopping With a Difference

After I called my friend, I then Skyped my mum and dad for our usual Sunday catch up, which I really look forward to every week. We got chatting about Christmas presents because I still hadn’t got them anything and we were trying to think of something I could order and send to them. I was sitting in my study with a cup of tea and some chocolate and whilst I was talking to them and searching for things to buy them, I felt like I was sitting in their living room with them. My mum kept popping out to her kitchen to tend to the dinner and I was showing them ideas on my screen and they were doing the same.

We eventually came up with a Breville Toasted Sandwich Maker for my mum which was out of stock on Amazon but in stock on the Asda website. Then we started looking for bird tables for my dad and found one on Amazon so reasonable that I was able to get him another present to go with it. I ordered everything for them whilst I was on the Skype call and told them that the presents were on their way. If I’d left it until later to do it, I would have got interrupted by other things going on in the house and possibly missed the Christmas delivery times.

I felt quite relaxed and happy after my two video calls this afternoon. It energised me into cleaning up in the kitchen as the dinner stuff was still everywhere.

I then did some more Christmas shopping online but I still haven’t got any ideas of what to buy my husband. As usual, I’ve left it to the last minute and so I’m hoping whatever I decide to order can be delivered before Christmas.

Tesco delivered my Christmas food shopping this evening so my fridge is now full. I’ll have to pop out to get some veg nearer to Friday but I think we’re nearly there with most other things.

Time to relax and have a bath now.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Life, Wellbeing, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Day 354: Exercise, New Lockdown Rules and Hallway Finished

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

I really had to get out for a walk this morning as my head felt stuffy and achy and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I ended up jogging some of the way. I was out for 45 minutes and although it was cold, it felt good to be out exercising.

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

Day 353: A Chaotic Day Means More Self-Care is Needed

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

As if I haven’t got enough to do, I gave myself the added challenge today to write 18 Christmas cards in 30 minutes and take them to the postbox just before the last collection for second class post before Christmas. I recall doing this last year and the year before. Good job I can write at speed! I wasn’t even going to send any cards this year, but some starting arriving through the door and I thought that I might as well keep up the Christmas spirit and send a few.

Then I couldn’t find the stamps that had arrived in an envelope with my shopping this afternoon. In amongst the mess in the kitchen, I was looking for a white A4 Tescos receipt with an envelope attached to it and it turned out that it was printed on red paper. That confused me. It also wasn’t even in the kitchen, I had taken it into the conservatory. Anyway, I quickly stuck the stamps on my written cards, and drove to the postbox as the postman was getting out of his van and opening the door of the postbox.

The only option was to hand him the cards to put directly into his bag and then I noticed so many people walking up to him handing him parcels and envelopes. When I got back in my car, not only did I leave half of them on the car seat and had to go back to him, but a lady pulled up in a car behind me with her hazard lights on too and ran to give him her pile of cards. Glad I’m not the only one racing against time, but then again, the postman was 10 min early!

The whole day has been chaotic like that. I dropped my daughter off at school early this morning, and then had to pick her up at lunchtime because it was half day being the last day of term. I’ve also had such a pressured day with work calls etc. and I’ve only just finished for the day.

Our decorator has worked on the hallway, stairs and landing all day as well and she still has more to do over the weekend. I think all of the undercoat and some of the gloss has been done now.

Something funny happened earlier… she was painting the outside of the door in the study and when she went to close it, something fell behind the door. I was busy working so she didn’t disturb me, but later she asked me what was behind the door as it had fallen and her lunch was in there and she couldn’t get to it.

I managed to prise open the newly painted door without getting any paint on me and somehow move the 3 heavy items – large picture, a game and a whiteboard – that had wedged itself in the gap. I got her lunch out first though which she was pleased about. I glanced at the stuff (junk!) in the study and wished I could have some time to sort it all out.

One thing at a time!

Time for some Me-Time

I need to rest again this evening as it’s all feeling a little overwhelming again. I’m just trying to do what I can when I can – keeping kitchen, bathroom and washing duties afloat. I benefited from going to bed early last night, so I think I’ll have an early bath and try and repeat that again.

No more school runs for two weeks now so that should help, although getting out of the house for a drive is actually quite nice in the mornings.

I might start my early morning walks again instead, as I haven’t done any exercise for a while. I think that’s a good plan. I still have to work but it will clear my head in between everything else.

Hope you’ve all got a lovely weekend planned.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Life, Wellbeing, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Day 352: Hallway Walls Finished, and an Evening of Self-Care After Work

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Sandra Madeira
Walls in Valspar Magic Touch

Our decorator, Vanessa, worked hard today giving the hallway, stairs and landing another coat of paint and she also started an undercoat on the woodwork including doors. She’s doing a fantastic job and we’re really pleased with it. It looks like she’s got a couple more days to go as we have a lot of bannisters and doors for her to sand down and paint.

I’m not going to write much this evening as I’m so exhausted after a full day’s work and my body is telling me to rest.

The steaks in the fridge had a ‘use by’ date of today, so by default that’s what we had for dinner. My husband cooked the steaks whilst I went out and got some chip shop chips!

It was so good.

An evening of self-care

I’m feeling a bit tense around the shoulders, which is giving me a neck and headache, so I’m going to quickly check my lists for anything urgent that I need to do, have an ‘early’ bath and then watch some TV and relax. If I fall asleep on the sofa, at least I will have already done anything important.

I’m determined to get an early night tonight!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Life, Wellbeing, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Day 351: Hallway Decorating Continues, and the Lounge Gets a Deeper Clean

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

After an intense morning of work calls, I was pleased that I had the afternoon off so that I could clear a bit more of the dining room. However, when I walked through the lounge, I decided to change my focus and work on getting that room back to normal instead. The rug was still rolled up, the sofas were out of place, the tree was in the middle of the room and everything needed dusting.

I worked on the dust first and then vacuumed and mopped. I noticed how grubby the fireplace was where we’d stuck things on it over the years, so I gave that a deeper clean. I actually scrubbed it and it’s never looked so good!

I added a few candles, Christmas lights and santa in his fluffy coat. I put less stuff back in the room just like I did in the utility room last week and it felt so much better.

The rest of the family commented that the room was almost back to normal. We just need a new sofa as our one has been broken for a while and is a bit tatty. It’ll do for now though and we’ll look for something in the new year.

Decorating continues

Vanessa painted one coat of the Valspar Magic Touch paint in the hallway, stairs and landing today and the girls and I really like it. My husband isn’t keen as he doesn’t like grey as it reminds him of the gloomy skies outside, but I’m really not seeing what he’s seeing. I see a light and bright colour that makes me feel happy when I look at it.

Relaxing

It seems to be becoming a habit, but I fell asleep on the sofa again this evening before I had finished doing everything on my list. Oh well, I obviously needed the sleep, and I’ll just have to move the outstanding tasks to tomorrow’s list. It’ll all still be there.

Hope you’re all having a good week.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Household chores, Inspiration, Life, recycling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Day 350: Hallway Colour Choices, Lounge Ceiling Fixed and Charity Bags Donated

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

These are the paint samples that my daughter and I chose yesterday.

Paint samples for hallway

Vanessa the decorator painted the hallway and landing ceilings today as well as doing some prep work on the walls. She even cleaned the hard-to-reach top window that I have never been able to get to.

We had to make a decision on the paint colour before Vanessa left for the day as she was getting the paint on the way home. That is usually how we make our decisions when we are up against a deadline.

My husband didn’t get a chance to go out and get more samples so he agreed on the colour that the girls and I wanted which is called Magic Touch. Quite appropriately named seeing as we all needed a bit of magic to get to the point that we all agreed. He still wants a darker colour somewhere though, and as a compromise he wants to change the colour of the lounge which is currently a White Mist colour.

Our choice for the hallway… Magic Touch… is painted in a few places above. The top left one on the wall, the one to the left of the doorframe, and the one to the right of the doorframe. It’s sort of an off white, grey/beige colour.

Ceiling fixed

Our plasterer turned up early today to fix our ceiling. He said that the glue had probably dried out too quickly in that area before he plastered it. It didn’t help that he had to work around the Christmas tree in that corner last week (if you remember, I did say that the tree should come out 😊). The radiator is also below it which probably didn’t help. The weight of the paint then must have pulled the plaster off the ceiling in the night.

Plastered ceiling repaired

No harm done, it’s all fixed now. He took so much care over it making sure that each layer dried for the appropriate time (result is the bottom half of the picture). I think we’ll leave the painting part until after Christmas now for two reasons. Firstly, I want to get the room back to normal and secondly, so that it completely dries out.

Time for more charity bags

Can you believe that it’s appropriately a month since I’ve donated any bags? I didn’t quite have my usual ten bags but I took seven smaller bags in, along with a small suitcase that no one uses. I’m booked in again for Sat 2 Jan 2021.

Dentist and a curry

I had to take the girls to their routine dentist appointment checkup after school today. We were all so tired after that having all had a long day, and when they suggested a takeaway curry I immediately agreed. I ordered over the phone and they were offering a 10% discount for collection which was a bonus. It was really tasty.

The first member of the family to get the Covid-19 vaccine

Being in his later years, my dad had the Covid-19 vaccine today. He was really looking forward to having it and we’re pleased that one person in the family is on their way to being protected by the virus. He’s feeling fine and his second injection is early January.

Time to relax

I fell asleep on the sofa in the study this evening and woke up after the deadline to amend my Tesco shopping order. Luckily I did add a few essentials earlier and had asked the girls to go in and add anything they wanted. I can always pop to the shops for the items that I didn’t add.

It’s been a long day so now it’s time to have a soak in the bath.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Life, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Day 349: A Shock in the Lounge… and Xmas Decs Get New Homes

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Sandra Madeira

Just when we thought it was safe to go into the lounge…

I popped into the lounge this morning to vacuum the sofa, mop the floor and start moving stuff back, and to my horror I found this mess in the corner behind the tree…

Newly plastered and painted ceiling

The new plaster had come off the ceiling in the night. Luckily I hadn’t pushed the tree back in its place so only a couple of pieces landed on it. I messaged the plasterer and he’s coming to assess the area and fix it tomorrow which is good of him. We’ll then need it painting again at some point, but I can’t think about that right now as there is too much else going on.

Paint samples for hallway

My daughter and I went out this evening to get some paint samples as the decorator is making a start on the hallway, stairs and landing tomorrow and needs to know what colour we want (we’re so last minute with everything!). We painted some patches on the wall but my husband didn’t like any of them so he’s going out tomorrow to get some more samples. We’re cutting it really fine to get something in time for it to be painted.

Dining room clutter: organising decorations

I had such a busy day at work that I didn’t get a chance to continue sorting out the dining room until late this evening. My eight Really Useful Boxes had turned up on the doorstep in a large cardboard box part way through the day, and I didn’t bother trying to get it into the house due to its size. So, I opened the box outside and brought the boxes in one by one. It was so much easier and I put the large cardboard box straight out for recycling.

As these new boxes were adding to the stuff already in the dining room, I started sorting through the Christmas decoration boxes this evening. I flattening each cardboard box as I went and sorted the contents into categories in their new boxes.

Before and after organising

I’m slowly getting the dining room back to normal. Even though I was organising the above after 11pm this evening, it felt so amazing to be finally storing the decorations in tidy boxes that I can see through, and to be getting rid of the ugly cardboard boxes that have been stuck with tape so many times over the years. Thank you livingeveryday2017 for suggesting see-through storage boxes, it was a great idea. I’ll be storing mine in the loft I think.

I’m shattered now as it’s so late but I’m equally happy with my progress today!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

Posted in 2020 Challenge, decluttering, Getting organised, Inspiration, Life, working mum | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments