Chicken boarders

[Aunty e]

It is wooden, but very VERY solid. It's staying where it is until I'm not pregnant which is saying something, as I'll do almost anything with a bump.

[Willow]

I'm late to this thread - what a great idea.

 

A major asthma attack this week got me sorting/tidying and cleaning in earnest this week and worried my boys just enough that they started to help with their rooms.

 

So yesterday I got both boys bedrooms thoroughly tidied and cleaned ( a major achievement). And the living room thoroughly cleaned including the stove which was so full of ash some spilt back in as I took it our. And the stove glass is all shiny again - I don't know who on here suggested the ash cleaning tip but that is genius Oh and hall stairs and landing vacuumed. Cloakroom cleaned. Sorted hanging last picture in YS room.

 

Today, kitchen thoroughly cleaned, caught up on washing . Emptied all small compost bins/ash bin inside and out the back door into the tumbly bin.

All bits of paperwork in kitchen & dining area sorted away.

Dining/sitting area vacuumed and mopped.

Also my bedroom vacuumed but it was tidy (except for the numerous boxes of books waiting for building work to provide space for lots of shelves.

Spare duvet, pillow & sheet compressed into vacuum seal bag - I think I heard about these from an omletter too

 

Tomorrow is sort airing cupboard so spare duvet can go in. And work out what is in there that I don't use

I think deep clean of bathroom as well

[Sageandonion]

Sorry about your asthma attack, hope you're ok. Very impressive 'Flylady' start though .

 

Sorted the cupboard under the stairs out this week - the number of plastic carrier bags we've accumulated over the years is shameful Won't be buying any bin liners or doggy poop bags for a while. Next week is half term around here so won't be getting much done. Will conserve my energy for the study, the one room I'm dreading tackling .

[Olly]

Gosh Patricia, you've thrown yourself into this! No progress chez Olly, I am busy with a charity event that I'm involved in organising, and that's going to be the way for the next week - I have boxes of stuff, paperwork etc all over the lounge because I can't put them away anywhere. However my kind friend has built me a woodstore in the garage - just a rack to stack split wood on, so I have no excuse not to tidy it up now.

[Charlottechicken]

Wow Patricia!

 

I've slowed down here too. Just been into the spare bedroom and it's looking worse than ever I took three more carrier bags up to the charity shops on Friday, but it still hasn't made an impact

 

I'm going to sweep through the rest of the house today and do a tidy and make sure everything is in the right place!

[Sheilaz]

Well done everyone, I do enjoy reading this. There is a terrible in between stage in big decluttering, which involves piles of stuff, that looks worse than before.

I keep thinking of programmes where they put everything on the lawn, and do it in a day, they must have a massive team of helpers! In reality, I'm a bit of a butterfly, tackling a bit here and there. I think I will try and focus on one place today.

I have done loads, as this is time I have specifically put aside for the task after 30 years, but it's hard to spot the impact. But, off to do some more, anyone up for a challenge today?

[Olly]

How about a 5 x 5 challenge?

 

Throw five things away

Put five things back in their right place

File five bits of paperwork

Do five (small!) cleaning jobs - wipe down a surface, clean a mirror, dust a shelf

Turn out five (small) areas - a drawer, a handbag, a corner

 

Trouble is I know what I'm like - as I'm looking for the five things to throw away I will find six others, filing the paperwork means clearing the desk first to find it ... and I've got to clean the chooks out and I'm going out in an hour's time.

 

Oh - and I'm still in my PJs! think there might be a bit of a clue here as to why I'm never on top of things?

[Sheilaz]

Brilliant Olly, thank you. I was just going to post "how about a 15 min fling" but it sounded boring. The 5 x 5 sounds inspiring, and I do know just what you mean about one thing leading to another and distracting from the task.

Right, off to do the 5 x 5, followed by bath and book time.

Just wondering about the "small drawer" part. All mine are a day's work in themselves!

Anyone else doing 5 x 5 today? See you later.

[Couperwife]

oh, i like the 5x5 challenge.

 

ill do that today

 

im loving this thread, its making me realise that im not on my own with my "clutteryness"

 

thanks for the inspiration people

 

cathy

x

[Charlottechicken]

I'll take that 5 x 5 idea round the house with me now!

 

Forgot to say I feel quite chuffed as yesterday I washed all my washable gloves and scarves

 

right, off to 5 X 5!

[The Dogmother]

I took a sack full to the charity shop yesterday, assorted stuff. Got to get the attic room all boxed up and sorted as the builder is coming in two weeks to finish the work up there no idea when I am going to find time to do this

[Willow]

I thoroughly cleaned the family bathroom and removed clutter yesterday but that just meant our en-suite got more clutter. Our en-suite is currently out of action waiting to be demolished and redone but it had a huge cupboard so I used to buy toiletries and shove them in I have three plastic boxes over flowing with items that aren't currently needed, they all had to be packed in a hurry so the builders could create a doorway where the cupboard was.

So one big job is to go through all the crates and soapbags etc and repack into stuff I'm likely to use in the next few months and stuff for when I have an en-suite again.

 

Today I did the airing cupboard - whoever on the forum mentioned vacuum packs from John Lewis thank-you !

 

I have all towels and spare bedding neatly stacked and spare duvets etc in vacuum packs in the airing cupboard and a bag of old baby bedding to go to charity.

 

Major jobs still to do are the office and the front bedroom. They are def not one day jobs. The office is in progress I'm trying the 5 items a day suggestion there.

 

Another big clean up job that needs to be done is the laundry room but that tends not to get too cluttered just grubby because it's where the cats sleep & eat.

 

I'm finding a To Do list that i try and get at least one extra job done a day is keeping me going at the moment.

[The Dogmother]

Well, Phil is going to pop over on Sunday so I've told him that he's going to help me get al the stuff in the attic boxed up and rehomed aroudn the house while the building work goes on. I shall be knee deep in archive boxes

[Willow]

get al the stuff in the attic boxed up and rehomed aroudn the house

 

I dread to think how much space the stuff in the attic would take up if it all had to come down

[The Dogmother]

This is a whole room and it's pretty big. It's nearly finished to use as a bedroom.

 

Great excuse for me to get rid of loads of stuff.

[Willow]

Good progress on the office front ! Got rid of one old computer to weee recycling at tip (OH agreed that is where it should go when I asked as he'd moved it to the hall after checking there was no data left on it, that evening he asked in surprise where the old computer was )

 

Sorted through two boxes that had never been emptied from when we created the office.

 

I'm now sorting through the stacks of paperwork (much of which is depressing updates on the various little pension pots we have )

 

The office looks much better already and we've been able to give it a good vacuum so I can breathe in there.

[Aunty e]

OH locked himself out of the house the other day, he had car keys and garage keys but no house keys - this meant he had nothing to do all afternoon but take our cardboard mountain and ripped out laminate flooring to the recycling centre

 

Unfortunately I couldn't persuade him to take all the wood that we can't burn from the built in wardrobes, but I have high hopes that now he knows where it is, we might get recycling done a little more often...

 

Next on my list (probably post baby now) is to sort out the furniture in the garage and sell it on ebay. My sister and OH's brother, having clocked that we have a large garage, have been merrily filling it with things that they might want again someday, so I need to issue deadlines for removal, or I will flog it on their behalf.

[Sheilaz]

That sounds terriffic progress Patricia, old computers have a habit of lurking so well done. we have one that didn't quite make it out of the door in case it still has retrievable photos on it, but at least we're thinking about it now and will take action, er, sometime.

Good luck with the paperwork stage, that's what I'm doing today and will definitely need to finish with a more pleasant task. Will clean the fridge afterwards, which isn't pleasant but will look rewarding when it's done.

 

All the best for the weekend Claret, I'm glad you have Phil helping. Your clearing out seems to be going really well and it will feel marvellous when you get the attic back again, finally this time!

 

Off to get some more done. What shall we have as the w/e challenge?

I'm finding this topic very helpful, thank you everyone.

[Willow]

Aunty w said

OH locked himself out of the house the other day, he had car keys and garage keys but no house keys - this meant he had nothing to do all afternoon but take our cardboard mountain and ripped out laminate flooring to the recycling centre

 

Wow that's a bit of a result

Teabag said

Old computers have a habit of lurking

 

They certainly do, we still have three more lurking in the office, I think I'll push for OH to sort the large old computer his side of the office now my side of the room is looking so much better. Although I need to check through my old work laptop (and another old laptop hiding under my desk I just remembered ) I'll aim to be done with old work laptop by end of w/e as well so I can return it on Monday.

 

How does this stuff lurk so much ? Sorting through the office I found 7 ! old cameras. I wouldn't mind but we're not very good at taking photos No idea what to do with the old cameras

[Charlottechicken]

Patricia, your house sounds like a treasure trove

 

You have reminded me I've got a couple of really cheap 35mm cameras upstairs that I really don't want anymore, I'll sort them out to go to the charity shop.

 

I'm going to tackle a shelf in the spare room this afternoon, it doesn't sound much but it is a big shelf and holds a lot. There must be 8 boxes of stuff up there. I may be some time..........

[The Dogmother]

Well, we spent yesterday boxing up everything in the attic room and carting it downstairs to be distributed in the living and dining rooms and my bedroom the attic is now ready for the last push on work to make it habitable. Those of you who know me will know that this has taken many years, mainly due to lack of cash, but also due to feckless builders.

 

We took a whole boot load of stuff to the local recycling centre (a sort of Freecycle type tip), a bag to the charity shop and loads more in the bin. Feel quite virtuous

 

The main idea was to get stuff out of the attic as quickly as possible, but when it needs to go back into the new storage areas, I will be editing it severely!

[Willow]

The main idea was to get stuff out of the attic as quickly as possible, but when it needs to go back into the new storage areas, I will be editing it severely!

 

I'm at the editing severely stage for the stuff that's ended up in the last bedroom and now needs a home in a sorted room - although some is ending up in the loft That last edit out or find a home is hard

[Sheilaz]

Yes, I agree, it's hard finding a home for everything in the last stages of a sort.

Well done everyone, I'm actually enjoying this, and may even be addicted to decluttering, but then I do have 30 years worth to do.

 

Here's a conundrum. What do you do with an item that is clearly rubbish but makes everyone smile?

 

I sent a text to my sister asking about the specific item, knowing that she'd tell me to bin it, or so I thought. It's vintage! she said.

 

Wow! said son, I know loads of people who'd love that, it's really "in" again, but it's redesigned & looks so different nowadays. Cool!

 

Ebay! said daughter.

 

It's an opened. bottle of Vimto, circa 1984.

 

So, shall I bin it?

[Willow]

Yep bin it Go on just do it now !

 

I've slowed down on sorting stuff as work that may lead to me being paid needs to be done as well although the last couple of days I have been sorting my old work pc so it can go which is definitely part of the plan to clear the office. Plan to finish sorting this today and get it out. Office looks so much better already

 

But it's amazing what lurks. The laundry room still needs a good clean but whilst looking for swim stuff to take kids swimming I found an old swim float - that has been freecycled and will hopefully be collected today. Not sure what I'd do without freecycle

[The Dogmother]

Been having a re-organise at work and will have some office furniture to freecycle in a couple of week's time... I'll post it in the FTGH section on the forum in case anyone nearby wants it.