Wish me luck - I'm going in!

Yes, today is the day. It's time to go into the frozen wastelands and find alien life forms - or in domestic terms, I'm off to clean out the freezer :)

I've been running down the stocks in the freezer and using up the containers of things that I'm always sure I'll remember what they are when I freeze them, but never do! It's made for some interesting meals!

Next week I intend to do a monthly shop - I'm attempting to go from fortnightly grocery shopping to monthly. It'll be challenging I'm guessing!

Before and After photos

A couple of weeks ago I promised before and after photos of the "autumn" cleaning I was doing - as soon as I finished it...

Pete has a mate staying over tonight when they get home late from the football (it's AFL time of the year again...), so the spare room HAD to be finished today. Great incentive for me to finally get it done (and a good cardio warkout lol).

So here are the photos, while I hang my head in shame...

Spare bedroom





Billy's room



Well, at least a couple of rooms in the house are tidy at this present point in time!!

"Autumn Cleaning"

I've spent the weekend "autumn cleaning" - it just doesn't sound the same as spring cleaning, does it?!

Does anyone else have a room that always seems to be messy?? Well, actually our whole house is lol, but the spare room / guest room is the worst. It seems to get used as the dumping spot by everyone, especially when we have to quickly tidy the rest of the house! And because it doesn't get much use, it's easy to just turn a blind eye to it's state..

So yesterday I got stuck into it. I did take a before picture - and if I'm brave enough I'll post it once I completely finish the room! I spent most of the day in there, while Billy worked on cleaning his room next door. It's about 90% done and down to the fiddly bits. I unpacked about 4 boxes of books that I'd been given, some were kid's books and went into B's newly tidied bookcase, some I kept, and the rest I'll be giving away on Freecycle. I also unpacked boxes where "stuff" had been stashed (mainly by the boy!) that he'd completely forgotten about. Yes, I know he has too much stuff...

Today I concentrated on sorting out our big bookcase - sorting out the homeschooling books, putting some aside to give away that he'd outgrown, and packing some away until he needs them. I organised the rest by subject so I can find things easier. I also cleaned out the gardening books & magazines that were in there. It looks much tidier now (trust me!), and there is room to store more of my homeschool planning folders. (The top of it holds various bits of cardboard, crepe paper etc that needs to lay flat-ish, and in front of the bookcase are the library bags ready to pack with returns. I really need some more bookends so that the books stand upright! I know my house will never win any Home Beautiful awards!)


From there, I moved onto the "games" cupboard - sorted the maths, science & English games & manipulatives so they can be more easily accessed. It's not quite finished either - I ran out of energy!

Tonight I tidied up my desk so that I can "think". Again, it's not tidy compared to some that I've seen, but it is for me! The lefthand side holds the calendar that I use to record our schoolwork, and my paid work hours. The righthand side has my to-do notebook, folders of current paid work and school work, plus various office bits & pieces. I love this desk - I got it second-hand in about 1988. It's solid wood with a glass top, weighs a ton, and needs a proper restore, but I still love it!



So still a bit to do, but what I've done should make life more organised. Stay tuned for updates on the rest - and feel free to hassle me so I do get it done!! It does seem though like I get one area organised while the rest of the house goes to pot!

Because that's the way we've always done it...

I've heard a story several times that sticks in my mind about a lady who cuts the end off the piece of meat before roasting it. One day her daughter asked her why she did it - "because my mother always did". So she rang her mother to find our why she did - "because my pan was too small"... So for years she'd been cutting the ends off the meat, because "that's how it was done"..

I've been on a 'quest' lately (inspired by my friend Helen on the other side of the world who doesn't have a blog that I can link to even though she should!! *hint hint*) to look at how I do things and see if I can improve or simplify things.

Sometimes it's as simple as moving things into a different place - putting most used things in a place where they are most accessible for example. I had one cupboard that the microwave stuff always fell out of when I was reaching for other things - I don't have a microwave atm, and while I have no plans for another one, I don't want to throw away what I have just in case. So duh - move the microwave stuff to the back. Done!

I had another epiphany today. My current routine is to fold the clothes at the clothesline (except when it's really windy or about to rain), then bring them in to the kitchen table, sort them into piles by owner, and then take those piles into the appropriate room to put away. Well, that's the plan - more often than not, the piles stay on the kitchen table for a few days until I get around to it. Today, instead of sorting at the table, I sorted on our bed. I didn't even need to create piles for Pete & I - I could turn around and put the clothes straight away. Then a stop at the towel cupboard at the hall, and into Billy's bedroom to put his clothes away. I think it will work well.

It's just little things - but they all help simplify my routines, and give me more time, a cleaner house & indirectly more money.

Sometimes you have to be sneaky..

For a week or so I've been asking Billy to start cleaning the shelves in his bedroom cupboard - I just wanted him to do 1 shelf at a time as I knew he'd get overwhelmed otherwise. Somehow it just hasn't made it onto his priority list :)

So rather than get angry, today I got sneaky. I just went in there myself and started cleaning - sure enough, a few minutes later "What are you doing? Can I do it too?" :)

Between us it probably only took about an hour and the shelves are now very tidy with strict instructions to keep it that way - yeah right! I only managed to throw out 3 shopping bags of rubbish - I could've got more if he wasn't helping - he's a hoarder but getting better. I also put aside a box of puzzles & toys to pass down to his cousins that he's grown out of.

So now there's room to start transferring stuff from some of the other cupboards where plastic toys are breeding...

I wasn't game to take a 'before' photo lol.

Getting stuck into the house

It's been filthy hot this week, I've had a migraine most of the week, and we've been had a few days where we've had to leave early and got home late-ish. So the house is a mess!

It's cooler today, so time to get stuck into things. I have probably 3 loads of washing to do, clean the kitchen & hallway from all the things that have been dumped there. Plus I have a bit of paid work to try and get to.

Let's do it!