Posted in Cleaning, Tidying, Minimalism, Thoughts

Stuff in the garage

Before the smoke invaded my town, I was heavy into decluttering my home. Now I can’t even go outside without being harassed by invisible smells and fog.

I’ve been trying to declutter the garage for weeks now, but it seems the spiders have other ideas and don’t want me disturbing their webs or piles of dust.

So many plastic containers to get through. Lots of old notebooks I had forgotten about and art supplies, scrapbooking supplies and pens! Lots of pens that seem to have played some Marvin Gaye and made more pens. You’d think I have a pen obsession or something. (I think I might).

I thought I was done. But clutter and mess are never done. Like a virus, it mutates new strains of junk, so more Coles pamphlets, old school reports, fold back clips, plastic scrapbooking stars, and pens. Old art drawings, plastic sleeves and pens. Old RTA books about round-about rules and old negatives. I don’t need them, I have 5 digital cameras!

Up and down the ramp, in and out the house and garage all day with bulging boxes and baskets.

Hopefully this exodus of stuff will end soon.

©ASD plus me 2019.

Posted in Cleaning, Tidying, Minimalism, Thoughts

More books and stuff to give away

Finally bf let me give away some of his excess stuff. Some heavy coding and computer books. Also some fiction books including the Play book from How I met your mother, why did he still have this?  The show ended 5 years ago.

I had a container full of gardening mags and I realised while looking through them that I only buy them for the chook pictures, so out they went.

I keep going through same boxes bags to find more to give away. More watercolour art books. Pads and supplies. More childhood teddies and some toys.

I found a bunny my Nan gave me when I was younger, I want to give that to my Niece.

More art books to give away to women at art group.

Slowly chipping away at the mountain of stuff.

So exhausted.  I just want to be done. For my house to be neat and tidy, no clutter.

Hopefully soon.

©ASD and me 2019.

Posted in Cleaning, Tidying, Thoughts

Extreme KonMari method: hard, exhausting work, but I’m glad I did it.

I’ve been keeping busy since Christmas by tidying and giving stuff away, mainly to family or charity. I’ve been following the KonMari method of cleaning from the book:

The life changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo.

The items I gave away mainly were clothing and containers. I had lots of tracksuit pants that I didn’t wear because the inside lining was polyester or nylon , which is irritating to my skin. I normally buy cotton clothing, but sometimes its very difficult since manufacturers don’t make many pure cotton items. But if I find one, its overly expensive for no good reason I can see.

I have been buying from Op shops or charity shops for years and can sometimes find good clothing that fits me, isn’t stained in weird places with strange colours and is a good price.

I had striped bags full of clothing, blankets, towels, face cloths, napkins, unopened packs of bulk underwear and socks. I went through everything and decided to give away most of it. I kept some things, but most of it wasn’t needed and I didn’t even realise having them or even remember buying some of them. I think I was a bit of a hoarder. Most of the bags are empty now.

I had more than 10 pairs of tracksuits pants. I kept 4 that weren’t itchy and gave the rest away. I had t shirts that didn’t fit anymore, some were old, some were childish and made me wonder why I had kept them.

The kitchen food containers were a hassle. I had some missing lids, and a pile of loose lids with no bodies. I guess containers are like socks.

I also cleaned out the kitchen drawers. I don’t know why I had 5 wooden spoons, but I don’t now. I kept one and gave the rest away, so they can find a new home.

I have 5 cups in the cupboard and 4 dinner plates and 4 small plates. I also found a box of Willow porcelain plates I was given years ago, that I’ll keep for special occasions.

Now my linen press, kitchen and cabinets, wardrobe are now clutter free. Things can breathe and I can see exactly where things are and what I have.

I’m not minimalist, but I’m not a hoarder, which feels good and less stressed when I open my wardrobe door and know that all my clothes I can wear are in there. I don’t need to look for something that isn’t itchy or tight or too long or too short. I dont need to search through bags and take bags down or move bags to get to other bags and I don’t need a ladder now to get to clothes. I even hung my good cotton business looking shirts as well. They’re all shades of blue, which is my favourite colour. I can see all the colours of my clothing and realised they are dark, so I want to buy more shades of colours and not just dark blue, brown, black and grey.

I was shopping and I found a beautiful Dr Seuss mug from the supermarket. I figured after the past 6 months or so, I need something nice after all my appointments and tidying and bad news.

I would recommend the book and the tidying process to everyone. It really does feel better being tidy and I don’t want to go back to being messy and cluttered ever again.

(c) ASD and me 2019.

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