getting stuff done

Today has been a getting stuff done day. This morning, I brought in more bounty from the garden -- fruit and veg including about 9 lbs of plums. Looking for a way to store the plums I found that egg cartons work wonderfully and each carton holds between 14 oz and 1 lb of plums, depending on their size.

After that, Hubby helped to take down the canopy on the back deck (as we get closer to the rainy season, I wanted to make sure we took it down while it was dry) and helped get the table inside and downstairs. Then I attacked our mountain of boxes -- emptied some and moved others -- to make room for the table. It's in place, with part of the mountain underneath, and with about half the surface usable. Yay! I am however, too exhausted to take a photo just yet.

I had planned for crafting, too but I am really tired so I may just watch a movie. Oh, but speaking of crafting, check out these cute earrings our friend made using LEGO® bats!! I am debating whether I would wear them if I asked her to make a pair with clip-on posts.

All in all a lovely day

The day started well; hubby randomly made crepes and filled them with fresh peaches and cherries. YUM!

After breakfast my Mom, Kiddo and I went out to Glendale Gardens for the Art & Music in the Gardens event. I was impressed with the size and scope of the gardens (definitely worth another visit) and really enjoyed the range of art. I even bought a mosaic stepping stone; it was only $35 which I decided was a bargain for the amount of fiddling it would take me to do the same thing. It's by Bruce Kellow and Kelly Zozula (well that's the name of the displaying artists; Kelly told me her daughter actually did the one I bought). Kiddo also got some photos of Bruce at work.

After the gardens, we picked up Hubby and went to the White Heather tea room; his Mom also met us there. Aside from losing our reservation (they cancelled the wrong one!!) the tea was very tasty -- a proper afternoon tea with scones, sandwiches and sweets plus pots of tea all around.

After all that, I managed to accomplish a whole lot this evening: sorting, rearranging and tidying the many, many stacks of boxes and other stuff in the basement office. I think it is a much more useable space now.

Precious memories take up too much damned space.

Months after moving in and many more months after we started to fill the self storage locker we are almost done emptying it. Hubby made one stuffed-to-the-roof van-run today and we spent much of the day opening, emptying, merging and sorting the stuff in the boxes.

I also shuffled a lot of stuff around in what we call our cold room -- a little storage area more or less under the front stairs. In the process I found a few treasures and a lot of clutter. I am honestly at a loss for what to do with some of this stuff. One of the several organization books I own (yes, I am embarrassed to admit that I own multiple books on decluttering) suggested taking photos of some of the stuff that lives in the keepsake boxes then get rid of the stuff but keep the photos. To some extent, this makes sense. I really don't need that New Kids on the Block fashion doll that is still in its box... and yet it's still sitting under a pile of other stuff I don't really need. Eventually, I will sort all that stuff out -- some of it will end up in the yard sale in two weeks.

The bigger problem is some of the other clutter. The remaining texts from my plumbing courses more than a decade ago; a mountain of greeting cards; schoolwork; stacks of photos that weren't good enough to put in a photo album but aren't lousy enough to throw out; that kitchen gadget I asked for and got for Christmas then only used once.

There are memories attached to each of those things, some more precious than others. Where does one draw the line? True, for each box I opened, there was something inside that made me smile... but overall, I ended up feeling defeated by the Stuff.

And there's 40 more boxes in that storage locker. Sigh.

Clean is Good.

Between being frugal and being green, there are many reasons to make your own household cleaners. In the past, I've done this in fits and starts but not any more! I decided to buy a set of spray bottles and a few other containers and create my own labels with the recipe printed right under the name of the cleaner! This means that when the cleaner runs low, it's easy to replenish.

If you want your own set of labels, you can download the template I made -- they are made to be printed on shipping labels (2"x4") in a pinch, you could print them on paper then cut them to size and use packing tape to affix them to your containers. (You could also just print out the list and tape it on the inside of the cupboard where you keep your supplies.)

Included in the set are labels and recipes for glass cleaner, all purpose spray, disinfectant spray, hardwood floor cleaner, furniture polish, air deodorizer, shower spray, mold and mildew spray, laundry soap and dry carpet cleaner.

Most of the recipes use easy-to-find natural cleaners. Some also include essential oil and one uses tea tree oil. A wee warning about the tea tree oil -- it is a strong smell that not everyone finds pleasant but I guarantee it will be preferable to the mold or mildew it is intended to combat!

Stuff, and how to get out from under it all.

(This started as a reply to the comments on last night's post but I soon realized, like everything else around me, it was too big to fit there.)

Let me start by saying I have read a half dozen or more full books on organizing and decluttering. Some are still cluttering my home, though I suspect they are in storage now. I also read post after post on organization and decluttering plus tips from Lifehacker and articles in magazines like Good Housekeeping and Real Simple. I watch shows like Clean Sweep and Mission: Organization. Sometimes I even put things into action, but after a few weeks (or even days), I slip back into my clutter groove.

I have a great piece of advice posted over what used to be my computer desk and is now my sewing table:

"Don't ask Where can I put this? -- ask Where can I find this?"

It sounds really stupid on the surface but I now ask myself this question almost every time I file something. When I remember to file things, it makes finding them very easy. Unfortunately, I usually have a very big stack (or worse, several stacks) of "to be filed" paperwork.

I've thought of hiring someone else to come in and just deal with stuff but even asking Hubby for help is hard -- he (or they) might throw out something that means something to me. And that's the rub because how can something buried be meaningful? Still, I watch Clean Sweep with a creepy feeling in the pit of my stomach because I know I would fight to the death over some things that "experts" would pitch in an instant.

Thinking "Do I really need this?" works for a while but it also really slows the process because at some point I get to something that spins me into an internal dialog. I am much faster when I turn off the brain and just follow some rules or a decision flowchart.

Ultimately, I face the same challenges with decluttering as I do with losing weight. I know how to do both, I just suck at the follow through. Sigh. So, if you followed the title thinking I was going to tell you all the answers I'm sorry to disappoint you. Still, give that Good Housekeeping link a shot -- it's full of good "turn your brain off" rules to follow through and get some results.

Cleaning...

dusty_web
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Sometimes a good, anger-fueled cleaning is good for the soul. Even better when it is followed by a cathartic trip to the dump.

I got an overdue notice earlier in the week for two books out on Kiddo's card. After a lot of sorting and shuffling we found one -- though the title on the book was not the same as the title in their catalog (the barcode matched though, so I knew I had the "right" book). The other book was lost to the tides of crap around here and we ended up just paying the replacement cost (which will be coming out of Kiddo's allowance).

Anyway, the search, along with the fact that we had company coming for dinner, propelled me into an angry fit of cleaning that basically blew through the main floor -- including one stack of filing and another stack of shredding -- and out on to the deck which is where we gathered a van-load of junk that we took to the dump. Ahhhh.

The deck clean-up also unearthed our stepladder which meant I could secure the screen to the window upstairs and now we can get a breeze going again -- yay!