Category Archives: Organising

Relocated

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Today is Sunday and it is a glorious autumn day. I have done 3 loads of washing, including the bed linen. This afternoon I will go to my regular Scrabble group. There is usually just 3 or 4 of us and we play several games.

Last week I continued working on getting the 3rd bedroom set up the way I would like. I have taken bundles to the op shop. These were mostly things that were left over from the community garage sale and that I had collected from other sources to sort out.

There is a small, plastic adjustable shelf that I no longer need. I am giving it away and it is being picked up this week.

Otherwise, there are only a few things left to deal with. The pile of towels is to be donated to a charity in Melbourne when I next head there. We need to buy some adhesive to attach a mirror to the wall and then hang the pictures once the mirror is in place.

I also sorted out the wardrobe. It had become a storage area for some of the equipment and supplies for our local film group. There is now some dedicated cupboard space at the hall where we screen the movies so I have rehomed them and freed up space in our house.

The ‘new’ cupboard with all of the catering supplies and equipment.

A bit of rearranging means that the home brew and some exercise equipment now have a specific location rather rather being shuffled around from place to place.

Every small step does make a difference.

Plans, Not Panic

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This is not an overtly political post, however, there is no doubt that the geopolitical events currently unfolding in the Middle East are going to have an impact on us all in one way or another.

I am interested to hear about what preparation and strategies you have in place. Have you considered how you will manage if fuel becomes limited, rationed or simply unavailable? What about food? Frozen goods, shelf stable supplies and home-grown produce?

Here are a couple of views of my pantry.

Luckily, it is autumn and the freezer is almost groaning with produce we have gathered and stored in various ways. I also did a big shop of bulk dry goods just a few weeks ago so the pantry is generally well-stocked.

The other thing to consider at all times but it is particularly relevant now is to make sure that food is not wasted. Leftovers can be turned into a whole new meal and some creative thinking might be required if ingredients run low. There are many websites that offer ideas of substitutions that can be made for specific ingredients.

This afternoon I saw a message to a local group asking if anyone was travelling to the next town (about 15km away) this evening and who might be interested in carpooling. This gladdens my heart immensely as it means people are thinking ahead about what they can do to make a difference as well as looking out for others in their community.

We have a small blessing as we are driving a hire car after my crash last month and it is a hybrid so less fuel required. We are also trying to minimise our travel and combine errands where possible. There is plenty to keep us occupied close to home and we are very fortunate to be able to catch the train to Melbourne if we wish with only a relatively short drive to the railway station in the next town.

I do have flights booked to travel interstate in about 6 weeks so I am hoping I am still able to do that. Yesterday, I received an email from Jetstar advising that my flight had been changed by about 10 hours – early morning instead of late afternoon. I expect that is as a result of the later flight possibly being cancelled. It is not a problem for me but the impacts are already starting to show.

I am mindful that the lack of fuel will have massive potential impacts in the farm and transport sectors so it is important that we all take whatever steps we can to minimise our personal usage. We should also try to be responsible for ourselves and look out for those less capable in our communities.

Rearranged and Ready

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While we were away on holidays in northern Europe there was a catastrophic bushfire which began less than 20km from our home. That was far too close for comfort. When we arrived home a couple of weeks later we decided to upgrade our vague evacuation plan. You can read about our initial response in this post from late January.

We have had some rain and are experiencing much more moderate temperatures so the bushfire threat is significantly reduced.

Anyway, yesterday I decided that I really needed to tidy up the 3rd bedroom. When we gathered up everything in case of another catastrophic fire risk we had it all stashed in that room.

I carefully resorted everything and decided on an arrangement that would allow us to keep things we use in their regular locations for the 9-10 months of the year when the risk of an emergency evacuation is minimal.

I have 2 emergency boxes stocked with detailed lists attached and a third box in which to collect a few other things in order to leave immediately if required. There is also a bag with 2 woolen blankets. These do get used on beds during the winters months but this is where I will store them during the summer and they form part of the emergency kit. I have lists of everything. These are all stored in the top of the linen cupboard which is located centrally in the house. It is funny that I still refer to it as a linen cupboard as there is more of other stuff than linen in it.

A close-up view.

I hope I never have to put this plan into action but I feel that I am as prepared as possible should the worst case scenario ever eventuate.

Harvest Happenings

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Even with a relatively small garden the late summer and early autumn harvests are enough to keep idle hands occupied.

We have 2 varieties of Nashi pear trees espaliered and we have had them netted for the past 3 months to allow the fruit to grow and ripen unhindered by our feathered friends.

Today we picked all of the fruit from one tree. 70 Nashi pears.

GMan has been busy for several hours peeling, cutting and slicing. We cooked them in batches in the microwave and they are now cooling before we freeze them. We use the lightly stewed fruit on our breakfast cereal.

The fruit from the other tree will need to be picked before too long. Meanwhile the tomato harvest continues. This all from a single plant. We have enjoyed generous serves of tomato in lots of meals over the past few weeks. I think I will need to dice and freeze some of them for use in casseroles and other cooking during the winter.

Additionally, the cherry tomato plants are now ripening so I am simply destalking and rinsing them and freezing in 1kg bags. I can see some sauce making in the not too distant future.

What Matters to Me

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I read an Instagram post recently which a friend had posted. She was reflecting on what retirement meant to her but I particularly liked the following sentiment – “filling your days with things that matter – people, purpose, memories…..”. This really resonated with me. Despite having been retired from full-time work for nearly 7 years my days are full. Not frantic or struggling to keep my head above water but filled with things that matter. What a perfect phrase. Thank you, Judith, for enunciating this so clearly.

In fact, almost exactly 7 years ago, on 1st March 2019 I wrote this post where I explained that I had decided to do away with telling myself or anyone else that I was busy. I was actually still working full-time at that point although retirement was but a few months away.

My days are very different to what they looked like then. I rarely set an alarm unless we have some specific reason. I am certainly never bored and I feel that there is purpose in what I do.

Purposeful activity can look very different for everybody. Of course, it can vary wildly from week to week.

Travel and holidays are a highlight but the ordinary and mundane also add value.

My major activity, as it has been for the past month, is sorting and decluttering the huge amount of toys, games and puzzles. These have served the Occasional Child Care program at the local Neighbourhood Centre well for over 15 years, however, that program is no longer happening. The idea is to retain a quantity of the best quality items for a future program catering to a small number of children and rehome the rest.

No ‘before’ shots but this is one cupboard which is now sorted and easy to locate the contents.

It is timely as our town has a Town-Wide Garage Sale on the first Saturday in March.

Some of the goodies set aside to sell.

More than a little of my time was taken up in the early part of the week negotiating the wonders of our car insurance and submitting a claim after a relatively minor vehicle accident. Thankfully, it was not much worse.

I made some more reusable carry bags to donate to the Community Pantry. There were 6 made using various combinations of the patterned fabric and co-ordinating plain pieces. The patterned fabric was sourced from my community decluttering efforts so it was used thoughtfully.

Other sewing has been altering some tops for a friend. She wanted some side splits in several tops. This is one that I have completed.

Walking the dog every day serves multiple purposes – exercise for Islay, exercise for us and the opportunity to engage and socialise with numerous folks in our town. It is a rare day when don’t stop and chat with at least one person along the way.

When she is not walking Islay has a pretty easy life. This was when she was being bathed by the housesitters while we were away. She definitely is due for another bath as she enjoys having a dustbath in an empty garden bed.

Maintaining and nurturing friendships is a valuable activity and can occur in many ways. In the past few weeks I have been fortunate to reconnect online with some of my earliest work colleagues. March 1st marks 50 years since we commenced our student nurse training and through the wonders of the internet I have been able to chat with ladies from our group whom I have not seen since we completed our training 47 years ago. Needles to say, there is a get-together planned for May and I am looking forward to catching up in Brisbane.

This photo was taken in 1976 when I first started my student nurse training.

Have you considered what matters and how your life is purposeful?

I’m Back

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After 5 weeks on holidays we have returned home. The change in weather has been quite a shock to the system. After 5 weeks in Europe where the temperatures were mostly below freezing we have come back to a heatwave in the middle of an Australian summer.

The risk of bushfire is ever-present in these conditions and unfortunately disaster befell a small community quite close to where we live while we were away. This weekend and next week are extreme fire danger conditions with a total fire ban across the entire state where we live.

While I had a pretty fair idea of my evacuation strategy, we decided to be a bit more proactive with our plans.

This is what we did:

Identify what we would take if we needed to leave
Prioritise immediate ‘grab and go’ stuff
Add things if time permitted
Locate as much as possible together in an easily accessible spot
Create checklists so that you are not relying on memory in a time of high stress

Ready to go.

Checklists

There are a few things that we would need to add but most of what we would take is set aside in the spare bedroom. It will remain like this for the next couple of months. Even after that most of it will not all be dismantled but stored in the top of the linen cupboard and reviewed well before next summer.

The other question is when do you leave and where do you go. The general guidance from the authorities here in Australia that it is best to leave early. As for where, it really depends on where the risk is coming from. It is important to be prepared to amend your plans as required.

In line with the theme of this blog, my task today was made considerably easier because my home is mostly decluttered and organised. I know what we have and where it is located.

Are you in a fire-prone area? What about other natural disasters? Do you have an evacuation plan?

Tinned Tomatoes

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You may remember this post from about a month ago. I bought 3 rather large tins of crushed tomatoes. I made sure that I had a plan for how to use/store nearly 3kg of crushed tomatoes once the can was opened. This is important to make sure that nothing goes to waste.

I opened one a couple of days ago and used 2 cups of it in a dish I was making. The remainder are now frozen in quantities which are a similar size to a regular 400g can of tomatoes.

Desk Declutter

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Even though we have been in this house just under 2.5 years I have already tidied and decluttered the small office space and desk a couple of times. However, I was a bit more ruthless this time with a few more things gone.

Although I did not take a before photo I found this one from a previous post.

The most noticeable difference is that the speakers are gone as well as the cane basket from the corner of the desk. As we were working through the various bits and pieces, GMan noticed that the speakers were not actually connected to anything and whenever we listen to audio on the computer it comes directly from the speakers in the laptop!! The speakers do not appear to be compatible with the laptop so they are off to the op shop to find another home. The cane basket had become a receptacle for all sorts of electronics odds and ends so we decided that not having it there would force us to put things away properly. I will probably repurpose the basket for storage in my sewing room.

This is the finished view of the desk.

There is a small cupboard on the wall above one end of the desk. This is where we keep the modem as the power point and connection are there.

However, I always felt that this space was under-utilised. So, GMan drilled a hole so that we could feed the cables through and place the modem on the top shelf. This freed up more shelf space to use for other storage, including the lower shelf which is more accessible. I now have some stationery supplies in a couple of very classy ice-cream containers. They were previously on the bottom shelf of the bookcase opposite the desk but it makes more sense to have them here.

Finally, we went through all of the drawers and removed various things that are no longer relevant and rearranged a few items to make better use of the space. The final touch is that I plan to make labels for the drawers so that things are easier to find without opening multiple drawers. That is a task for another day.

Countdown

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Almost 2 weeks since my last post. While I haven’t been writing there seems to have been plenty to keep me occupied. Sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to write as I am loathe to repeat myself and after 14.5 years of blogging it can begin to feel like more of the same. However, in a lot of respects our lives and routines are remarkably repetitive.

The spring weather is as unpredictable as ever with days that hint of the coming summer interspersed with others that feel like winter. Nevertheless, we are enjoying the spring flowers and fresh foliage growth. The fleeting nature of spring flowers makes them particularly special as we have a small window to enjoy them before they are gone for another year. The daffodils are finished but the wisteria are looking their best this week.

Like every year, 2025 seems to be gathering speed as we race towards the end of the year. We no longer have work Christmas parties, end-of-year school activities or even a huge focus on a family Christmas but the countdown to Christmas has crept up on me.

We had a short break last week and spent 3 nights at Walhalla, about 3 hours east of Melbourne. It is a historic gold-mining town which now has a permanent population of 20.

This is a view from our accommodation one evening.

It occurred to me today that it is 10 weeks until we fly to Europe for a trip which we hope may include a white Christmas.

Before that we have another 2 night short break here in Victoria as well as about 10 days in Queensland visiting family, a weekend of volunteering/attending the local Folk Festival and the usual round of events, meetings, visitors and so on.

I really do need to be organised to make sure everything goes smoothly.

How do you feel about the latter part of the year? Are you planning or already prepared for Christmas and the year’s end?

Do It Once

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Almost all of what I, and probably most of you, do is repetitive. Some things are repeated daily, weekly or less frequently. Things like meal preparation and washing up can even be multiple times each day.

However, there are some jobs which can be done once and once only. Many fall under the broader category of decluttering which in itself can seem like an endless task.

I recently cleaned up the desk in our small office which is a built-in desk in the walkway through to the laundry. Keeping this space free from clutter is an ongoing project and I completely understand that.

There were 6 small plastic boxes sitting one one corner of the desk. These had previously held photographic slides that belonged to my father. The slides have all been scanned and saved so I had disposed of the originals. The boxes were covered with adhesive labels and notations in permanent marker and I had been undecided as to whether I could repurpose the boxes. I possibly could but the question really is, ‘do I need them?’

After several months of seeing these boxes multiple times each day I decided that they could be used by someone else. So, the first step was to remove the labels and clean them up.

No before photo but here they are, ready to go. I plan to take them to the Bendigo Share and Repair Shed as I feel that someone will be able to use them.

I am sure that they will be perfect storage for someone’s small treasures.

Just because you don’t want to send something to landfill does not mean that you are obliged to keep it or even to find a way of using a particular item.