Category Archives: Organising

Away From Home

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I have been away for a couple of days as I have had some family commitments.  Luckily, I had prepared the ‘Wordless Wednesday’ post on the weekend so it was ready to go.

I don’t have anything particular to share but I have noticed recently that everywhere I turn there seems to be discussion about excess stuff and decluttering.  Is it just me or have you noticed the same?

2015-05-28 01For ‘Flashback Friday’ I will find one of my previous posts on decluttering and living with less.  In the meantime please share your thoughts.  Have you decluttered?  Do you wish you could?  Is there any particular aspect you would like me to write about and discuss?

2015-05-28 02

Seasonal Jobs

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Summer is gone and today was a sign of things to come.  Although many of you would scoff at our version of winter it is a clear contrast to our hot, wet summers.

Winter is heralded by cool clear days, cooler nights and a biting westerly wind which can make the apparent temperature seem much less.

Autumn foliageThe leaves have turned and are falling so it was time to gather some firewood as our wood-burner is the only form of heating we have in this house.

We retrieved the dry logs from the woodshed.  These were leftovers from last season.

002This box is right beside the door that leads upstairs.

003And some more under the house.

We are now ready for when we decide to light the fire.

FireplaceGMan has chopped another pile that was by the bottom gate and these are now stacked in the shed to dry out.

Friday Flashback

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I found this post that I wrote exactly 3 years ago.

Just because I am away from the house does not mean that the organising has to be put on hold.

There are all sorts of small things you can do while you are out and about, particularly while commuting.

Digital files are one of modern life’s organising challenges and they turn up in all sorts of places.  Whether it is lists on your computer, contacts for your mobile phone, songs on your iPod or books on an ereader you need to keep them in some sort of order so that you can locate them when you want them.

I do not have a huge number of books on my Kindle yet but I have decided to develop a ‘filing system’ for them before it becomes too overwhelming.

This is before I started.  I had 4 pages of books that I have downloaded so far.

2012-05-22 01Once I completed the index, it is now much easier to find a particular book, especially as my Kindle library expands.  I may add more categories as time goes on but these are definitely enough to get started.  The categories I have chosen are all condensed onto one page and the books are sorted into the relevant collection/folder.

2012-05-22 02What digital files have you organised?

This is quite funny in a way because since then I have acquired a new Kindle and I have not organised the books on it.  This needs to go back on the list of things to do.  It is a reminder that we need to be constantly vigilant about keeping things decluttered and organised.  It is easy to let stuff slip by the wayside.

Project 333 – What Went Back

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As promised, I will share a bit more of my wardrobe clean-up.

This is an overview of the bedroom on Saturday morning before I started.

2015-05-19 01It is not looking the best as I have made it to the end of the full-time working week and now it is time to sort things out.

I mentioned in my earlier post that I removed everything from the wardrobe.  I made the bed and hung up the jackets from the end of the bed before I started so that I had a clear working space.

Although one of the basic ideas behind Project 333 is to actually remove all but 33 items of clothing from your closet I had never actually done that.  I believed that most of my clothes were worn year-round due to our relatively temperate climate.  That is still the case and I have not limited myself to a precise number but as we are approaching our coolest months of the year I removed my summer clothes.

2015-05-18 01Here is the small pile of dresses, sleeveless tops and shorts which I will not wear again until the weather is hot.  This is in addition to those items which I have specifically set aside for our trip to Singapore.

2015-05-19 03

I took the time to critically examine each garment and try on a few different combinations to discover what worked together and how I felt about it.  A few pieces have been taken by the local recycle boutique on consignment and a couple more gone to the op shop.

This is what I was left with.  I will wear these clothes for the next 3 months with 1 or 2 possible purchases.

2015-05-18 02There are 2 pairs of trousers, a pair of jeans, 2 shirts and a jacket not shown as I was wearing them/they were in the wash.  The pile of summer clothes is bagged and on the top shelf along with a couple of bags and 2 sunhats.

It is now easy for me to see what is ‘missing’ so that I can make considered choices when I go shopping.

One of the things that is obvious from my selection of clothes is that I love prints – florals, stripes, spots, checks – I have them all.  I can now see that this is what has held me back from pursuing a ‘capsule wardrobe’ as many like to describe it.  So many blogs and discussions seem to revolve around plain colours, neutrals and mix’n’match themes.  In general terms, they also lean to what I regard as ‘wishy-washy’ colours – cream, sand, khaki, pale denim which do not inspire me.  I love (and look best in) black and white as neutrals with strong, clear colour accents – red, emerald green, purple and fuschia and my clothes mostly reflect that.

I feel like my wardrobe works for me.

Cooking Up a Storm

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I didn’t sew today (or this week) but today I cooked.  More specifically I cooked this afternoon and evening as I went shopping this morning.

Last night I cooked pumpkin with vegetable stock in the slowcooker.  This afternoon I cooked potatoes, fried some onion and added the pumpkin mixture.  This made 7 large serves of soup.  I had one for dinner and here are the others ready to go in the freezer.

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With the remainder of the pumpkin I sliced it up, brushed with a mixture of oil and balsamic vinegar and roasted it.  I will use the roasted pumpkin slices on pizzas for dinner on Tuesday night.  Two trays ready to go in the oven.

2015-05-17 02Once the pumpkin mixture was finished in the slow cooker I cooked the chickpeas which had been soaking over night to make hummus.

2015-05-17 03The next thing into the slow cooker was honey soy chicken.  8 chicken thigh fillets, 3 tablespoons honey and 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce.  Once the chicken was cooked I removed the pieces with a slotted spoon and poured the juice into a small saucepan and thickened it with arrowroot.  4 serves ready to freeze.

2015-05-17 03After the chicken was done I washed the slow cooker then added kidney beans to make refried beans which you can find in this blog post.

I make my own gluten-free pizza bases and normally make enough for 6 bases and freeze them.  There were none in the freezer so it was time to make another batch.  Here is the dough divided into pieces.  The first 2 bases were already in the oven by the time I took the photo.

2015-05-17 04Here are 6 pre-cooked bases ready to be bagged and frozen.  I use opened out cereal packets to separate things that I am freezing.  The dividers can be washed and re-used many times.

2015-05-17 05I picked lemons and made lemon cordial.  You can read more about it here.

2015-05-17 06I also  made more butter mixture and 8 serves of chilli con carne (no photo) as well as dividing up the meat which I bought and packing it into the freezer.

Cooking and preparing meals is a never-ending task but it is good to have a few meals and ingredients prepared to make the job a bit easier each evening.

Finding the Freezer

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Well, it wasn’t the actual freezer – more like the contents!.

Today I was working from home and late this afternoon I went looking for a chicken casserole in the freezer to have for dinner.  I do not keep an absolute inventory of the contents of the freezer but generally have a pretty fair idea of what is in there.  I could not even remember what type of container the casserole was in but I eventually found it.

While I was looking for the casserole I found a few odds and ends that needed to be used up and the drawers needed cleaning  as well.

Here are the contents of the top drawer.

001The drawer was washed and ready to repack.

002Organised and ready to replace.

005The bottom drawer finished as well.

006This was the freezer section of my main refrigerator in the kitchen.  We also have a small bar-sized freezer downstairs.  There are are few food items but it is mostly frozen water which we stored during the storm season.  This could be thawed and used and the remaining food transferred to the freezer in the kitchen.  I will do that on the weekend and then defrost the small freezer.

This is what I have in the freezers at the moment.

Salmon – 6 serves
Chicken – 4 serves
Diced beef – 4 serves
Mince – 2 serves
Sausages – 8 serves
Bacon – 6 rashers
Frozen peas – 1.5 packets
Home-made bread – 6 slices
Tomato pulp – 500ml
Honey/soy sauce – 100ml
Broccoli stalk – 1
Zucchini slice – 2 serves
Cherry tomatoes – 2kg
Chopped basil and tomatoes – 2 ice-cube trays
Ground coffee – 500g
Mango puree – 1.2 litres
Guava puree – 1.5 litres
Berry juice – 800ml
Pumpkin soup – 5 serves
Celery soup – 2 serves
Crushed bunya nuts – 2 kg
Ice – 10 litre

When I re-read the list it is evident that my freezer contents are mostly meat and storage of some of the things we grow – cherry tomatoes, basil, mangoes, guavas, bunya nuts and pumpkins.  Sometimes I have more prepared meals.

How do you keep track of what is in the freezer?  What sorts of things do you store.

Between Bags

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I have never been a fan of handbags because I simply cannot see the point of having several items that perform the same function.  Mind you, shoes are a different story entirely!

The main reason that multiple handbags are not appealing is the fact that things need to be constantly moved from one to the other and the chances of not having the item you need are substantially increased.

You may remember that I recently bought a bag for work that would hold the laptop as well as anything else I need to take to work.  Here it is with the everyday contents.

2015-04-27 01This has worked well and I have not even used my regular handbag since buying this one.  If I am going grocery shopping I just grab my phone and purse and toss them into the tote bag I use for groceries.

This all changed last week when I went to a funeral and neither my work bag nor a shopping tote were appropriate.  I retrieved my black handbag from the shelf in the wardrobe.  The only items in it were a mini tape measure and a pen.

2015-04-27 02I added my purse, phone (and charger) and keys and I was ready to go.

2015-04-27 03I realised that everything else was really only applicable to work so it made swapping bags relatively simple.

Flashback Friday

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Here is one I whipped up earlier.  Four years ago, in fact.  This post with a video of how to fold plastic bags is one of my favourites.  Please let me know what you think.  Do you use this method?  Will you give it a try?  I find one of these takes up next to no space in my handbag and it is useful to have one on hand.

In the first days of this blog I posted a link on ‘How to Fold a Plastic Bag’ Here it is again for anyone who missed it.  This really captured my interest. I have two bags hanging inside my laundry cupboard where I store reused bags which I use constantly but I had another lot in the cupboard in the spare room which needed a better way of storing them.

2011-03-25 01I decided to try my new-found skill on this lot.

2011-03-25 02All folded on the bench – now for how to store them.

2011-03-25 03The only thing left to do is to put the box back in the cupboard.

Marie vs Me

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Over the past 6 six weeks I have become increasingly aware of the name, Marie Kondo.  For those of you who feel like you have been living under a rock, she is a Japanese decluttering and tidying guru.

One of the things that seems to have captured people’s imagination is her method of folding and storing t-shirts and underwear.  When I first read about this, I dismissed it because I figured I did not have enough t-shirts to warrant having a special method of folding them.  Origami, anyone?  Anyway, my clothes fit quite nicely into the available space.

All of the hype got the better of me tonight so I resorted to Google.  There are many links but here is a Youtube video on folding underwear.

As far as I can see there is nothing particularly startling about that.  I do know that I would go insane if I had to unhook my bra every time I went to get dressed!

Here is my version.  Unfortunately, no video, just a couple of still shots.

2015-03-24 01This is one of the small drawers from my dressing table.  I have put it on the floor for this view.

Back left – 6 bras
Front left – 6 pairs of knickers
Back right – 6 pairs of stockings
Centre right – 3 pairs thick socks
Front right – 11 pairs of ankle/lightweight socks

I have more socks than I need but I see no reason to throw any out.  I will keep them until they are worn out and not replace with as many.  There are already about 6 pairs that have gone in the past couple of years.

2015-03-24 02This is a closer view with the drawer back in position.

Dressing tableMy underwear drawer is the top left-hand drawer.  The other top drawer holds my pyjamas, scarves, bathers and sarong.  The lower two drawers are full width and contain shorts, travel pants, tops (short and long sleeved), cardigans and my home and exercise clothes.

Nothing is over-stuffed and I am happy with the way everything is folded and fits in.

I will probably have a bit more of a look at what Marie Kondo has to offer but I don’t think I will be changing how I fold and store my clothes anytime soon.

Are you a Marie Kondo afficionado?  Should I set up my own decluttering business?  🙂

Project 333 – A New Beginning

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Some of you may remember this post from 3 years ago when I first dipped into the world of Project 333.

This is the list of what I chose for that first round.

Floral skirt
Black skirt

Grey trousers
Black 3/4 trousers
Jeans
Narrow-leg jeans
Charcoal travel pants

Pink suede jacket
Black cord jacket
Pink quilted vest

Turquoise cardigan
Black cardigan
Grey/cream polo-neck jumper

Turquoise striped shirt
Blue/white pinstriped shirt
Black/white striped shirt
Black/cream patterned shirt

Black/pink striped top
Black/pink squares top
Pink top
Red/white striped top
Black/white striped top
Black/white striped top

Navy rugby top
Navy/striped rugby top

Bronze/pink scarf

Black handbag (not shown)

Black knee-high boots
Black ankle boots
Black shoes
Red lace-up shoes
Sandals

Of the 32 items listed, only 13 remain in my cupboard.  The black handbag has been replaced with another as have the red shoes and the sandals.  I grew weary of some clothes and others wore out.  My style has evolved over time and some of the remaining items may yet be culled.

I have almost a month to finalise my autumn list as I intend to participate in the next round which will begin on 1st April.  Even though it is officially autumn (fall) we can still have quite warm days so my challenge will be how best to manage a selection of clothing to suit the change of seasons.  Dresses and light jackets or cardigans are a good option for work.

Here are some of the pieces I am considering.

Black dress with white spots2013-02-27 06

2013-02-11 03Dress and jacket2014-10-26 012013-02-11 02

What do you think?