Category Archives: Organising

The Week That Was

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I have been making good progress on several fronts here.

Yesterday I spent the day sewing so have something to show for it.  I started by drafting a pattern using an existing purchased skirt.  I had some fabric that had been given to me and this is what I created.  I have yet to do the hem and the handstitching inside the waistband but you get the general idea.  I am not entirely happy with the fit over the hips and also the side pockets are not sitting perfectly but that will improved on in the next attempt.

2012-11-30 01I will still be happy to wear this as the shirt I am going to make will cover the less than perfect area.  This is going to be the top (also gifted fabric).  The colour match of the yellow flowers with the top is much better than the photograph would lead you to believe.

2012-11-30 02The other project has been slowly but surely working through the various piles of ‘pending’ paperwork.

2012-11-30 03This is some that I had been carrying around in my bag for a couple of weeks.  Today I actioned most of it – emails sent, phone calls made and most of it now shredded.  There is still a little to go back in the filing cabinet.

2012-11-30 04This pile is on the small table in the guest room.  It is mostly from our USA trip from over 2 months ago so my goal is to get it sorted out this weekend.  I have finally culled and sorted they photographs from our trip which has been quite a big job.

Tomorrow we are having lunch with friends and are looking forward to sharing the photos from our trip with them.

Have a relaxing weekend wherever you are.

Now……..The Fallout

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Did you get sucked into Click Frenzy?

Was it a success or total disaster?  I guess it depends on your point of view and whether or not you were involved.  Now for the ramifications.  Check this news report.

My day was much more sedate.  I did some paid work from home and then spent some time cleaning my living room.

When I decide to clean properly I remove cobwebs and dust from the cornices, clean windows, skirting boards and the floor as well as dusting and polishing the furniture.  It is a big task but definitely worthwhile when it is finished.  I also cast a critical eye over all of the ‘stuff’ and make sure it is still current and relevant.  I did toss a couple of things but generally everything I have here is useful and/or loved.

2012-11-21 01I have not completed the whole room yet but here is the shelving unit which is all done.

Welcome Back Summer!

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I have been away for a few days in Melbourne for a combination of work and pleasure and arrived back late this afternoon to the second consecutive day of wild summer thunderstorms.  Luckily, we have not had the worst of it – just some much needed rain.  The humidity is off the scale and everything is damp.

I have done one load of washing and the second load is in the machine.  There is no point in hanging it on the line in this weather – even though it is under the verandah.  The clothes will just hang limply in the damp air, so it is time to resurrect the indoor clothes airer and dehumidifier.

2012-11-18 01Here is the airer set up in my spare/sewing room.  It is a rotary one and the outside lines are high enough that I can hand jeans/trousers or even sheets on them.

2012-11-18 02The load of washing is hung and there is plenty of space for a second load.

2012-11-18 03I will have the dehumidifier running overnight in the closed room and the washing will be dry in the morning.

Slow and Simple – A Goal For Living

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I was sitting and vaguely wondering what I might write today when I found the following words from Courtney Carver at “Project 333“.

Life is noisy. Inboxes are overflowing. To-Do Lists are three pages long. Time flies. We run late. We catch up. We fall behind. We never finish.

All of those things leave us exhausted and uninspired. How can we keep up and slow down at the same time? How can build in more time, space, and resources for health and happiness?

The answer is simple … use less, do less, need less, spend less. Sure, the answer is simple, but where do you start?

Simplicity can start anywhere, but it can’t start everywhere. Beginning a journey into a new way of life in the same you we ran our old way of life doesn’t make sense. Complicating simplicity by trying to do it all at once defeats the purpose. Instead, start small and start in one place.

These words really sang to me and I instantly felt my breathing slow and a sense of calm and order descend.

Courtney is correct, there are so many aspects of our lives that can be simplified that it is easy to get caught up in a whirl.

I participated in Project 333 quite successfully earlier this year.  Since then, I have not actually counted items but I am continually aiming to streamline my entire wardrobe even further.  I now know what styles and colours I really like to wear and make sure that everything I own truly deserves its place in my wardrobe.

2012-05-28 01A wardrobe is a very good place to begin your journey to a simpler life. We all have more clothes than we actually need and it is a confined space and you can easily quantify the contents.

After you have expended considerable time and energy clearing out clothes that you do not wear or even like, you will think twice about buying more.

I can assure you that once you begin, the principles of simplicity will naturally flow to many other facets of your life.  You will find yourself seeking out simpler meals, decorating ideas and simple ideas for recreation and leisure time.

2012-11-21 01Every little bit helps.  Over time you will find that you can apply the underlying principles of Project 333 to areas as diverse as your linen cupboard, utensil drawer and DVD collection.

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If you have less stuff in your life you will need less time, money and energy to acquire, store, clean and organise it.  Release the stuff and reclaim the time and space in your life.

And the final word must come from one of my favourite quotes.  This is from Francine Jay at “Miss Minimalist“.

Life is the space between our things.

So, do we want a fulfilling life or a life full of things?

Back Again

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Blogging has taken a back seat this last week as my ‘real’ life has been rather busy.

We have been away for the weekend to catch up with friends and celebrate a ‘milestone’ birthday for my girlfriend.  We had a fabulous time and I have returned refreshed and with renewed enthusiasm after our short break.

I am working through a pile of mending/alterations of clothes for Missy which I have promised I will finish before she moves interstate in a couple of weeks.  I have spent some time helping her declutter and sort some things prior to her move as it is an ideal time to rationalise exactly what you have and what you need.  There is no point in paying to move things that you really do not want to keep.

2012-11-05 01Speaking of things you do not want to keep, this is a pile of fabric that a friend offered to me last week as she did not see the possibility of using it any time soon.  I have accepted it and have space to store it until I start creating.  I think that may be next year as the next 7 weeks are looking pretty busy in the lead-up to Christmas.  However, I already have some plans for some of the fabric and am looking forward to using it.  Thanks, Sandra.

I mentioned that it is 7 weeks until Christmas but my busyness is not really related to a crazy shopping frenzy or significant over-indulgence in food.  It is more about a self-imposed deadline for projects that I want to complete both at home and at work before the end of the year.  More about that in tomorrow’s post.

In The Dark

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Here is a test to see how organised your bedroom and wardrobe are.

Try getting ready for bed – remove clothes/jewellery, put away shoes, put on night attire and get into bed without turning on the light.

Can you confidently move around the room and place things in their right position because there is no clutter and everything has a home?

Think about how visually impaired people manage.

I regularly do this and realised that it is because there is the bare minimum in our bedroom and it is always in the same place.

Dressing tableThis is my dressing table and I can easily locate the box for my earrings when I remove them.  For years I had heaps of clutter on my dressing table and I yearned to have it clear and tidy and once I achieved that goal I have never let it go.

If you are overwhelmed by your stuff, try setting small goals and then achieve and maintain one thing before moving onto something bigger.

Mysteries of the Universe

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One of the great mysteries is how the utensil drawers get so grubby when the utensils are clean when they are put away.  If anyone can throw some light on this I would appreciate it, but in the meantime two of my kitchen drawers are clean again after a blitz yesterday.

2012-10-20 01I decluttered this drawer a few months ago so everything in it stayed, even though there are a couple of things that only rarely get used.  The contents include:

Electric knife
Rolling pin
BBQ tool
Tongs
Cleaning brush (for the juicer)
Avocado slicer
Chip cutter
Garlic press
Cherry stoner
Apple corer
Pineapple peeler/corer
Scone cutter
Cheese slicer
Jar opener
Ice-cream scoop
Vegetable peeler
Grapefruit knife
Fine bladed knife
Citrus zester
Tea strainer
Tea infuser
Knife sharpener
Spaghetti measure
Egg rings
Measuring spoons
Corn cob holders
Wine aerator
Wine vacuum seal
Corkscrews x 2
Can openers x 2 different styles

This is in addition to the knives in the knife block and 2 jars of utensils which are on the bench.  Everything in the utensil jars gets used at least once per week.

2012-10-20 02This is what could probably be described as a ‘junk’ drawer, although nothing in here is junk – it is all useful.

Matches
Notepaper (an old desk calendar)
String tin
Jar of rubber bands
Black felt-tipped pens x 2
Wind-up torches x 2
Set of small screwdrivers
Compass
Calculator
Scissors x 2
Sticky labels
Brown paper
Zip-lock bags (rewashed)
Muslin
Worn-out tea towels (for covering defrosting food etc)
Bag of twist ties
Bread bags (rewashed)
Cling wrap                   }
Alfoil                            } – these have been sitting here for at least 10 years
Freezer go-between  }    will not be replaced whenever I use them up
Baking paper – I bought this last week as it is apparently essential when
baking grain-free
Cut milk container of bits – homemade plant labels, spare O-ring for the breadmaker, labels for homemade cordial etc.

I regularly clean a drawer/cupboard or two each week, so although it seems like a never-ending merry-go-round it is never a huge job.

The Linen Cupboard

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As promised in my post from yesterday, I have finally finished the linen cupboard that I started back in about July.  It was not a huge task as I tend to regularly check my linen and cull any excess that cannot be otherwise used, either by me or someone I know.

I finished it all apart from the 3 tablecloths that I set aside to refashion to fit the oval table.  This is how I left it.

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Most of it looks fine, apart from the 4th shelf with tablecloths, placemats and serviettes in no particular order.

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Here is the close-up of the shelf to be done.

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All finished – the tablecloths are in 3 piles.  One pile of cloths for the table when it is round, one for the extended oval table and one pile of ‘other’ cloths.  These are 3 small square one suitable for afternoon tea as well as 3 bigger cloths for the outdoor table and 2 folding tables which we sometimes use if we have a bigger gathering.  The serviettes are on the same shelf as the tablecloths while the placemats are on the shelf below.

Now I am off to make some more wool wash and hope to post the recipe and instructions here tomorrow.

Re-fashioned and Ready

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The last few weeks have a bit of a struggle blogging-wise as there seems to have been limited material that I have felt like writing about and most of it did not really lend itself to adding photographs.

In the spirit of simplicity I have been working on my sewing room – finishing some projects and working through my ‘to do’ list.  Yesterday I finished the last 2 tablecloths which I had set aside to alter from rectangular to oval to fit my current round dining table when it is extended.  You can read my initial post about this project here.

After the success with the damask cloths I decided to do the same to a plain pink cloth and a polyester lace one that I use as an overlay.  The pink one was fairly straightforward but the lace one was a little trickier.

2012-10-12 01I ended up cutting the hemmed edging and then re-stitching it onto the re-shaped cloth which worked well.

I am now looking forward to the opportunity to use these pretty and functional items.

2012-10-12 02The only thing that remains to be done is to finish sorting and re-organising the linen cupboard which was the activity which precipitated this project in the first place.  More on that one with before and after photos tomorrow.

Do you re-fashion or re-purpose linen in order to extract the maximum use from it?

Owl or Fowl

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Are you an ‘owl’ (night person) or ‘fowl’ (morning person)?  I am definitely a fowl.  I generally get up at 5am to leave for work by 5.40am but even if I have no specific commitments I am often out of bed and rearing to go well before 7am.

It is so much more efficient to plan your day so that you get the maximum benefit from your prime time.  I can achieve more in 30 minutes in the morning than I can in 3 hours of an evening.

This evening is an excellent example – there is a basket of clean clothes to fold, some ironing to do, sewing to work on as well as sweeping and mopping floors.  I will not be doing any of it tonight but once I have had about 8 hours sleep it will be finished in less than an hour.

When do you do your best work?  Do you have different times for different activities?  How do you structure you day and what needs doing?