Circumstances Change

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One thing to consider when you are trying to declutter is whether your circumstances have changed.  That item which was previously perfect for your needs may no longer fit the bill.

This was brought home to me last week in a blinding flash as I tossed and turned on a particularly damp and humid night.  I had worn this nightshirt to bed and it was sticking to me and I was most uncomfortable.

2015-01-24 01I made this about 15 years ago when we were living in South Australia.  The climate there is much drier and it was perfect.  However, the weather here is often very humid and even when it is not spectacularly hot this satin nightshirt is not comfortable.  So, even though it is still in very good condition, I added to the bag of goodies to go to the op shop and dropped it off today.

I am in the process of making myself another pair of summer pyjamas from fabric that is in my stash so tune in tomorrow to see them and some of the other sewing I have done this week.

Adding More Life

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It is nearly 3 years since I wrote this post about extending the use of a pair of 3/4 trousers by making them into shorts.  That project worked extraordinarily well as I still have the shorts and wear them almost every weekend during the summer.  They are lightweight and comfortable and great for gardening and generally hanging about at home.  Imagine my despair a few days ago when I realised that the zip had broken.

001I thought that they were finally destined for the bin but after rummaging in my stash of extra zips I found one that would be suitable.

002I decided that I had nothing to lose as they were no use with a broken zip so I set to work.  In my opinion, there is only one thing more challenging than putting in a zip and that is replacing one because when putting a zip in a new garment it is inserted near the beginning of the construction rather than at the end.  Due to the purpose of the shorts, I was not too worried about the finished look.

003While it is somewhat rustic, I was very pleased with the end result which is a perfectly functional pair of shorts.

004This whole project took me about 10 minutes to complete.

Feels Like Friday

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I have not posted anything for the past couple of days as I have been totally committed to work.  We have had colleagues from interstate working with us for a few days and I had to give it my undivided attention so as to maximise the results from being able to work face-to-face.  Despite all of the advances in technology which allow us to connect via, phone, email and videoconferencing, there is nothing quite like being able to sit down and look at the same work together.

Everyone has headed back to their respective locations and I am now home with the prospect of 5 days at home stretching out in front of me.  It really does feel like Friday!  I will be doing some work from home tomorrow but other than that my time is my own.  As an added bonus we have a long weekend due to the Australia Day holiday on Monday.

I hope to make some progress on a number of projects around the house and garden and I am sure I will have lots to show you.

We have the prospect of slightly cooler weather for the next few days and possibly some heavy rain.  I think the first thing I will do is make sure all of the washing is up to date while the weather is still fine.

TowelsIt is lovely to have time to look forward to spending as I choose rather than having a diary crammed full of appointments.RelaxingDo you plan every moment or do you go with the flow, so to speak?

Bedroom Blitz

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First of all, here is an update on the things I am not writing about.

Sewing My Stash Sunday is not happening this week because I simply have not done any sewing.

War on Weeds Update – I am glad I didn’t rush out and buy a heap of vinegar because although the leaves definitely wilted and browned off somewhat the weeds are certainly not dead.  I think this would be ideal for liquid weeding the edges of paths and between pavers or even for random weeds that survive the heavy mulching that we generally do when the garden areas are completed.  However, it is simply not heavy-duty enough for the widespread weeds that are well-established.  Back to the drawing board or more importantly the gardening gloves and get on with pulling out the weeds and getting this particular garden bed established with more shrubs and lots of mulch to naturally suppress the weeds.

On to the focus of this blog post – our bedroom.  I decided to seriously clean the bedroom and while it is not completely finished, I did get the wardrobe doors and the 2 large windows cleaned.

The wardrobe was built almost 6 years ago and I must confess that the doors have never been cleaned.  There were a few insect spots as well as some fingerprints and some small patches of mould on the off-white vinyl-finish doors.  I cleaned the doors using a damp cloth and some of my home-made cream cleanser.  The most difficult part was rinsing it off as I could not splash water everywhere due to the carpet on the floor.  I finished it off by cleaning all of the metal surrounds as well as the tracks.  I do the tracks every few months as they get really grubby.  All of the shoes were removed, the carpet in the wardrobe vacuumed and shoes replaced.  I have more shoes than I really need but I did not discard any as they all have a purpose and are worn, albeit, some not terribly often.

2015-01-17 01The other task was an even bigger undertaking.  I dislike cleaning windows at the best of times but the two on the side of our bedroom really do my head in.  The accumulated dirt and cobwebs made these unsightly and since we have no curtains, that is the view I wake up to each and every morning.  They are sliding windows with Crimsafe screens.  This is not so much for security to stop intruders but to prevent anyone falling out through a normal flyscreen as there is no verandah on this side and it is quite highset.  I can remove the sliding panel of glass and clean that but I have no way of cleaning the outside of the fixed panel nor the screen apart from washing it from the outside.  Due to the height this entails assembling the scaffolding that we have and using the Gerni to blast the window and screen from the outside.  I did these 2 windows as well as the screen on a small panel of louvres at the top of the stairs and the window in the sewing room which has the same outlook.

2015-01-17 02These two jobs took the best part of the day but I also managed to vacuum the cornices to remove any cobwebs as well as vacuuming the carpet.

The things which didn’t get done were the window above the bed which is easy because it is over the verandah, dusting and polishing my dressing table and cleaning the light fittings.  All of those will need to wait for another day.

One Thing Leads to Another

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This morning I decided to clean the bookshelves in the office area.  I knew that they were quite dusty and that there was some stuff lying around that really didn’t belong there.

As I started to remove and clean the books I decided to sort them out and see if I could cull any more.  Getting rid of books seems to be fairly difficult for us but in the end there were nearly 60 books that have not made it back onto the shelves.

We have 2 identical tall shelving units from Ikea and it now looks as though one of them may be able to go to a new home.  I am confident that we will never need more shelf space as we both have Kindles and buying a physical book is a rare occurrence.

Here is one shelving unit cleaned and all of the shelves filled with books.

2015-01-17 01These are the 2 boxes of books which will be finding new homes.

002The other unit is a work in progress.

003As you can see, there is quite a bit of spare space on the other shelf which is the reason I think that it can go.  The random books are ones that I am unsure as to whether they should stay or go.  I intend to re-read them and in fact read some for the first time.  Why didn’t I read them when I first got them?  Maybe I did not really like them.  Anyway, I will be working on this pile over the coming weeks and deciding which ones I want to keep long-term and which can go.

The collection of Australian Geographic magazines will need to go elsewhere – probably the bottom shelf of the shelving unit in the lounge room.  There is 23 years worth of them – we stopped subscribing at the end of 2011.  I have never read them all so maybe it is time I did.  I used to joke that I would read them when I retired!!

There is also a shoebox of stationery items which can probably go in the cupboard.  Then there is the pile of photos that need to be sorted any scanned…………one day!!

004This is the cupboard which holds the 4 drawer filing cabinet.  I am in the process of trying to source a 2 drawer one to replace it as we have condensed the contents into 2 drawers.  When this eventuates we will use the top of the cabinet as a shelf and add another shelf a bit higher up.  There will then be plenty of space for the stationery box and photos.

If I had to nominate one room that is difficult to declutter, then the office would be it.  Mind you, we have managed to get rid of quite a bit over the past year but there always seems to be more.

Do you have a particular room or area that is your nemesis when it comes to decluttering?  Please share your stories.

Friday Filing – 2

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Another week has whizzed by and the filing basket is slightly fuller this week.

2015-01-16 01The pile beside the basket is what I collected from the mailbox today.

I opened the mail and then sorted it into piles according to the action required.

2015-01-16 02Clockwise from top left:

Paper to go in the recycling bin (by far the biggest pile)
Some family history information which my mother gave to me – needs to be put in the storage container with other similar papers
Basket – almost empty
To be filed – includes new insurance schedule as a result of my follow-up phone call, tax assessments, notification of gas bottle delivery and bank statement
Plastic bag – to be kept to use as a rubbish bag
Confirmation of electoral enrollment which we will need when we vote in 2 weeks time – will put them in our wallets
ReNew magazine – I have almost finished reading it so it will go in the rack with the other issues
2 newspapers – to be read tonight then added to the recycling

Here is what is left in the basket:

2015-01-16 03Our list of jobs/goals for the house and garden – some short-term and others much longer but it serves as a reminder
The yellow tag is the variety of blueberry bush which The Duke wants to buy to replace a couple that did not survive.  We will not be buying these until the weather cools down a bit so what better place to keep it than in the filing basket?
The brown “thing” in the corner is actually 2 small bits of timber that broke off one of the outdoor chairs and The Duke is planning to repair it.

In just 3 weeks I feel as though I have made real inroads into creating a system that works for us to keep the relatively modest amount of mail and other papers that come into the house under control.

I do not see the need to post a similar thing every Friday about the ongoing filing activity which will be very similar each week.  However, I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Do you have a system for keeping the paperwork under control?

War on Weeds

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It is the height of summer here and over the past 4 weeks we have been blessed with warm to hot days (27 – 32C) and intermittent showers and storms.  The rainfall has been over 100mm in the last fortnight.  Your can almost hear the vegetation growing and everything is green and lush.

2015-01-15 01Unfortunately, the weeds are loving the weather and thriving as much as the plants that are supposed to be growing.

Since we live on an acreage, we are never going to have a pristine garden but I do prefer not to have it overgrown with weeds so it seems to be a never-ending battle to keep them at bay.  The Duke tends to use a combination of whipper-snippering, glyphosate and simply pulling them out.  The glyphosate is banned from anywhere near the vegetable garden but unfortunately it has been a necessary evil on other parts of the block.

I recently received some information from my friend, S, over at My Life is A Balancing Act.  Although she hasn’t posted this on her blog, I think it is worthy of a mention.

Super Effective Weed Spray – Cost: $2.50 for 4 litres weed spray

  • 4 litres white vinegar
  • 1 cup salt
  • 1 tbsp washing up detergent
  • Mix well. Spray on weeds to kill them. This is a very effective weed spray so only spray it on the things you want to kill. It is excellent for weeding paths and pavers and along the edges of garden beds.

It sounds easy and even piqued the interest of The Duke.

Before I rush out and buy a bulk quantity of vinegar I decided to test it out.  There is no shortage of places to try.

This is a patch of the weeds in what can best be described as the future garden bed in front of the verandah.

2015-01-15 02We have planted several hibiscus shrubs that are the beginning of the new plantings and there are some old shrubs which will need to be removed but there is a lot of bare earth which the weeds are really enjoying!

I had 1 litre of white vinegar so made up a 1/4 mix of the recipe and filled a small spray bottle.

2015-01-15 03I sprayed weeds until I had used up all of my mix so now it is just a matter of waiting.  According to S, I should see wilted and dying weeds within 24 – 48 hours.

I will be back on Saturday with an update on this project.  If it shows signs of being successful, I will be looking for somewhere that I can buy a bulk quantity of vinegar and also buying a backpack sprayer as S suggested because my hand is exhausted from just spraying a small area of weeds.

Planning a Picnic

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On Saturday we were going to be out for the whole day so I decided to pack a picnic lunch.  We knew that we were going out for dinner so it seemed ridiculous to consider ‘eating out’ twice in one day.

2015-01-12 01This is where we had our lunch.  It is not out in the country but a suburban park about 4km from the Brisbane CBD.  There is a bus depot across the road and a major freeway and interchange a few hundred metres in another direction, yet it was a quiet and peaceful oasis where we stopped for our picnic.

We unpacked our picnic set and cloth, added the food and drink and we were ready to tuck into our feast.

2015-01-12 02I had made a mixed salad of lettuce, capsicum (red peppers), cherry tomatoes, cucumber and cheese as well as a couple of hard-boiled eggs.  There were rice crackers and some mango chutney as well.  I packed some walnuts and dried figs to finish and the whole lot was washed down with lemon cordial and soda water.

A pleasing note is that the lemon cordial, mango chutney and soda water were made at home, the chickens provided the eggs and the cucumber and tomatoes were picked from the garden.

Just a few minutes spent planning meant that we saved at least $30 and were able to enjoy some of our favourite foods in a pleasant setting rather than doing battle with holiday crowds at a cafe or food court.

Sewing My Stash Sunday – 2

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I don’t usually get much sewing done during the week and it took until this afternoon before I did any.  I was determined to achieve something as part of this challenge so here it is.

003I have made a start on a polo shirt for The Duke.  I bought the fabric about 14 years ago for this project and it never got made.  I have made the tab front, stitched the shoulder seams and done one sleeve and side/underarm seam.  I had not done a tab front for well over 10 years, but like riding a bike, you never forget.

004With striped fabric it is important to match the stripes.  You can see the matching on the tab front in the picture above and the side seam in the following picture.  It is impossible to match the stripes with a set-in sleeve due to the shaping.

005Next week I hope to show you the completed polo shirt and what I am doing next.  It feels good to know that I am using up materials that have been hanging around for years.