STREAMLINE – A Master Plan

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Posted on October 15, 2013

The first and most important thing I need to do with this post is to acknowledge that it is not my own idea. This is the basis of the book, “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay.

I have mentioned the book previously in a couple of posts here and here. “The Joy of Less” is a book that I keep going back to and it continues to inspire me. That is no small feat as it seems that everyone is writing a book on organisation, minimalism and/or decluttering. Many of them do not offer anything new but “The Joy of Less” really hit a chord with me. In particular, I liked the philosophy in the early chapters. This helps you to understand what clutter is, how it affects us and our relationships with it.

However, today I am going to focus more on the actual process of creating a minimalist home which works for you.

S – Start over

T – Trash, treasure or transfer

R -Reason for each item

E – Everything in its place

A – All surfaces clear

M – Modules

L- Limits

I – If one comes in, one goes out

N Narrow it down

E – Everyday maintenance

This is the step-by-step process that Francine uses and to do justice to the information, I plan to discuss each point in depth in separate blog posts. There will be one every day or so, depending on my workload so keep watching to get the full story. Some are reasonably clear but other concepts need more explanation.

The important thing to remember about minimalism and decluttering is that it can fit any situation and be as much or as little as you want it to be. However, if you are reading about decluttering, there is a very good chance that you are feeling the need to unburden yourself for some of your stuff. Don’t hijack your goals by thinking that you will declutter your house on the weekend. You can certainly make a start but don’t ever imagine that it is a one-off weekend job!

Tomorrow we will “Start Over”. I look forward to hearing about your goals and achievements with respect to decluttering and minimalism.

Habits

Decluttering – The How

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Posted on October 12, 2013

I have done quite a bit of decluttering over the years and most of the time we are in maintenance mode here. However, every now and then we have things that need to be moved along.

Once you have decided that an item no longer belongs in your home, the next question is, “Where does it belong?” I try not to throw things to landfill if I feel that there may be someone who can use what I no longer want or need.

There are several options of what to do with your stuff.

Sell it – eBay or Gumtree

Give it away – Freecycle

Donate it – Lifeline, Salvos or Endeavour Foundation

These are just some of the popular and well-recognised methods here in Australia. Of course, there are others here and I am sure there are different, yet similar options in other parts of the world.

Today I have advertised and sold a queensize bed and mattress using Gumtree.

The mattress has gone to a new owner today and the base and frame have been sold to someone else and are planned to be picked up early in the week.

Freecycle is a worldwide organisation dedicated to keeping items out of landfill. I have assisted in that goal today by advertising our old fridge/freezer and some assorted used fencing wire. Both items have been requested and I am just in the process of making arrangements for them to be collected.

Now there is just the child’s car seat which is listed on Gumtree. I will keep my fingers crossed.

As you can see, there is a diverse range of things that can be sold or given away. Before you rush off to the rubbish dump or toss things in the garbage bin, stop and think about whether someone else might be able use what you no longer require.

What options do you use when decluttering?

Project 333 – Holiday Shopping

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Posted on October 8, 2013

We have been on holidays for a week so I have actually had time to browse in a couple of shops. I found a couple of tops that will add a bit of interest to my wardrobe for the upcoming summer.

I bought this one at Penola in the south-east of South Australia. It is a lightweight cotton and will be perfect for our hot summer. It is a small black and white check with a touch of red stitching on the collar and the frilled front. I will be able to wear it with both shorts and 3/4 pants in black and white. A plain red skirt is on my wishlist which would match perfectly.

Today I bought another top – this time I was at Victor Harbor. The colour is badly distorted – it is actually mauve, not blue. Once again, I will be able to wear it with both the black and white 3/4 pants and shorts.

When I get home, I will take a closer look at my existing tops with a view to moving some along.

Do you refresh your wardrobe on a seasonal basis?

Birthday Wishes

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Posted on October 6, 2013

Today was a milestone birthday for special lady. It was my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday.

It was a milestone that we were not sure that would eventuate since her diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease several years ago.

A small group of some of her children and grandchildren gathered to celebrate the occasion with cake and flowers.

A short, impromptu duet which included her grandson brought much joy and elicited an emotional response.

We are very grateful for today and will all cherish the memories.

Christmas is Coming

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Posted on October 4, 2013

Well, I am not sure about the “goose getting fat” as described in the traditional nursery rhyme but I do know that it is less than 12 weeks until Christmas.

Are you one of those people who can smugly say at the beginning of October that they have finished the Christmas shopping, have the menu planned and the fruit is soaking ready to make the cake and pudding?

I have done some Christmas preparation but not in the traditional sense. We will be travelling to Melbourne to share Christmas with our younger daughter so last week I booked flights and accommodation for the trip.

Finding flights was relatively easy as I just needed to find the best-priced fares that fitted in to the dates and times we wanted to travel. I checked out numerous accommodation options before settling on this one which I found on Air BnB. We are looking forward to spending a relaxing week near the beach as well as being close to shops and public transport. We will be able to create and share a festive meal and valuable time with our family.

I will not be doing much else until closer to the time.

What are your priorities for Christmas preparations? Have you started making plans or preparations?

Holiday Fun

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Posted on September 27, 2013

No organising happening here today as we are too busy having fun. Miss O and Izz are staying for a couple of nights as it is school holidays here.

It has been a full day which included picking strawberries at a local farm as well as buying some fruit and vegetables and getting hair cut. That was just this morning!

Then it was time for lunch.

A platter which included freshly picked carrots and avocadoes plus some cracker biscuits. A cup of water and some strawberries rounded off a healthy lunch.

The weather has been really quite hot the past few days but even though it was much cooler today it was still warm enough to play in the pool.

Climbing ‘mountains’, hide and seek and racing around the yard used up some excess energy.

And taking a moment to smell the roses AKA cannas.

Going, Going………Not Quite Gone

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Posted on September 26, 2013

Last weekend we did some more demolition work on the old chicken coop. We have been fairly careful in how we went about it because it was our goal to salvage most of the materials for use in future projects. There is now only one piece of chain wire to remove and then the posts.

The Colorbond sheeting from the roof and walls will come in handy for some of the remaining raised garden beds that we are planning to construct. The posts have been earmarked for use in building the perimeter fence of the vegetable garden. That was the reason that we fenced the new chicken run before the vegetable garden as the posts for the run were taller so had to be purchased.

The woodshed which is in the foreground of the photo will be retained and some minor modifications made to it.

I will also be making some changes to how the wood is stored. Although it cannot be seen in this photo, I had wood stacked quite high against the side wall. I use the past tense of ‘had’ as recently there was a tremendous crash during the night and we have now discovered that my carefully stacked wood has collapsed and is now a disorganised jumble on the ground. I suspect that some of the local wildlife was instrumental in this event.

As always, there is always another project lurking in the background, even if it is only in our minds at this stage. Once the structure is completely removed this will open up the possibility of having at least one large limb lopped from one of the jacaranda trees. There is also a very large boulder which has dislodged from higher up the mountain and is resting against part of the old fence at the top of the block. We may remove the fencing to allow the rock to roll to the bottom of the garden (another ‘meteorite feature?) before repairing the fence.

Then there are the possibilities of what to do with the area where the chicken run was but I will save that discussion for another day.

Not So Perfect

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Posted on September 25, 2013

More on the organising theme today. After reading a couple of the comments on my previous post, I wanted dispel any misconceptions about me being perfectly organised. That is definitely not the case. My dressing table is a case in point.

This is what it looked like last night.

The state of this area has been bugging me for months but there always seems to be something else which was more in need of my attention. The other thing holding me back was perfectionism. Why start it if I could not complete the task properly? I have come to realise that perfectionism is one of my personal hurdles and it has taken many years and false starts to identify the problem and then try to work on it.

I had moved some of the larger items in the last week or so but it was still messy and cluttered. Some of the things that I moved and put away in their correct places were:

Bone density xrays
Prescription tablets
Repeat prescriptions
Warranty for new phone
Packet of Christmas bell decorations
Plastic container

What is not evident in the photos is that I have not washed all of the china, changed the doyley nor dusted and polished the timber. The knowledge that I did not have time to do all of this would be reason enough not to tackle the job, however, last night I decided to just put away/discard the extraneous ‘stuff’ and leave the actual cleaning until another day.

The job did not take long and I felt better once it was done. So what was so difficult? For me it is overcoming the feeling that I have to do the whole job in one go or why bother.

What are your hurdles and what strategies do you use?

Keeping It Simple

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Posted on September 23, 2013

It is a challenge to just keep my head above water during the week as we are commuting/working for long periods each day. It is very easy to just flop in a chair and do nothing, and some nights I do just that. However, I find that if I do a little bit each day it is less onerous when the weekend comes around.

Here are some of the things I try to do to keep it simple:

Plan meals – on a good week I have the whole week planned out but otherwise I at least know what we will be eating for dinner the following night.

Plan what I will wear – as above. It saves wasting time on thinking in the morning.

Lunches planned and at least partly prepared.

Rinse/wipe the basin and vanity to keep it looking clean.

Washing/folding/ironing – make sure it is up to date. This morning I hung out the sheets, tonight I took them off the line and they are now folded and put away. I also handwashed some jumpers and hung them out.