Tag Archives: cleaning

Four Fabulous Days

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I have had the most glorious 4 days at home.  Friday was a well-earned day off followed by a long weekend.  Most weekends I am left with the feeling of wanting a couple more days to try to catch my tail.  I would not say I have done everything but I do have a degree of satisfaction that I have made some progress beyond the basics of washing and meal preparation.  The best part is that I have worked steadily but not frantically for some of the time as well as simply doing nothing at other times.

Here is a snapshot of what I achieved:

Washing and ironing – the first 3 days were brilliantly sunny with a breeze so all of the washing was done and dried which left me with a pile of ironing.  I tackled this with enthusiasm since I was armed with a new iron as well as the ironing board cover that I made on Friday.

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Shopping – most weekends I buy enough fruit and vegetables for the week as well as a few things from Aldi and Saturday was no exception.  However, I also drove a bit further to go to Morayfield so that I could stock up at Simply Good, where I buy all of the flours, dried fruit, seeds, nuts and legumes that I use.  I do this every 4months or so.  Spotlight is nearby so I took the opportunity to have a look and found the fabric to recover the mattress for the day bed.

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Decluttering/recycling – as we change and re-arrange furniture there is often some to move along to someone else who can use it.  This weekend I listed 4 outdoor chairs and a large pine chest of drawers on our local Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page and they have now gone to new homes.  I also tidied and sorted the shelves in the wardrobe in the sewing/spare room and put a few things in a bag to go to the op shop.

Gardening – when I was at the market buying fruit and vegetables, I noticed a neighbouring stall selling seedlings.  I bought and planted out basil, beetroot and capsicum seedlings.  GMan mulched the shrub we cut down a few weeks ago and planted out several native trees and shrubs.

Outdoors – we have taken a few more steps towards finishing our outdoor living area on the verandah.  The newly painted table is back in position as is the day bed, albeit without the mattress yet.  I spent a good portion of today cleaning up the large concreted area under the house.  This is a lovely cool area in summer and I am trying to make it more useable.  I sorted and stacked various building materials so that they are in a logical order and easily accessible.

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What a shame that I have to go to work tomorrow – there is so much more that I could do here at home.

I will some more details of some of the things I have mentioned tonight in upcoming posts this week.

Keeping it Clean

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While I do not have huge areas to declutter or sort out there are always ongoing jobs to do.  Some are so small that they are barely noticeable but 5 minutes can literally make the difference.

My clothesline is 5 parallel lines under the verandah.  Every few months I wipe down 4 of the lines with a damp cloth to remove any dust and grime.  The last line does not get done because I have 12 hanger holders positioned along the line.

Yesterday I took the hooks off because I was washing a couple of sets of sheets and needed the extra hanging space.  I realised the hooks were very grubby and the line was filthy.  I wiped the line thoroughly before I hung the white sheet on it and then washed the hooks.  A quick soak in some warm, soapy water then scrubbed with an old nail brush before I spread them out to dry.

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Once the sheet was dry I replaced them on the line and hung out the next load which included plenty of items to dry on hangers.

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A few minutes well spent to keep everything in working order.

Patience Pays Off

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A few weeks ago I wrote this post about cleaning up the workshop area downstairs.  One of the photos showed the old kitchen cupboards which we had been using as storage in this area for the last 7 years.  We decided that it was time for them to go as the chipboard was all breaking up and we had eliminated enough stuff to longer require them as storage.

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GMan cut the shelving into smaller pieces and broke down the cupboard shells and drawers.  We only have a half size (120 litre) wheelie bin so we filled it with the cut pieces each week for 4 weeks.

Now it is completely gone.

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The alternative was to pack it into the ute, drive 20kms to the nearest rubbish dump and pay about $15 to dump it.  The end result is the same – it goes to landfill, which is not ideal but there is really no alternative for this sort of thing.  However, we managed it at zero cost to us because we chose to take our time and dispose of it bit by bit.

Nothing Matches…….

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……..but at least it is tidy.  The workshop area contains a mish-mash of storage cupboards and shelving.  It does not look particularly pretty but is effective.

Yesterday was the last day of our long weekend and GMan decided to continue his goal of clearing up downstairs.  On Saturday he had swept and water-blasted the open concreted area under the house so yesterday he turned his attention to the workshop area.  I do not have any ‘before’ photos but here are a few shots of the end result.

The dismantled cupboards in the right-hand photo are from our old kitchen (renovated 7 years ago) which were repurposed as temporary storage.  They are now destined to be rubbish as the chipboard is all breaking up and we simply no longer need them.  GMan will cut them into smaller pieces and gradually dispose of them via our regular rubbish collection.

Cupboards and shelves were re-arranged.  Worn-out or useless rubbish were discarded.  Items no longer required were listed on Facebook Buy/Swap/Sell sites.  Bits of wood were cut up for firewood.

The area is by no means decluttered completely but we have got rid of some stuff, made sure similar items are stored together and generally know what we have.

As always, it is a work in progress but it feels good to have taken another step towards keeping only those things that we really need.

A Cleaning Plan – Or Not?

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Some people work to a plan for cleaning.  It could be vacuuming on Monday, dusting on Tuesday and so on or a room at a time.  Perhaps a schedule of things to do on a weekly or monthly basis.

I do not follow any set routine but tend to do things as required or more importantly, when I have time.

Today was one of those completely unexpected cleaning moments.  I was hanging out washing and noticed that there was some debris in the peg bag which hangs on my laundry trolley.  So I tipped all of the pegs into a bucket of soapy water and washed them.  Then I emptied all of the dirt and a mud wasp nest out of the bag and washed it, too.

Here are the pegs spread out to dry on an old towel.

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You can see how much the fabric has faded even though the trolley and bag are always on the verandah out of the weather.  The buttons were red originally as can be seen from the back of the button.

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The bag replaced on the handle of the trolley and filled with pegs.

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Some of the cane on the handle of the basket is broken and I am trying to decide how best to mend that.  I will write a blog post about that when I get around to doing it.

Clean and Uncluttered

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Last weekend I was doing some general housework and I cleaned and polished this small table.

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The furniture polish I use is a quantity of the cheapest vegetable oil I can find with a few drops of essential oil to create a pleasant odour.  I use either lemon or lavender oil.  I put a small amount of this mixture on a soft cloth (old t-shirts are good) and apply to the timber then rub it in and buff.

I washed and ironed the doilies and then replaced the ornaments.

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I love this table which I have had for about 20 years and all of the ornaments are special to me.

I keep most things fairly simple but do not subscribe to the minimalist style of an almost bare room.

I prefer the mantra of, “Keep only those things which you use or love”.  These are things that I love.

Dismantling the Dishwasher

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No, I am not getting rid of my dishwasher but simply giving it a thorough clean.  The dishwasher is a 2 drawer Fisher & Paykel which was installed about 7 years ago when we renovated the kitchen.

We regularly wipe over the inside and outside of the machine but had never taken the filter out of the base.    Today I removed the racks, spray arm and the filters.  I used a damp cloth to wipe off any scum and then dried the inside of the drawer with a dry cloth.

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I cleaned the filters which had a small amount of scum build-up on the mesh using a kitchen brush and rinsed them in cold water.

Here are all of the pieces drying on the bench.

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It was easy to reassemble the drawer and it is ready to use for another 7 years – or perhaps I will clean it sooner.

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Whenever you dismantle something for any reason it is important to take careful notice of how it is put together to save any angst when you come to reassemble it.

It is interesting to note that despite the extended time of use the machine generally was quite clean.  I think this is testament to the Kin Kin Naturals dishwasher powder that we use and that GMan is quite particular rinsing dishes before loading them in the dishwasher.

This is a timely reminder to maintain appliances to keep them in good working order.

Simple to Keep, Simple to Clean

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This morning I unloaded the dishwasher and put the cutlery away in the drawer.  As I was about to do so I noticed a few stray crumbs in the drawer.

I removed the remaining cutlery, took the plastic insert out, shook out the crumbs and gave it a quick wipe with a damp cloth and a little bit of homemade ‘Gumption’ which removed a few scuff marks.  A quick rinse and dry then the cutlery was replaced.  This took me about 5 minutes.

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There was nothing to declutter as I have just what I need in this drawer.  It is easy to see and access.

Is there anything I would remove in the future?  Yes.  The child-sized cutlery set is for my younger granddaughter to use and will not be required for too much longer. The plastic bag on the lefthand side holds bamboo skewers which I very rarely use.  When they are finished I probably will not automatically replace them.  Everything else has a purpose and would stay.

To me, that is the whole point of decluttering – have what you need and use in an easily accessible spot which is easy to keep clean.

A 15 Minute Job

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Sometimes it is difficult to find time to do anything much more than the basics – washing, ironing and cooking – done when I am busy at work.

However, tonight I managed to start and finish a small job in just 15 minutes.  I cleaned, tidied and sorted the drawers in the bathroom.  There are 4 drawers in the vanity unit but one is empty and I save that so that it is available for guests to use if they wish.

One drawer has GMan’s stuff, one is mine and the bottom drawer has the hairdryer so extra mini soaps and spare toothbrushes.

Here is my drawer before I started.

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There does not appear to be much difference once I had cleaned it  but a couple of things have gone.  It is a good opportunity to review what is actually in the drawer so that I can remind myself to use it.

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I did not photograph the other drawers before but here they are – clean and sparkling.

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Finally, I have finished the makeup that I wrote about recently.  These have been tossed in the bin and I am going to buy new lipstick, mascara and blush tomorrow.

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The cupboard in the vanity unit is the next thing on my hit list but not tonight.

Weekend Washing

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You all know the never-ending cycle of housework – washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning.  That seems to be the routine every weekend as I ready myself for the week ahead.

This weekend was all about washing, and not just clothes, although I did that as well.

I washed my car which is a fairly rare occurrence.  It positively sparkled in the sunshine by the time I had finished.

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Then GMan and I washed 3 sides of the exterior of the house.  The long side which faces the street and the 2 ends are done and we will tackle the long, back wall next weekend.  The part that we have done is relatively easy as there is verandah on those 3 sides so access is not difficult.  The last side is a different story as the house is high-set at the back.  We will assemble the scaffolding to reach this part.  It takes a lot more time as you constantly need to move and re-position the scaffolding along with climbing up and down but it will be worth it.

Finally, I washed and cleaned all of the kitchen windows.  There will be more to do once the back wall is cleaned but it is definitely a job worth doing.