Tag Archives: organising

More Material

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Last weekend I spent a fair bit of time in the sewing room.  I am working on a project that I cannot show you for another week so more details then.

I have also been cleaning up and sorting out material – yet again.  Much of what I have is relatively small pieces so I have prepared some of them for future patchwork projects by cutting them into 5 inch squares.  The remaining pieces are bundled according to colour so that I know where to look if I need a specific colour.

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Today I was given a couple of bags of material.  It is mostly substantial sized pieces which will be suitable for making entire garments so I am off to have a closer look at them and dream of some future creations.

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Digital Deadline

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The year is rapidly drawing to a close and it has made me start to think about some of the things I hope to achieve in 2014.

I am well underway with scanning all of my recipes and filing them in a digital format.  The photos are also a work in progress but that will take considerably more time than the recipes.  I also have 2 substantial collections of historical material which would benefit from being scanned and sorted rather than filed away in a box with limited access.

digital files
So one of my goals for 2014 is complete all of these projects.  I see several benefits from transferring these to digital files.

Easy to access
Preserved for the future – able to create several copies in different locations
Reduced clutter
Able to share information

Do you have any particular goals for 2014?

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.

Hanging the Handle

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I had a Vileda broom with a detachable handle.  The idea was that you could buy replacement heads for it, however, by the time I decided that I needed a new head for the broom, they were no longer available.  I bought a new broom but the fact remained that I had a worn out broom head and a perfectly good handle.

I had read some time ago that the best way to hang home-made pasta to dry was over a broom handle resting between two chairs.  So I decided that my obsolete broom handle would now be my pasta drying rack.  The next question was where would I store it when it is not being used?

Since the handle will be used in the kitchen it seemed sensible to store it in the same room.  I fixed a hook to the wall of the pantry and hung the handle on it.  Now it is easily accessible when I am making pasta.

Close-up of handle

Here you can see it hanging just inside the pantry door.

Handle in pantry

It is only a small project but makes all the difference when things have a specific location and are easy to find when required.

How Do You Clean?

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Do you clean all like things together or do it room by room?

From an efficiency point of view I suspect that it makes sense to do all of the sweeping or clean all of the light fittings.  On the other hand , I like knowing that I have completed one room.  An example is the bedroom – I may strip the bed then remove any cobwebs, wipe the windowsills, clean the lightshade, clean mirror, dust and polish furniture, vacuum the carpet, remake the bed with fresh linen – and it is all done.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while will be aware that the office is the unofficial dumping ground here and getting it the way I want it is a struggle.  Since the weather has been miserable today I have stayed indoors and continued to work on this area.

I am very pleased with my achievements so far.  Here is the desk.

2012-03-04 01Another view of the room.

2012-03-04 02Finally, the pile of stuff that I have yet to sort and find where it is going to live – either in this house or elsewhere.

2012-03-04 03Wish me luck!

Another Book

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Tonight I want to tell you a little about a book I read recently. It is an ebook which I found at Extra Organized, by Kim Woodland.  No disrespect to my American friends but it is refreshing to read an organising book written by an Australian author.

The sub-title of the book is, “How to use the best of organizing to shape a meaningful life”.  This sums up the essence of the book beautifully.  Organising is not about buying more boxes to put things in.  It is about using your organising skills to manage all facets of your life and really living your life today, in the here and now.

I love the simplicity and clarity of purpose used in the book.  I have read the book twice so far and I know it will continue to be a reference and source of inspiration for me.

If you are interested in organising to make a real difference in your attitude to your possessions and relationships I would thoroughly recommend this book.  Just pop over to her blog to find out more.

Busy Days & A Birthday

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Yesterday was The Duke’s birthday so we had a celebration lunch today.  Belle, her Man, Miss O and Izz came for lunch.  Missy had intended to come, however, she has succumbed to a nasty cold and decided that she would be better off at home in bed.  I think that was a wise decision.

It was a lovely, sunny day and we had a BBQ lunch outdoors.  The salad included coleslaw which I made using the very first of our home-grown cabbages.  Special request from The Duke was apple pie and ice-cream for dessert.

Over at Simple Savings, ClutterCath’s challenge for the week was “Journey to Forgotten Places” in order to encourage cleaning and organising the spots in our home that slip through the cracks.

Yesterday I stripped the bed and in the spirit of the challenge, The Duke and I removed the mattress and base from our bed so that I could clean behind the bed.  I did the windowsill, skirting board, bedframe and also vacuumed  as the bedbase is so low I cannot get the vacuum underneath it.

Here is the photo to prove that I did it.

The other day I bought a small chest of drawers on Gumtree for $15.  They are chipboard but quite sturdy and unpainted.  So, this afternoon I painted them with undercoat.  I will finish them with 2 coats of gloss white paint.

And the drawers.

When they are finished they will go in the sewing room which doubles as a guest bedroom for Miss O and Izz.  I have also dismantled a pine-framed mirror and am painting the frame of that white as well.  This will then make a small dressing table and mirror for the girls and I can store some of my sewing things in the drawers.

I have continued sorting, re-organising and decluttering things from wardrobe in the sewing room.  I moved the bags and suitcases into the wardrobe in the guest room.

Now my ironing board can be put away in the sewing room when I am not using it.  I also moved the small drawer unit from beside the doorway into this space.  The cutting mat, ruler and various measuring guides also fit in here.

Just so you don’t think everything is that tidy, here is a shot of some of the rest of that room.

This is some of the stuff that I am gradually sorting my way through.  The chest of drawers will go in the corner where the red box is at the moment.

One day I will be finished and will show you the whole room in all its glory but that is a little way off yet.

Organising Passwords, Log-ins & User Names

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I have trouble keeping track of all of the user names and passwords for all of my online activities.  These range from things as diverse as my superannuation, Facebook, event ticketing and rewards programs.

It is annoying when I can’t figure out my password for something but I was thinking the other day, what if I was to no longer want or be able to access these various sites due to death or disability?  Will they be de-activated after a period of non-use or will they always be accessible once someone has the password?  What if The Duke and both died?  Should we have a way of passing this information on to our children with our instructions for managing such a scenario?

I know this sounds quite morbid but I think they are questions I need to address.  While I am not going to put the details of what I plan to do into the public arena of the internet, I will say that I have come up with some ideas of how I am going to handle this.

I do not want anyone giving away specific information but I am interested to know if anyone has given this topic any thought or implemented any processes for their situation.

Sewing Stuff

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Today I want to share a few organising tips from my sewing/craft room. Generally, this room is anything but organised – in fact it is the untidiest room in the house.  Part of the reason for this is that I really want to sort things out properly after too many years of having things just shoved willy-nilly into boxes. Here is a mobile set of drawers which I bought from Officeworks a few years ago for work-related papers but it has since been re-purposed for some of my sewing things.

2011-06-22 01The drawers fit nicely in the corner spot between the door and the built-in wardrobe with my cutting mat slipped in between the drawers and the wall. The top 3 drawers hold containers of buttons, bobbins, thread, pins, needles, safety pins, elastic and bias binding as well as my scissors, tape measures and quick unpicks. Drawer 4 has interfacing and the bottom 2 drawers have small to medium sized pieces of fabric. I do not usually buy storage containers for things as I can find boxes or jars to use. Here is a box I salvaged from work (about 20 years ago) and covered in some leftover contact.

2011-06-22 02I store my knitting needles in it.

2011-06-22 03Finally, here is some of my button collection.

2011-06-22 04This is a container that came from my mother’s place so I have put it to use sorting some of the buttons by colour.  These are ones where there are several the same and they may actually be used on a garment that I make.  The others are loose in a jar for when I need a random replacement button or something like eyes for a sock puppet. Now I am inspired to go and organise some more things in the sewing room.  One day it will be in a state that I will be able to show you the whole room rather than a few random pieces.

Fully Indexed

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Although it is some way off yet, one of my goals is to create a household index which will list every item in the house and its location. Before I achieve this exalted state I need to declutter, sort and re-arrange all of the cupboards and storage spaces. As you can imagine it is a huge project so I don’t think too much about it but just concentrate on little steps.

My end goal was brought sharply into focus last weekend when The Duke was looking in the wardrobe in the sewing room and I discovered he wanted a gift bag. This was for the bottle of wine we had bought for a 60th birthday gift. I quickly re-directed our search to the shelf above the filing cabinet in the study but soon realised that I had moved all of the Christmas/gift stuff to the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. – OOPS!! Its is great to re-organise things but you do have to remember where things are. This is where the list would be very useful.

I have planned how the list will work, now I just need to get it started. I actually intend to have 2 lists – one listing items alphabetically and then their location and the other listing every item located in a particular space eg: “Sewing room cupboard – 3rd shelf” and then a list of everything which is stored there. This will mean that we can find something when we know what it is or if something happened to a particular cupboard; such as water damage, we could know what was in there that might need replacing.

I am interested to know if anyone has done a similar thing. How detailed was your list? Did you remember to update the list as required?

Meanwhile , I will keep dreaming about the list, continue decluttering and sorting and try my best to remember where I have put things.