Blogtober Day 19: 7 Things to remember before starting to declutter...

 Hi Honeys, 

Are you decluttering or trying to bring order to your home right now?  If you are, well, join the gang, there are so many of us working on this same problem right now and if your home is like ours you'll know how overwhelming it can be.  I actually can't remember when we started working on our home, but I do know we're nowhere near to finishing it 😔  

There have been gains along the way, we have a growing pile of empty bins and baskets to remind us of the volume of belongings we've parted with, but in our over thirty years together we have simply collected too much stuff for it to be solved by any kind of a quick fix.  

We're both pack rats dear ones, although Hubby slightly less than me I think, but the fact remains, we've spent our years together filling cupboards, drawers and our loft/attic with stuff.  I really do believe that it's possible to become oblivious to clutter and that this is how it accumulates.  We get used to passing that box that's always in the hallway or the stack of books in the corner.  Clutter blindness is real.  

So, all that having been said dear ones, and for what it's worth, here's what the last few years of trying to tackle our stuff mountain have taught me (so far...)

7 Things To Remember Before Starting To Declutter...

1. Give yourself a break.  

Seriously, stop with the self criticism.  The world does enough judging without our judging ourselves harshly too! We live in a world where everyday we're encouraged to buy the latest wot-nots and over time our space fills up with all of these possibly no longer needed or wanted, space consuming possessions.  

It is what it is honeys.  We start where we are.  You've made a decision to clear the clutter and carve out a new space for yourself. Celebrate that. That change in mindset alone is a victory in itself and will carry you through when you want to give up.  Picture your home the way you want it to look.  Fill in all the details in your minds eye, now memorise that image and work towards it.   

2. Make plans.  

Every general needs a master plan for the battle ahead.  You're the general of your household, the clutter that's making you unhappy is the enemy and setting up systems that work will mean, overtime, you'll create order and will win the war.  You've got this 💖  

3. Recruit help if you can. 

This can be a partner, a family member or a friend.  Whoever is helping should be non judgemental, a sympathetic person who will understand if you have problems parting with certain things (and will never force you to.)  

Your helper should want to help but know the final decision on your possessions should always be yours.  It can be fun sorting through and organising a space and you might find that you'll get done faster with help. 

The best help to recruit, of course, is always the person/people you share your space with.  A beautifully organised space won't stay that way if one person is doing all the work.  You'd be surprised though how easily systems become habits for everyone.  When items have a home it will become second nature to return put these items away.   

4. Baby steps. 

Small victories, all of them, every, single, one of them, all add up.  Today the "junk drawer" in the kitchen, tomorrow (or whenever you get to it) those boxes in the loft that you haven't opened since two house moves ago   Baby steps will get you there. 

5. When you get tired, stop!  

Yes, I know there's a school of thought that says "power through, keep going!" well hooey to all that! Do you know what happens (certainly to me) when you run out of steam but you still force yourself to keep going anyway? You'll begin to regret having even started, in fact you might end up hating the whole process so much that you never start working on it again.  

Most important of all, you'll lose focus and will achieve so much less than if you were rested and in the right "let's do this!" frame of mind. This simply can't be allowed, because it will make you dread ever starting again.  Our brain files away upsets and bad feelings and will then try to protect us from them by avoiding repeating the actions that caused them in the first place. 

There's always tomorrow dear ones and anything you've done today is banked. Did you finish a drawer? A cupboard? Make new homes for anything, a place they can be taken to when found elsewhere?  Then you did well honey.  Systems work. Any system you set up, and turn into a habit, will work and can always be tweaked down the road if needs be.  

If you can recover enough to keep going after stopping for something to eat and maybe a cuppa, that's fabulous! Do that, and kudos to you. I'm approaching this from the view point of someone who has a chronic illness and I know how easily the body can just become completely drained.  Rest if you need to honeys, just do what you can, when you can.  You'll get there.    

6 Celebrate the wins. 

Take the time to appreciate every milestone you reach, every system you set up that works.  Don't rush out and celebrate by buying new clutter as a way of celebrating though. Sometimes a high five or a phone call to a friend to share your success can give you the same glow.  Treat yourself to an experience, something to make you feel good, that you'll remember and want to repeat. What about a movie night in, in your newly organised and fabulous living/family room?   

7. It's never completely finished.  

We don't declutter once and then it's done.  Just as you made plans to tackle the clutter, make another battle plan to maintain your fabulous clutter-free space. The systems you've set up, keep checking on them.  Is everybody sticking to them?  Don't let it fall backwards again.  Why not schedule a regular sweep around your home for any clutter piles that might be starting to grow?   

All of those perfect, minimalist homes we see on Pinterest didn't start out that way and you can be sure their owners are mindful of what gains entry to their homes and stays there. 

Having an organised home doesn't mean it has to be stripped bare of all of your possessions honeys.  I know that neither Hubby nor I will ever be minimalists.  What we want to achieve though is to reach a level where we own what we need and, just as importantly, we need what we own... but with, you know... happy sprinkles 😊  Happy sprinkles are the things we keep because they make us happy. 

That stack of paperbacks I'm currently working my way through will go on their way when I'm finished reading them but the adorable, 3 foot tall soft toy hound dog that my beloved Mother-in-law brought for me over 20 years ago all the way from the south of England, on two trains (even changing stations in London) well, he's not going anywhere 💖  Happy sprinkles 💕   

Are you decluttering honeys?  What are your happy sprinkles?   Till next time dear ones, hugs always xx

Passing COVID-19 Lock-down Time: Organising The Kitchen Cabinets (Part Two)

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to recommend or promote any stores or products, just wanted to share what I'm doing to stay busy (and happy) during the lock-down.  Stay safe honeys x

Hi Honeys,
How are you today?  It's such a beautiful day today, the sun is shining and our furbaby Jade's having a nap on the sofa next to me, bless her 💖 She always keeps me company while her Dad's at work. 

Today though, Jade's a little confused.  Earlier today, her Dad had his lunch with us because He's working from home all this week.  She's happy enough though, she got lots of hugs before he went back upstairs to his den/office💗

Filling The Lock-Down Time..

Are you at home during the lock-down honeys?  I have chronic health issues, so I've been at home for over four weeks now.  To keep myself busy I'd decided to try to tick off some of those little things on my "to do" list that I've been meaning to do for a while.

I made a start on this list by tackling a few organisational projects in our kitchen.  My first project was to try to bring some order to the chaos of the large cabinet by the kitchen door.  This is a difficult cabinet to organise because of it's depth, meaning that no matter how it's organised, there will be things in front of things. 

It turned out really well though actually and it's very user-friendly.  You can see how it turned out here honeys.  Today though, it's on to another cabinet, and also a little meal prepping station too, but I'm getting ahead of myself again 😊

I just smiled again seeing those photos 😊 This was much less work than the last cabinet because it has so much less in it (it's home to our cleaning supplies) and since it's not a very deep cabinet I didn't really have to deal with rows of items.

Why not go grab yourself a cuppa, and maybe a cookie (or two) then dear ones and I'll met you back here after the page break for a chat and to share what I did...

Passing COVID-19 Lock-down Time: Organising The Kitchen Cabinets (Part One)

Disclaimer: I haven't been paid to recommend or promote any stores or products, just wanted to share what I'm doing to stay busy (and happy) during the lock-down.  Stay safe honeys x

Hi Honeys,
How are you today?  All well I hope? It's such a beautiful day outside, the sun is shining, we've been blessed with so many tiny guests in the garden at the bird feeders and I'm loving standing at the kitchen window watching them every day.

If there is a positive to the current lock down situation, it's that being at home for an extended period has led to our looking around our home in search of things to do to pass the time.  There are so many things to catch up on and an "easy win" (sort of) that I can achieve while Hubby is at work (he's a key worker) is to tidy and organise some cupboards.

I was so pleased with how this first cabinet turned out, that I decided to start on another cabinet, the one under the sink that's home to our cleaning supplies, next. I'll share when it's done, promise 💗

I'm getting ahead of myself 😊 There are lots of photos in this post dear ones so why not go grab a cuppa, and maybe a cookie, and I'll meet you back here after the page break for a chat 😊

A Mini Kitchen Organising Project With Sunnersta!

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any items, just wanted to share a mini kitchen organising project and being excited that my happy place now delivers smaller items 😊

Hi Honeys,
How are you today?  A rainy day here all day today so no laundry being pegged outside unfortunately but laundry has to be done none the less, so not for the first time I've been so grateful that we bought the couldn't-be-without-it-now pulley 😊

Other than laundry, our furbaby Jade and I spent some time upstairs de-cluttering and tidying and also had some fun in the kitchen on a mini organising project. Well, I say we, Jade keeps me company and is in charge of smiles and bringing me one of her toys to play when I'm busy cleaning or dusting or whatever else I'm doing 😊

On Monday we did have a great pegging-out-laundry kinda day and peg out laundry we did ☼  We were also eagerly awaiting a delivery from my happy place... Ikea 😍   Now we already knew we could order large items and have them delivered (as we did when we partially re-modelled our kitchen by buying and installing a new worktop and storage unit along one wall) but I recently discovered that it's now possible to order smaller items too!

I can't even tell you how excited this made me honeys, ridiculously excited 😄

I love to visit Ikea, love it!  Unfortunately we don't own a car and it's quite some distance from our home so we don't get to visit very often.  Then there is my limited mobility to be factored in now too.

Last time we visited I was in pain for days afterwards so the very idea I can just pop online and have items for our organising projects delivered is beyond wonderful 😄

I decided I'd test the delivery waters so to speak by ordering a few items (I'll write a post sharing my mini haul soon honeys, promise.)  Included in that order were a few items I'd hoped would improve the storage we'd previously set up at the side of our kitchen cabinet.

Do you remember my dismay at the discontinuation of the Bygel range at Ikea?  Ikea replaced Bygel with a new line called Sunnersta and as it turns out, it's incredibly useful.  We even replaced the Bygel rail in the bathroom with a Sunnerta rail (and containers.)

So, for this mini organising project, we ordered a Sunnersta rail, a packet of Sunnerta S hooks and a Sunnersta container.

My First Mini Organising Project Of The Year...

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to write this post. I'm just sharing my first mini home organisation project of the year and hopefully some smiles too 😊

Hi Honeys
How was your weekend?  Mine has definitely been a mixed bag.  At work on Saturday evening I was hit with the worst case of the chills. To begin with I just felt as if it was getting colder.  Just the usual evening temperature drop since it was after 6 pm, very dark and the store I work in has a metal roof so all of the heat mostly goes up and out.

A couple of hours later I felt as if my bones were literally made of ice.  Such a chill honeys and I couldn't stop shivering.  By the time home time rolled around though I was actually burning up, even though I still had that awful, frozen, chill in my bones. When I got home I had my shower, got all bundled up in my warmest nightie etc and hugged the hot water bottle Hubby made for me (thank you sweetheart x) I settled on the sofa under a huge sherpa throw.

During Saturday night and through Sunday I just felt so completely drained of energy honeys but at least the chilled feeling, and temperature, had gone by mid Sunday.  Yesterday I started to feel a little more like my self which was such a relief.

There are so many bugs, viruses, flus and what-nots going around right now and having been ill for over four months with the last chest infection (which turned into bronchitis and led to my having a CT scan) I just really don't want to catch any of them.

Late yesterday afternoon, annoyed at myself that I didn't get anything done, not even catching up with laundry, over the weekend, I put on a load of laundry and set out to find something to do 😊

There was a project I'd asked Hubby to do for me that he hadn't gotten around to yet.  We'd even bought a Variera shelf insert (the larger of the two sizes available) for this little project on our last trip to Ikea.

"Why not try doing it yourself?" I thought.  Why not indeed.  This is what happened honeys...