Sunday 1 November 2015

Taking Myself In Hand

This post is actually a wrist-slap for me.

Back at the beginning of the year I resolved to finish the year with fewer messy places than I started with and at first I did well.  I sorted drawers and cupboards and even (more-or-less) sorted The Room Of Doom.

The Room of Shame
But other parts have not gone so well.  Back in July I decided that the sewing room / dining room/ spare bedroom had to be tackled and I pitched in with great enthusiasm.  But it didn't last and this is the latest view of what I have decided to call the Room of Shame.  

This cannot go on.  I need to get it sorted so that Louise can come and do her stuff with the cleaning.  I have bits towards several Christmas presents somewhere in that mess and if I don't find them soon I am going to have to do some unnecessary spending to buy other presents.

But the most important reason is that there are just two months left of this year and they are not ikely to be the least busy months of the year.  I want to get to the end of the year with that resolution intact and well advanced.

So my wrists are now well slapped.  Watch this space!

6 comments:

  1. oh dear, good thing your house isn't up for sale like ours! It's quite an incentive to clear clutter.
    Good luck with the room of shame

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  2. Cleaning, tidying, sorting can be quite enjoyable once you get stuck in ... it's getting motivated that's the problem. I was motivated recently when husband decided to convert some bookshelves on a gable-end wall in a bedroom into a wardrobe (he's made a very good job of it) and the moment the room was finished a friend phoned to say she would like to come and stay. That really spurred me on ... cupboard sorted, things taken to the tip, curtains dry-cleaned, you name it, it was done. So invite someone to come and visit, if only for afternoon tea, it might be the stick you need. The carrot at the end will be lovely clean and tidy home.
    Another idea is to treat yourself, as we have, into some new 'toys'. I have just taken delivery of a battery-operated, cordless vacuum cleaner. Not an expensive one, under £100, and boy, is it great! I can't believe how easy it has made cleaning and it can be taken off the 'stick' part to use as a small device for cleaning the stairs, work surfaces, etc. I love it!
    The other 'toy' is a Housekeeper's Box, one of those caddies in cream 'enamel' (for I think it's plastic-coated tin, but I could be wrong) into which I have put all the cleaning things - cream cleaner, polish, dusters, Flash, rubber gloves, and so forth. It seems daft to say it, but I quite enjoy carting it around and it's much better (even if it is a bit heavier) than an old plastic carrier bag that I used to use for the dusters and polish, and I have everything to hand regardless of which room I am cleaning. I am now going to buy some extra goodies for it - new microfibre cloths, a room spray, lavender polish ... I've also bought a new willow laundry basket with red & white gingham liner, so even a pile of dry laundry awaiting ironing has a nice, tidy place to reside before ironing (and yes, I recently bought a new ironing board and a quality iron, which helps matters; I thought irons were all the same until I decided to invest in a better than basic one!)
    Best of luck!
    Margaret P

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  3. Come on, Mary, you can do it! Just tackle a bit each day and before you know it it will be done! Will be following.

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  4. I am facing the same kind of clutter. I had to have help with some of it because of my back. However, I try to just pick up one thing from a table, the corner of the counter, the floor...and put it where it goes, hopefully to donation box or in the trash. Doing "one thing" usually results in doing more.

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  5. I keep checking for blog updates from you. Truly your two blogs are my favorites. I hope you're away from blogging for a few days because you've found something terribly fun to do or you're tackling the messy places :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for asking, Rivulet. I have been tackling messy places - but financial messy places rather than the Room of Shame. See my next post!

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