Another job done...

I just love Holidays..,

It's the time to get bigger jobs done and extra hands to help..,

One such job was cleaning out the fridge from top to bottom... Including all trays and drawers...

Russell and Josh did a fantastic job ;)

Blessings,

Timothy's room, again...

This was a big one on my decluttering list and one that had to be done as a team. Meaning Russell, Timothy and I together...

This morning we woke to noises of Joshua cleaning up his whole room. He did a fantastic job. I ended up doing the library for him which was a job and a half but was glad to do that bit for him. :)

Timothy was a whole other story... He got on the computer first up and knew that he was not supposed to have done that... So then in the end we got him off the computer. Russell and him then proceeded to do the floor or try to find it anyway. There were loads of rocks and minerals out and about as he had been 'sorting' and were still there a couple of weeks later. Then we moved onto the bed and put all the folded clothes away that were clean, dirty clothes went into the laundry hamper. That is now full. :)

I went through the whole of his display cabinet as well and halved the rocks on display. All fitted really neatly under his bed. Yay!!!

His library I fixed up as well and he can't wait to sleep in his freshly made bed tonight... This job was enormous last time and this time took just two hours. I am soooo thankful that Timothy stayed on task that whole time, well mostly, and that Russell did such a great job with him... :)

Cheers Damaris

Chores, chores, chores...

It will change as we do...

After working for four weeks I had had enough... There was no way that I could be away from home around 40hrs a week and still keep the house in the same shape that I was used to when I was home all the time... I was going nuts... I was suffering... Something had to change and something had to give... And something did :)

I did up new rosters. For everyone... Much more detailed and there are also consequences if these things are not done. They are done before any play is done and so far it is all working really well.

Just need to train the hubby more. lol

Cheers Damaris

Shelves, shelves and more shelves...

New table for the Shed...

Lots of room for storage :)

Didn't take long to fill this one...

Russell and Joshua have been very busy over the last few weekends that I have been working... They have made two massive shelves for the shed. We also made another two shelve table last Saturday before I left for work for the night. :)

The shed is looking better... Soon it will be organised. I realise that it is Russell's shed and that he is by no means as worried about clutter as I am but... You know... I just can't stand it...

Anyway he is well and truly on his way to having a tidy shed. Yay!!!

Cheers Damaris

What a lovely boy...

Off his own bat Joshua has been making my bed in the morning... Had to brag... What a lovely thing to do for me... Two days in a row last week he did it :) And you know what??? He does it just like I do... He has been watching me. lol

Thanks Josh xo

Cheers Damaris

Cashing in...

Russell mopping... what a champ :)

For Mother's Day this year, Russell and the boys gave me a whole heap of vouchers that I could use whenever I wanted to... I have them there but don't remember to use them...

Yesterday, I used my first three. Timothy I asked to do the sweeping of the whole house... Russell I asked to do the mopping of the whole house and Joshua did the washing and drying of all the dishes that were in the sink... By the time I went to the first Progressive Society meeting at 9:30am it was all done. I loved it... Joshua gave me his voucher back... He is happy for me to use it again and again. What a darling... Timothy, needless to say did Not give me his back... lol. Neither did Russell... He knows that that is his job each week anyway. :)

Was nice to cash them in... Was even nicer to know that I didn't have to do those jobs... hehe Must work on Timothy though, he liked to rush it a bit and the whole job ended up taking him allot longer than it should have... Time and practice I said to him. That is all it takes... He ain't too sure about the practice bit, needless to say ;)

Cheers Damaris

Under the Bathroom Sink...

So much space. :)

This is another little job that doesn't take long but one that I wanted to get done today. I know stuff was lurking under there that needed to be in its proper home. So that is where it went. :)

I found old make up that was tossed and massage oil from The Body Shop that I have never used so that will go to Charity. They love me there as I have kept bringing all sorts of things over the last year. I love going to town with a full car of stuff to give away. I also give allot away to local families and regularly ask if there is anything that people might like. Best out of my house and into someone else's.

When we originally planned this house, Russell actually had a program on his computer that enabled us to measure our furniture and place it into the program. This way we knew before we even moved what furniture we could take and what we have to sell or give away. We came from a house that was nearly twice the size as this one so allot has had to go over the time. Freecycle got very lucky with allot of stuff. So did the neighbours across the road from where we used to live.

This is another reason why I can't just let anything into my house. Any piece of furniture, for example, that comes into the house must have another already homed piece removed in order to fit it in. There is no room for new stuff I am afraid and am quite happy with that actually as we don't need anything else. We have more than enough. We are happy with what we have and make good use of what we have. Less is more as they say and I totally agree with that...

Cheers Damaris

It is finally done...

Love my new look cupboard...

I have three linen cupboards... Two are actually used for linen and the other holds all sorts of bits and pieces. From spare tissue boxes to my hammer and needle and thread for hand sowing...

I needed to rearrange it and get it more flowing as it was in a bit of a pickle. So after procrastinating for the last six weeks about getting it done... I finally got it done yesterday. And what a relief it was so nice to see it finished. I went to bed last night with a huge boulder off my shoulders that is for sure.

There is nothing wrong with me keeping at myself to get it done I realise that but when I keep saying to myself I am going to get it done this week and don't do it... well it just gets me down after a while. To take it all out, sort, throw out stuff and donate a whole heap more and then rearrange and put it all back together took about four hours. Four hours well spent in my books. I love going in there now. :)

Joshua is finding it all strange too as he went there yesterday afternoon to get a pencil so that he could do his homework. Never mind he will get used it being there and not on the butchers block. I want to keep that free from clutter so in the cupboard in a neat box it goes.

I love it all nice and neat. Tidy is what I love and crave so that is what it will be :) Amazing the amount of things I found that I had no idea I had. I found two containers of Borax of all things. I had been looking everywhere to make some more homemade soap and there the last ingredient was all along. Amazing what you find when you tidy up :)

Cheers Damaris

New Look Fridge...

Love clear, shiny surfaces :)

On the weekend I had some time to kill and had remembered a time when I had read somewhere that a while clear fridge made all the difference to the kitchen...

I already have a large kitchen but thought I would give it a go. Not that there was too much of anything there beforehand really...

So I took everything off from both sides that you see when in the kitchen. I cleaned it with Jif and polished the surface. The butchers block next to the fridge got a tidy up as well... I did keep things that needed keeping, ie. Thermomix quick instructions, Timothy's Timetable. That sort of thing but put them on the side next to the laundry as no one sees it there unless they go on that side. :)

Well I must say that I am really pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as I had read. I now wish I had done it allot earlier. Better late than never though. :)

Cheers Damaris

Love my shiny sink...

Love, love, love my sink shiny...

Yes I realise that this is from the Fly Lady... She loves to get people to shine their sinks... The way I look at it is that when a meal has been eaten, it is not the end of the meal so to speak... From this week the boys and I have been trying something much better...

When we finish eating at the table we put our dishes in the sink as normal. We have always done that. Nothing worse than the table cluttered as far as I am concerned... Nice and tidy is how I like it... But now we also do the dishes straight away and then the sink is tidy as well...

This means that when we retire for the night we have a completely tidy kitchen. The peace I feel when having the house all tidy is amazing and would not give that up for anything... The boys love it too off course as they have a calm mum and then in turn they are as well. Win, win situation all round. So needless to say, I love it that I can get up in the morning and there is nothing out on the benches. I love it. :) The boys are getting the hang of it and it is something that I have been building up to slowly as not to overwhelm them... Now to train Russell... :)

Cheers Damaris

More on decluttering. :)

Lovely cleared up coffee table...

This is what our babies where doing while I worked. lol

Today I have been busy already... Joshua was busy this morning in 2 degree cold making sure I had plenty of wood for the day. He brought up three crates worth. Thank goodness we have a trolley to help. The back would not be in good condition otherwise. :)

Decluttered the whole coffee table and three drawers. One is stuck and will pay anyone $5 if they can open it. Will offer that to the kids and see who can do it... :) Looks nice and neat again now... Wii fitness board has a new home as well and DVD's are stored properly...

Have also done the painting table this morning. Put my brushes away for now as not using them and set it up so that I can actually paint. hehe I intend to after putting away the bread, cooled muffins and bikkies from this mornings efforts. :) Relaxing time then... Oh no forgot got to do the top of the Walk In Robe first. Then it is all ready and waiting for Russell to come home to and be amazed. lol

I can't wait to see his face when he walks in... So much still to do but I had a list on my iPhone, yep am still a list girl... and it was over two pages. Is only 11.6 and already I have less than one page left. Yay!!! Have now organised to strictly do certain jobs on certain days that MUST get done so that I do my whole list by end of June. Is very, very doable. :)

Cheers Damaris

Getting stuff done...

Major rearranging has been done at the base of the pantry...

My vacuum cleaner finally has a home. :) (behind the ironing board)

The smaller Toy box that is left...

This was binned... :) :)

This week's challenge was do declutter the pantry and the toy box, amongst other things...

In the pantry I got rid of a 150 litre container of bottles that had lovingly been collected over the years but not used for the last four so out they went. Into the recycling bin which is being picked up tomorrow morning. :)

I also rearranged the other side of my pantry so that now I have the vacuum cleaner packed away and the ironing board is not in the road. I hate having it in there but there is no room elsewhere... So now it is nicely tucked away and I can get to my shelves much easier. :)

The toy box went from a 150 litre container to 95. I am sooo happy about that one as it was causing me stress having it in the lounge room area all the time. Now the Lego is in its old container still but under Joshua's bed. Timothy has another large container now to put more of his rocks into which works out well for him as well. And it is out of my life so to speak. Win, win I say. :)

So yesterday and today has been very successful... Also got rid of another seven towels that have been with me since I married Russell 17 years ago. They can go to another home for sure. :) Another blanket also gone, don't tell Timothy it is his favourite but it is sooooo frayed it just has to go. He is not home right now so will put it in my car for charity now while he is not here. :)

Tomorrow is all about the Tupperware cupboard and my walk in robe. :) I can't wait for Russell to come home at the end of the week and he finds an actual place to put his suitcase and not just dump it when he walks in... It will have its own special place. :)

Cheers Damaris

I know Winter is on it's way when...

Soothing cream for my hands. :)

For the last three weeks or so I have noticed a huge difference in my hands after doing dishes... They crack up and go all yuck. The other thing I find is that my fingers split. That is painful... Have allot of cream around the place during Winter for that reason. I am getting better with wearing gloves when doing dishes but have a way to go on the consistency bit... :)

So here is hoping that this Winter, with more cream and my new nightly ritual of creaming myself including elbows, knees and heels I won't suffer so much this year.

Another reason why when the fireplace is crackling up a storm I have a bowl of water on top all the time so that we don't get dehydrated...

Cheers Damaris

Let's Declutter...

Stuff for charity. :)

My friend Lisa is culling stuff at her house at the moment... I encouraged her to get started on Wednesday by helping her fill two boxes. This is the stuff that went to Charity with me yesterday... Love to cull. Love to declutter... Even if it is at someone else's house. hehe

Cheers Damaris

What are you doing today???

Hope I have time to paint today. Missing it...

Yesterday I treated myself to a pedicure in town. Love it when I get a chance to do that. Today though I need to bake two loaves of bread, bake a heap of muffins with pear as well as carob and make yoghurt chicken for dinner.

Russell comes home tonight and I can't wait to see him. I like to have a nice meal ready for him for when he walks in the door. I know he appreciates it also so easy to do. :)

So today my day consists of using my Thermomix allot, hanging out washing and bringing in washing, folding and putting it away. I will also try and get some painting in there as well... Quick sweep of the floor and I am done for the week. :)

Cheers Damaris

Steam Mop...

Mop 'sock'

I had never thought of getting one of these but when I was at Margaret's not long ago, I saw the end result of where she had used a friend of hers and the end result was amazing. I had wanted to get one since then if only to make cleaning the floors easier than using a mop.

Russell normally does the job of mopping but I wanted to be able to do it myself. He has been a fabulous help ever since my hand operation but felt the need to take that job back off him. As it is he is still ironing his own shirts. Now that I don't mind so much... hehe

So I ordered one online and had it delivered. I got it out and all the bits fitted. It did a great job hissing at me and then I started to use it. I must say that it is still very heavy for me and at the end of doing my whole house, I can say that I was exhausted. My hand was rather sore too... Must do it in two goes next time. I ended up using three of the cotton 'socks' as I call them for the base for cleaning. I only refilled it once so got the house done with 1.6l of water. It got some very old shoe marks off as well which I thought was wonderful. The tiles in the bathroom and toilet have not looked that good in a while either...

Probably not something that I would use every week though but good to have for those extra good cleans. :)

On another note today is my 200th post. Woohoo... Can't believe it that I am there already. :)

Cheers Damaris

Finally a tidy Linen closet again...

Nice and neat, just what I like...

I like to have my linen closet, any closet for that matter, very nice and tidy. Helps me to be calm and ensures that I can find what I need when I need it.

Well, the Linen was starting to go all over the place. Piles were starting to merge and there was way too much stuff in there that was not even being used... So drastic action was called for. :)

I ended up taking down the towels from the top shelf so that the boys would be able to reach it as well. No more messy piles there. :) I also got rid of flat single sheets and will actually cut them up into cleaning rags. I don't use them on the beds so why have them in the cupboard.

I got rid of a 94l container full of just stuff. There was even material from 20 years ago that I found. Might make something out of that one day. Yeah right!!!

All in all I took 8 large recycle bags to Lifeline. They loved me off course. :) Hope allot of people benefit from my newly rearranged linen closet. :)

Cheers Damaris

Timothy's Room is done...

Displaying a small amount of his gems, rocks and minerals...

Must have lots of pillows... lol

Wow, how clean is that???

I have been doing his room for a while now. Little by little... Only problem is that there was so much dust in there that I kept giving up. Russell was kind enough last weekend to get all the stuff out of his room and off the floor so that I could slowly keep going. But with a more steady 'have a go' attitude. Well it worked and the end result has been fantastic.

I love his room and Timothy does as well. He keeps commenting on how beautiful it is. I am glad as an Asperger's boy it was very, very hard for him to let me in there in the first place. He wanted everything the way it was for the last six months but that just was not happening anymore. On the other hand I am glad that I did take my time in the end as he saw the little progress that I would make each day and get used to it that way, in his own way.

The last two days have had the most dramatic changes and I am glad that he has responded to the changes as well as he did. He is growing up, my boy...

I am also very proud of him for listening to me about where things go and what he needs to do in order for the room to stay in the condition that he now loves. He also loves to spend time in there now which is nice to see. :)

I am sooooo determined not to let it get the other way again. I think also that he is as well as he could see the huge difference it made. It was also great to go through the whole room, from top to bottom and redo it as though he had just moved in. Was very refreshing to do. Charity is also very happy with me. :)

Cheers Damaris

Shining my sink...

Love to shine my sink...

One side of my kitchen...

A few months ago I joined a group online called 'Flylady' and 'The Organizer Lady'. These two sites have helped me immensely. From Flylady I got the organising journal that I have put in a folder and with that I have everything and every routine written down. If something happens to me, the house will still be cleaned and so forth. For me it was not a 'just in case something happens to me'. More of a lesson for me putting pencil to paper and committing to a new way of doing things. It has worked. I don't need her daily emails anymore and frankly after a daily dose of 'come and buy my stuff' have had enough.

The Organizer Lady I have kept around as she focuses on new things every day. She makes me think. She encourages me when I don't want to 'shine my sink'. For months I have been reading about doing that simple act and couldn't be bothered. Why have the sink completely dry and without any dishes if you are just gonna mess it up again anyway??? Well I did do it early last week and what a transformation it has made in me. I can't believe it. I didn't just want to have my sink neat and tidy but then the benches as well. The the drawers, cupboards, stove top etc, etc, etc.

Now my kitchen only has the oven left to be cleaned and under the sink and my baking dishes and I have redone my whole kitchen. And let me tell you it is big enough... I did eight draws and cupboards the other day in just two short hours. I was on fire... It was amazing and I loved it. The end result of those are already on here in a previous post but wanted to take the time to encourage you to try it as well. I must admit that I have always enjoyed cleaning and tidying up but lately it has been hard to feel motivated. This has done the trick and the rest of the house is in trouble... hehe

Others have since asked whether I can come and do theirs as well for them... Not really the point in learning to do it yourself. Not that I mind helping out. I don't at all and have done it many times before. The boys and Russell are also more careful now to wash up dishes now and put things away straight away. Timothy has a long way to go but the other two are sooo on board. They can see the difference it has made in me and how much happier and relaxed I am knowing that all is tidy. Knowing that if someone did drop in, I would not panic...It is amazing the sense of achievement that I feel when I go to leave my kitchen at night, knowing that nothing is left out, all it tidy and put away in its place. Leaves me very peaceful...

The two websites say to do things at 10 or 15 minutes at a time and that was great to do for a start but the bug of getting it done soon caught and I am on a roll. Joshua is about to have an operation on his nose, which means that we are restricted to staying home all day for a whole two weeks. I was dreading this at first. He is such an active little man but now am really looking forward to it as I have to stay home. I have no choice. So the house will get what it deserves. A huge declutter and rearranging. Timothy's room is a work in progress and should be completed tomorrow. There is my painting table and area to do, the woodpile needs decluttering. Doesn't even need to be inside at this time of year. It is way too hot for a fire... Then there is my walk-in-robe... My three linen cupboards can do with a straightening up and my mending pile needs to be done once and for all. It has been hanging around for way too long... So there you have my 'To do' list. I am accountable now and will update you on how I go. :) I can't wait... Let the challenge commence. :)

Cheers Damaris

Been a busy little Bee...

Have downsized my cup collection. :)

No more overloaded dish draw.

I realise I have two meat tenderisers, one from my Oma and one from my Brother Christian. There was no way either was leaving my house. lol

Order, I love it. :)

All the plastics have a place now...

Lids to be cut up into labels for Russell's Greenhouse. :)

Even found Herbal Tea - exp 1999. Ooops

Today I hid away from the world started out cleaning Timothy's room. He is at Bluecare for the next couple of days and I thought that I would take this opportunity to clear out all his stuff. I am sure he will love the end result. That will hopefully be by end of Monday... I love it all nice, neat and orderly. He likes to take things out, put them down and then you can't touch them again. So they stay there and get very dusty. I realise that it is apart of his Asperger's as many children that I know like him do the same... It is his security thing but drives me mental... But I started sneezing after only getting all the clothes off the floor and bed. So that was the end of that...

So I started on my kitchen and look at what I did... I kept going from one cupboard to another, one draw after another. It was fantastic. Everything is in order. And boy did I declutter. I had collected containers for years and never used them. Out they went in the recylcing. I had lids for whatever reason I have no idea, out they went as well. I got rid of plastic cutlery and paper plates that I will never use and will give them to a family I know is in need of them at the moment as they wait for their house to be completed. A heap of utensils will go to the Maryvale School of Arts Hall as I have no need for them and they are always welcome there. Anyone that knows me, knows I love to collect cups, big ones especially... Well I have downsized and am loving it. I love the space I have left on the shelf. Less really is More... I just need to do my baking dishes, under the sink and one shelf of recipes and then I am completely done. Woohoo... Didn't set out to do that today but am very happy all the same... Enjoy the tour around my kitchen. :)

Cheers Damaris