Re-booting the blog::organising life

 

This past weekend I attacked my paperwork. I found payslips from 1999 (my first real, paid job, as a short-term paralegal for a big city law firm); shredded a shoebox and a tote bag full of stuff that needed shredding, and then promptly re-filled the tote bag, to the brim, with MORE paperwork that needs to be shredded. I'm almost tempted to see if the cats would prefer shredded paper to their current litter. (Don't worry, I'm not going to do that.)

Dealing with the paperwork is something I've been needing to do for AGES. And not just because it included 21 year old payslips (although that's part of it).  For a while I was really organised with my paperwork. I had yearly folders with all my statements, bills, tax paperwork etc. And then somewhere along the line I just... stopped keeping it all organised. These days, there's a lot less actual paper to deal with, and I can't just go back to the processes I used to use: but I also want to get back to having a sense of Being Organised - and not just with the paperwork.

I want to get myself, my house and my time organised - and I'm going to need some fake accountability to get it done.

Which is why I'm resurrecting this blog. As fake accountability. Or real accountability, if it turns out that anyone is actually out there reading this thing... In the meantime, I'll just write into the ether about my attempts at decluttering, coming up with routines, and things like that.

I'm hardly the first person to do this.  Heck, I just finished reading Cait Flanders' The Year of Less, which started with a shopping ban that she documented on her blog. (I can't say I recommend the book, but I might write about why in a few days' time...) But fake accountability is still accountability, and let's see how this experiment goes.

I gave myself a goal this year to declutter at least 20 items from (most) rooms in the house. I've still got two and a bit months left to reach that goal - not entirely sure I'll make it, but then again, I still think it's possible. Honestly I think the question is mostly about just knuckling down and doing it. That's one of the things I want to record here. Another is just ongoing organising/cleaning/decluttering projects and my progress: again - maybe if I write down here that my goal for tomorrow is to finally tidy up and sort the Biographies bookshelf (one of those unfinished jobs from when we moved in over five years ago... when I kind of shoved some books in the bottom two shelves and gave up) then maybe I'll actually do it. Maybe? I might even provide Before/After photos.  Maybe if I write down here that I want to do a serious clean out of my physical scrapbooking materials - see if I can sell some of them online, and commit to throwing out the rest - maybe I'll actually do that. To be quite honest - this whole thing is an experiment.  I'm curious to see where it goes (if anywhere).

Planner sticker freebie!

In the last six months or so I've been totally getting into using planner stickers, mostly sourced from freebies available on Pinterest, but now I've started making my own.

I've got a couple of potential freebies in the works, but this one is time sensitive, so I'm posting it today.

I do a daily, physical Project Life album in December - this will be my fourth year! To help me always have something to document, I tend to choose a set of prompts, and this year, because I'm using my planner way more often to keep me on track with the day, I thought I'd do a set of planner stickers with my prompts.  (The prompts, with one exception, come from Felicity Jane's prompts for last year.

  

The second photo is the stickers "in use", along with the first ever set of stickers I made for myself, from Dreamn4ever Designs' "Summer Love" kit.  I'm not entirely happy with a couple of things, but, trial and error, right?

The "Prompts" set has two designs - one with the day number for each prompt, the other without. I've also done a set of stickers without the prompts, in case that's something you'd like. You could also use them for other projects this festive season - use the first 25 in an Advent calendar, or 30 if you're doing 30 Lists December.

To download these freebies, follow these links:

December Prompts.pdf

December Blank.pdf

These are only available in .pdf.  Next on my list to learn is how to set cut lines so that I can provide cut files for Silhouette Studio.

If you want to share these freebies with others, please link to this page rather than directly to the files. Thank you!

Adventures of a housewife

So - just over a month ago I was made redundant. For the moment, therefore, I am an aspiring writer

and actual housewife.

I've been trying hard to come up with a cleaning schedule that doesn't take too much time out of my day (I really do want to be focusing on my writing, and on some goal setting and other self-care type things) and nothing has been sticking so far.

But for ages I've loved the Spotless books by Shannon Lush and Jennifer Fleming.  I have the books in my reference library and pull them out any time I spill anything. (With our two gorgeous cats I am looking forward to getting my hands on Spotless Pets, believe me!)  And their book Speedcleaning is exactly what I needed right now.

Over the weekend I've been reading the book cover to cover: sorted out what the best order for the rooms during the week was (my main thing was putting the kitchen on the day before the bins are collected: important for cleaning out the fridge!) and put together my cleaning kit and clutter basket (see photo).  I also put the tasks into my Home Routines app which - when I use it properly - is really useful for me.

Today was my first proper day of using the Speed Cleaning schedule. What I have to keep reminding myself is that I'm starting from messy: the whole house is not going to be perfect and sparkling after one day.  In fact, I probably shouldn't expect a perfectly clean house after one whole week.  The daily tasks are also taking longer than I'd like today, but again, that's because I'm not starting from tidy.  I need to not be too hard on myself, and celebrate the achievements I've made not what I haven't got done.

A photo I wanted to share

Made the chocolate shortbread from @alicearndell's 'Bake Me Home' for Fathers Day afternoon tea, but my parents arrived before it was quite cool. Still delicious, though. #bakingadventures #chezstutters

Pokewalk report - 5 August

Actual, actual sun!

I headed down to Sumsion Gardens today (rumoured to be the best place in town for hunting Pokemon).  This is somewhere I remembered from my childhood, but it's been developed beyond recognition since my childhood and is now a really lovely place (even if it does have a random waterspout that is trying to be Canberra.)

My Fitbit recorded 37 active minutes, during which I did two circuits of the lake, caught my first ever Drantini, Horsea, Magikarp, and Psyduck, and hatched an Oddish.  Also caught a few Rattata, Pidgey, Venonat, and Slowpoke.

Well worth the effort.

Pokewalk report - 29 July 16

The sun was shining (at least, more than it has been recently) and my "nearby" box was showing some interesting silhouettes.  Also, it was Friday, which is my non-work day and a day on which I always intend to get exercise and yet, never seem to. And so, at about 11.35 I ventured out on my first "real", Pokemon-hunting walk.

I realised fairly quickly that I'm not comfortable specifically hunting Pokemon.  I very quickly decided on a route that would take me past a couple of local poke stops, and decided that if Pokemon popped up I would catch them (or try to) but I wouldn't use Pokevision to find out what was nearby, or worry myself about why little green explosions near me weren't turning into Pokemon to catch.

The result of this walk was:

Five entirely new Pokemon caught: Clefairy, Geodude, Hitmonlee, Staryu, and Bulbasaur (who is possibly the cutest EVAR!)

2 each of Duduo, Rattata and Pidgey
1 each of Golbat, Poliwag, Spearow, Caterpie, Bellsprout, and Zubat

1 rascally Poliwag ran away, and
2 eggs hatched.  One was 300m off hatching when I began, but I put another in the incubator when that one hatched, and that second (2km) egg hatched just as I got home.

ALSO: I've registered 41 "active minutes" on my Fitbit, and am almost at 5k steps for the day when I often don't get above 2k on a Friday.

You know what?  I'm proud of myself.

A photo I wanted to share

The beginning of tomorrow's layout: need to work on lining up that stamp, huh? Stamp is from my fave @kellie.stamps, stickers from the BRIGHT DAYS collection by @myplannerenvy. (Also testing whether my ITTT cross-posting rule is still in effect.) #bulletjournal #planneraddict #chezstutters