Well, I have slowly been working on the 30 day declutter, with the end of November approaching I still have plenty to do, but I have made some progess. Here is list of the more recent things I have either gotten rid of or have ready to donate:
28-41: Going through my wardrobe I have so far come up with 13 items to give away
42-48: Binder I saved from my college years
49: a watch I only got as we forgot our watches when we went on our honeymoon
50-54: two notebooks and three dou-tangs
55: a make up bag that is too small to be useful to me
So I have found more things that I have not used for a long time and therefore should not be hanging on to. However I still have some work to do to get to 90 items within the next couple of days!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
30 Day Declutter: Progress
I decided to participate in the 30 day declutter from a "Thrifty Mrs" blog, you can find a link to her blog over on the right. The goal is to get rid of 90 things in 30 day, so I have until the end of November, however if you are just starting now you could set your time line as 30 days from now. I am a pack rat and definitely need to get rid of some things. So far I have given away/gotten rid of:
1) a tank top
2) a halter top
3) a scort
4) a CD stand
5) a small shelf made from press board (I hate that stuff)
6) a bag of craft stuff (purchased for a friends 4 year old daughter who did not end up coming when my friend came to visit)
7 & 8) two bath gift sets
9) some bubble bath
10) some hotel soaps and lotions
11 & 12) two photo albums that I am not going to use
13) an easel
14) a gift bag (very large that I haven't used)
15) a dry erase calender
16) dry erase markers
17) a coffee tin I decorated for donations
18) a basket
19) styrofoam plates (I hate styrofoam)
20) tin foil baking trays
21) some icing in tubes (I make my own)
22) a book
23) a candle holder
24) old speakers
25) a pillow
26) egg cartons and clementine boxes I saved because I thought they would be useful for crafts
27) a 2 in 1 DVD player VHS, where the DVD part quit
So this is my progress so far. I don't think I am doing too badly, but I am going to need to step it up if I am to get rid of 90 things before the end of November. Hopefully this weekend when I clean the closet I can find some more things to go. It's nice to get rid of these things that I haven't actually used in a very long time.
1) a tank top
2) a halter top
3) a scort
4) a CD stand
5) a small shelf made from press board (I hate that stuff)
6) a bag of craft stuff (purchased for a friends 4 year old daughter who did not end up coming when my friend came to visit)
7 & 8) two bath gift sets
9) some bubble bath
10) some hotel soaps and lotions
11 & 12) two photo albums that I am not going to use
13) an easel
14) a gift bag (very large that I haven't used)
15) a dry erase calender
16) dry erase markers
17) a coffee tin I decorated for donations
18) a basket
19) styrofoam plates (I hate styrofoam)
20) tin foil baking trays
21) some icing in tubes (I make my own)
22) a book
23) a candle holder
24) old speakers
25) a pillow
26) egg cartons and clementine boxes I saved because I thought they would be useful for crafts
27) a 2 in 1 DVD player VHS, where the DVD part quit
So this is my progress so far. I don't think I am doing too badly, but I am going to need to step it up if I am to get rid of 90 things before the end of November. Hopefully this weekend when I clean the closet I can find some more things to go. It's nice to get rid of these things that I haven't actually used in a very long time.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Aberfoyle Fall Antique Market
After my past few posts focusing on my household redecorating misadventures and organizing plans I thought it was time to post about something fun! Back in September I went to the Aberfoyle Fall Antique Market. It is an antique market that, in the spring and fall has extra vendors. I found some lovely finds, mostly just little things.
I have a love of old fashion mason jars so my first find was the jars below, I picked up 6 at $3 each. I love this style and only actually had one in this style before I found these.
Next I found some necklaces! I think all but the white one are vintage. I paid $5 each for the white, red and green ones and $10 for the blue one. The green and blue ones are my favourites! They are great for dressing up an otherwise casual outfit! I also got a pair of vintage clip on earrings, they are (I think) ceramic roses and very cute but I forgot to get a picture of them.
Next I found the jewery box pictured below. I didn't buy it right away as it was $35 and I wasn't sure I wanted to pay that much for a jewery box, but I just loved it and so went back to get before we left. I just love the picture on the lid and the carving on the box!
My very last find of the day was the best as it was something I have been keeping my eye out for. It is the lovely wooden tray pictured below! I am refinishing an old steamer trunk to use as a coffee table and I wanted a nice tray for the top that way I can set everything in the tray and just lift it when I need in the trunk. It is a gorgeous tray, with tons of detailed carving! I actually found it at a vendor selling books and it wasn't actually for sale but when I asked about it they said I could have it for $10! That was a great deal, though as I got talking to the lovely lady running the booth with her husband I got the impression that she thought the tray was plastic, though after buying it and inspecting it later, it most definitely is wood. There is even carving on the outside edges. Though it does need a cleaning.
All in all it was a fun day out. I went with my mother and my two younger sisters.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
November Objectives!
As you know from previous posts my husband and I are expecting our first child in mid-December. And while this is a very exciting time for us I have decided that I should set some objects to complete before the end of November.
Objective 1: Organize Organize Organize
I don't know about you but some how all my closets (not that there are many of those in our old farm house!) and dressers seem and other areas that are not main living spaces seem to multiply clutter! Not only that but, good intentions gone bad! I emptied my dresser as currently much of my wardrobe does not fit, so I could put my maternity clothes away. My mistake was taking everything out of the drawers and dumping it in the laundry basket in the corner (which is now stacked and overflowing!). Probably not the smartest move! My INTENT was to wash everything and line dry it then put away in rubbermaid totes. Ha! Hasn't happened yet! So that is on the "to do" list for this weekend.
We have a large crawl space in the bathroom behind the tub which I use for storage, primarily seasonal decorations and gift wrap. Well I finally got this organized last week! So yay, one thing off the list. Since it's a small area with a slanted ceiling I can't really use those nice closet organizers. So I used rubbermaid totes, which are at least stackable. Now I don't have tons of overflowing cardboard boxes. I also set a limit. I tend to keep little boxes and baskets for hard to warp items, so I only kept what would fit in one bin. I did the same with the wrapping paper. I ended up with a large box of recycling and a grocery bag full of garbage by the end, but it is done!
We only have one closet for clothing in the whole house, it is at the end of the hall and of course has a slanted ceiling so I can not put in any shelving above the bar for hang items. I need to remove all the clothing that doesn't currently fit and I tend to toss items that I haven't found a proper home for in the bottom of the closet so this needs to be cleaned out and organized. I have started by placing all the Christmas gifts I have bought so far in a tote so they are in one spot and not all over the place.
I am also trying to declutter and get rid of things that I don't use. So yesterday I took the CD stand and put all the discs with their booklets into one of those CD books which will fit into a drawer rather than have this large and rather ugly plastic stand taking up space.
Also on my hit list is the dreaded laundry room! Due to the lack of storage in the house this is also one of those sort of "catch all" areas! It's piled with things and I figure since we haven't used most of it in the past year it's time to toss/recycle/donate a great deal of it. There is a counter in there with cupboards that must be cleaned out and I intend to designate one for laundry soap/clothes pins/etc. and use the rest for items we only use seasonally such as canning jars.
Objective 2: Complete Projects!
I have three projects on the go that I need to complete! First and most importantly is our bedroom, we are currently in the room that will be the babys room so I need to get this done ASAP so we can get the babys room all set up. I already painted. Our home was a rental for 20+ years before we bought it so it needs alot of TLC. I have posted about the bedroom I am working on, I have had a couple of set backs making it take longer. First upon ripping up the carpet (after stripping wallpaper and patching cracked plaster!) we found a rather large hole in the floor that had been patched with pressure treated lumber! So we had to rip that out, get some pine and redo that. Then I had to stain it to match the lovely aged pine of the rest of the floor (I haven't posted that yet, I just did that yesterday). And now I have to redo around the chimney since when they did our roof, the front part was done previously, apparently their working loosened the flashing on the side of the chimney they were not working on and so we got water running down inside, it ran down behind the paint and also made some of the mudding compound run. But I have to wait until it rains again before fixing it to ensure that it is indeed fixed. We have been using polymerized tung oil on the floor so I will have to check tonight to see if it will need another coat or not, we have put on about 4 coats so far, and the last one was starting to get the nice glassy finish, but a few areas were still soaking in. Then I can paint the trim and lastly install my lovely new light.
I am also working on refinishing a steamer trunk (the garish red one from a previous post). I am finding cleaning the metal to be a very difficult job. I am going to remove the canvas as we like the natural wood look. Once the metal is cleaned it won't take long to finish.
And lastly I started a quilt. I have all the strips for it cut and started sewing it together but I set it aside as I need to focus on one project at a time to get it done in a timely manner and right now the most important project is the bedroom. I have been working on the trunk when we have put another coat of finish on the floor of the bedroom as obviously I can not work in there at that point. The quilt is the last item on the list since though I did it in shades of green for the baby it does not really need to be done before baby arrives.
Wish me luck on my organizing, decluttering and finishing off projects!
Objective 1: Organize Organize Organize
I don't know about you but some how all my closets (not that there are many of those in our old farm house!) and dressers seem and other areas that are not main living spaces seem to multiply clutter! Not only that but, good intentions gone bad! I emptied my dresser as currently much of my wardrobe does not fit, so I could put my maternity clothes away. My mistake was taking everything out of the drawers and dumping it in the laundry basket in the corner (which is now stacked and overflowing!). Probably not the smartest move! My INTENT was to wash everything and line dry it then put away in rubbermaid totes. Ha! Hasn't happened yet! So that is on the "to do" list for this weekend.
We have a large crawl space in the bathroom behind the tub which I use for storage, primarily seasonal decorations and gift wrap. Well I finally got this organized last week! So yay, one thing off the list. Since it's a small area with a slanted ceiling I can't really use those nice closet organizers. So I used rubbermaid totes, which are at least stackable. Now I don't have tons of overflowing cardboard boxes. I also set a limit. I tend to keep little boxes and baskets for hard to warp items, so I only kept what would fit in one bin. I did the same with the wrapping paper. I ended up with a large box of recycling and a grocery bag full of garbage by the end, but it is done!
We only have one closet for clothing in the whole house, it is at the end of the hall and of course has a slanted ceiling so I can not put in any shelving above the bar for hang items. I need to remove all the clothing that doesn't currently fit and I tend to toss items that I haven't found a proper home for in the bottom of the closet so this needs to be cleaned out and organized. I have started by placing all the Christmas gifts I have bought so far in a tote so they are in one spot and not all over the place.
I am also trying to declutter and get rid of things that I don't use. So yesterday I took the CD stand and put all the discs with their booklets into one of those CD books which will fit into a drawer rather than have this large and rather ugly plastic stand taking up space.
Also on my hit list is the dreaded laundry room! Due to the lack of storage in the house this is also one of those sort of "catch all" areas! It's piled with things and I figure since we haven't used most of it in the past year it's time to toss/recycle/donate a great deal of it. There is a counter in there with cupboards that must be cleaned out and I intend to designate one for laundry soap/clothes pins/etc. and use the rest for items we only use seasonally such as canning jars.
Objective 2: Complete Projects!
I have three projects on the go that I need to complete! First and most importantly is our bedroom, we are currently in the room that will be the babys room so I need to get this done ASAP so we can get the babys room all set up. I already painted. Our home was a rental for 20+ years before we bought it so it needs alot of TLC. I have posted about the bedroom I am working on, I have had a couple of set backs making it take longer. First upon ripping up the carpet (after stripping wallpaper and patching cracked plaster!) we found a rather large hole in the floor that had been patched with pressure treated lumber! So we had to rip that out, get some pine and redo that. Then I had to stain it to match the lovely aged pine of the rest of the floor (I haven't posted that yet, I just did that yesterday). And now I have to redo around the chimney since when they did our roof, the front part was done previously, apparently their working loosened the flashing on the side of the chimney they were not working on and so we got water running down inside, it ran down behind the paint and also made some of the mudding compound run. But I have to wait until it rains again before fixing it to ensure that it is indeed fixed. We have been using polymerized tung oil on the floor so I will have to check tonight to see if it will need another coat or not, we have put on about 4 coats so far, and the last one was starting to get the nice glassy finish, but a few areas were still soaking in. Then I can paint the trim and lastly install my lovely new light.
I am also working on refinishing a steamer trunk (the garish red one from a previous post). I am finding cleaning the metal to be a very difficult job. I am going to remove the canvas as we like the natural wood look. Once the metal is cleaned it won't take long to finish.
And lastly I started a quilt. I have all the strips for it cut and started sewing it together but I set it aside as I need to focus on one project at a time to get it done in a timely manner and right now the most important project is the bedroom. I have been working on the trunk when we have put another coat of finish on the floor of the bedroom as obviously I can not work in there at that point. The quilt is the last item on the list since though I did it in shades of green for the baby it does not really need to be done before baby arrives.
Wish me luck on my organizing, decluttering and finishing off projects!
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