Decluttering and home maintenance

[Smc]

Ditto here @Former-Member. I've been going through the boxes cluttering around our dining table. Found one that was already full of recycling that never made it out to the bin- facepalm moment. 😛
So I've added heaps more unwanted papers to go, and packed away a few books and magazines that are "keepers" plus some other oddment objects I came across. That's two medium-ish boxfuls worth going out the door. 🙂

[Former-Member]

Trust history does not repeat and recyclables now in situ in bin @Smc 😀

One other little job I got done was install some sonic animal whistles that had been decorating a kitchen bench for some time.

[Smc]

@Former-Member, the plastics are in the bin. The papers will go into the worm farm instead, so I need to soak them first.

[Former-Member]

Don't mnd me @Smc, just being a little cheeky 😀. Lovely you've made progress.

The few bits I have dealt with have only made a small dent in my current region of interest, but every little bit counts. 😀

[Smc]

No offence even vaguely taken @Former-Member. 😄
It was a good question to ask, because the little bits do help, but only if they don't continue slipping back again. That's our ongoing struggle.

[Former-Member]

Know that only too well @Smc 😬.   

I am just so over the mess and not looking after the things we have or not being able to readily locate an item.  

[Smc]

@Former-Member, Sounds like us. All the little jobs that should be so easy to do if we weren't so burnt out from the big stuff happening.

Am hoping that we can have a reasonably civilised space to sit down in when a bunch of old friends will be here later in the week. They're people who will be understanding if the edges are muzzy, but gotta at least have enough space for them!

[Former-Member]

We have made a lot of progress, especially with the bigger things @Smc, probably as we are not in crisis and after getting some counselling and understanding things I am coping heaps better. Still working on the one thing in two things out rule and am trying to be realistic in relation to probable future use of items currently out of service.

The acronym SPACE that I got from a book written by Julie Morgenstern made all the difference to me, particularly the containerising.  I use the word "Evaluate" for E as it is the concept she was conveying and I find it a lot more user friendly.

Maintaining tidiness has been a problem and I am working hard on doing that, we have been so pleased with the progress that I really do not feel the need to buy things that we don't need. 

[Smc]

Something I mentioned to Hubby last night was that I'm trying to put things in a place that can be their permanent "home" (A= Assign a home...) but if I can't actually do that at present, at least putting it near its proper place. Correct room if nothing else.

Have just cleared the "papers" section of the worm farm, put the castings in the top tier of the farm with the lid off to encourage the worms to move down, put the chunky undigested bits aside to "seed" the next lot of papers, and started the first bucketful of "new" stuff "soaking. The papers go right down the bottom in an old garbage bin with drainage holes, so any worms or worm juices making their way out the bottom end up in there. The top tiers are regular worm farm tiers and that's where animal bedding and food scraps go. A nice little natural disposal system. 🙂

I guess we're still in on and off crisis mode here. Want to make some progress regardless though. Backgound mess is in part a result of crisis mode, but at the same time it makes things worse by being a source of overwhelm in its own right.

[Smc]

More papers sorted today. I found a boxful of old student stuff from my studies back pre-2009... While it was worth keeping then (I think?), by now much of it is irrelevant. 

I filled up the papers part of the worm farm earlier today. Up to the brim. I've now got another boxful to go... I might be setting up another papers worm bin.

So this means the tally of "emptied boxes" is creeping up, and the floor space is slowly but surely re-emerging. 🙂

Might be calling it quits for today. I think the old paper work sits around for too long because every single piece needs at least to be glanced over. At least most of it only needs that glance to make a decision.