Decluttering and home maintenance

Working on some of the hard declutter today. We're going to pass on a spare dining table to Older Daughter for use in her craft room. It's a bit difficult to get to. There's stuff around and under it that was moved there in a big hurry when our house flooded back in 2011, but I'd previously been using the top of it as a sorting and display area for some of my pottery work. There's a big heavy glass display cabinet on top of the table which will need both Hubby and I to move. That's nearly empty now. Some of the pottery has been relocated, some packed in a box. And doing that feels sad. Memories of what I used to do...

Once the table's out, that space will be semi-reclaimed. The display cabinet will go on the floor and will take up roughly half the space the table was in. And then I'll have better access to my work area... which I'll need to pack up and put out in my shed to "mothball" until whenever. There's another couple of pieces of furniture in that space that we won't bother keeping, and some that I want to move elsewhere. We're intending on moving the "special" bits of furniture from my parents' house into that room, so if I can get access to the stuff we don't want and pass it on, hey wow, we might actually have enough room for those things.

Ooooh, I can so relate! 😛

Had a do-nothing day yesterday, had a got-a-little-bit-done day today. Namely pulling some unwanted paper stuff out from under the table that's going to older daughter's house. Most of that will disappear into the woodstove when I light it this evening. Grabbed out a few bits of rubbish that can head for the bin too. And there's some gardening magazines that I don't think I want. I'll give them a cursory glance over, and if not, they can go to the neighbourhood house book swap shelves.

Have also cleaned out underneath the bunny pens and put some mulchy stuff underneath them to catch their fertiliser deposits, and put the cleaned out stuff into some big plastic pots to use on the spring veggies. We've got another trip to my parents' house next week, and I'd prefer the bunnies weren't too smelly for the friend who will be feeding them.

Fellow declutterers in the Melbourne region might be interested in this opportunity of donating unwanted clothing to the Austin Hospital Mental Health Unit WardRobe

Trailer load of green waste and another load of cardboard to the tip today. And an old metal slide that the boys have outgrown to scrap metal.

I was going to take an old massage chair also but changed my mind at the last minute.

Would love to get it fixed. But is has been sitting inactive for 5+ years so probably should just close my eyes and dump it 😥

Happy with the days efforts though.

Two smaller items palmed off this week, a plant pot on a stand that I had been given and was not likely to use and a vase that the previous home owner had left here (and had been offered back to her along with a number of other items).

Not much happening here at the moment, because we've been busy helping out Older Son. Older Daughter didn't cope with cleaning up when she moved out of the place they were sharing. Older Son has had to take on most of the housework while they were sharing, and that plus all the emergencies plus the difficult background behaviours have left his anxiety sky high, so he wasn't managing to tackle the rather big clean-up himself... so the place was looking messy, and he got a breach notice from the agents.

It wasn't just the rooms she was using, the shared spaces and his bedroom were messy too. So we've de-cobwebbed and de-mildewed and cleaned windows and walls and ovens and stovetops and benchtops, and packed all sorts of stuff in boxes into empty wardrobes. He's been tackling whatever he could cope with, and feeling bad about not being able to do more. I keep telling him relax... we get it. Inspection is tomorrow, cleaining is down to last things like sweeping, mopping and vacuuming, which he's pretty confident he can do himself. There's some issues which are actually the owners' problem. One mildew-y wall turned out to have a water leak getting in, so we'll be pointing that out to the agent. Responsibility goes both ways.

I think he'll manage OK looking after the place now that he's got the chance at a fresh start. The stuff in the wardobes will need to come out for proper sorting at some stage, but that can wait until the present stress is over and he's more in a state of mind to deal with it.

Am kinda frustrated that he's put so much energy into helping his sister, but she's very chatty/articulate, and he's not (very intelligent, but not articulate), so people get the impression that she's the one keeping things in order. More to the point, she needs to feel "in control", but that's not the same thing. And the place she's moved into is very very full up with all her craft stuff. We're trying to discourage her from buying more so that she uses up her current very big supply, but she's not good at saying no to herself. Hoping she's not the next one to get a breach notice.

Another pruning job out of the way this morning.

Power line maintenance crew doing line checks and clearing. More than happy to make a couple more cuts than necessary (for power lines) for me. Service with a smile 😃

Extra bonus. As a thank you, I was able to re-home a box of beverage that was gifted to me that I don't normally consume. The recipient was most grateful.

There is an additional branch that would have been nice to see go (all overhanging from neighbour yard) but has a baby possum living in it so left that one alone.

@Determined Unwanted beverages out the door = yay

Donated a container of small tiles (found as we tidied up our garden) to an op shop that has someone come in for mosaic supplies.