Decluttering and home maintenance

Gecko poop is like bird poop :face_with_rolling_eyes:

Cute little things. Cross between a frog and a skink lol

Occasionally spot geckos in the garden here, but we're more bluetongue habitat. 🙂

Yesterday when I went to feed the chooks, there was a huntsman in the food bin. I don't mind them. They mind their own business, and get rid of pest insects. So I left probably-her (big abdomen) alone and warned the rest of the family.

It's Christmas cake and pudding making time here, so I was clearing up the table a bit yesterday to give myself more space. Sigh... the paperwork keeps re-accumulating. Got a boxful of it to go through properly, hoping a lot of it can be turfed! Annnd I couldn't find the book that has my favourite pudding recipe in it. I found heaps of other cookbooks, but not that specific one. Which is weird, because it usually goes back in its rightful place. Found a similar enough recipe online to use instead.

I mentioned on the gardening-self care thread that I'm trying to get the weeds down for fire danger season. The other biggie that we need to do is sorting out and safely storing building materials that we've got outside. Some are flammable, like timber, so need to be put somewhere that they wouldn't increase fire risk to the house. But there's also a heap of insulation batts that we haven't yet been able to put in place, and while they're not really flammable, they're stored in a place where they could block an exit route in an emergency... so they need relocating too.

@Shaz51 we need to declutter. heaps of things to do on the weekend. we're also in the middle of painting the interior of our house. the last few weeks have been a night mare for us. so the house has been neglected. time to roll the sleeves up and get to work.

Hello @octavia so very lovely to have you join us here.

Would love to hear of your painting and other forays into house upkeep as well as any decluttering you undertake, no matter how small the job may be.

Clutter is something a lot of us struggle with and can mean different things to each of us and can include having too much stuff that we have and are not using, no longer have need for, generalised untidiness or a combination.

*raises my hand for all of those three.

I have found that I was stirred into action by successes of others on the forum (particularly @Former-Member in the early days ) and I have appreciated the tips and hints of others (including but not limited to @Smc , @Shaz51 @Adge @Determined @Faith-and-Hope) as well as mutual cheering each other on which have added to my resolve to get things in order. Whilst my struggle is ongoing, things are so much better than they were previously.

If there are any areas you would like help with, either in the way of tips or a gentle nudge, be sure to ask, God only knows how much both have meant to me at times.

@Shaz51 @Adge when you have finished with the dusting diva, send them round to my place too.

I have a number of different dusting wipes that I use depending on the surface ie wood wipes, glass wipes and general disinfectant wipes along with a dusting mitt, ceiling brush and regular duster but the job does not get done as much as one would think optimal. Fly sh*t was a "bug"bear of mine (pun intended).

@Smc Not being able to find a favourite recipe = Hope the alternative recipe turns out to your satisfaction or that you will come across the desired recipe book.

With fires seemingly more frequent/catastrophic, there does seem to be a more pressing need to do what one can to reduce any dangers that one is able to. Hopefully you will be able to get things sorted adequately in relation to timber storage as well as to put the insulation somewhere soon where it will not be in the way (ideally of course in the roof cavity ). Now that he is on the DSP is hubby now able to +/- motivated to make a start on some of these jobs? Depression can be so debilitating and understand just how hard it is to even get the smallest of things done.

@Former-Member, Hubby's working on it as well. But despite the DSP, he's not completely "off duty" yet. There's a small number of customer orders that need to be finished up, and the work has a whole lot of little complexities which mean he can't just pass it on to someone else. But he's not taking on any more orders, so once he can manage finishing them, he'll have more mental space and time available. We hope.

Transition phases can be emotionally difficult @Smc , sending some more gentle thoughts your way.

hello @Former-Member , @Smc , @octavia , @Former-Member , @Adge , @Determined , @Former-Member

how is everyone today

Decluttering 2 houses is hard

mum has been us to get rid of things , but now she has "oh leave it until I am gone"

trying to do things at home but mr shaz has put things back

soo doing nothing today , maybe better luck on another day xxx

@Shaz51 getting the balance between what we don't need at present vs what we are likely to use can be a challenge. For a while there Mr Darcy was happy to get rid of things that were not his but once he saw how much easier it was to find misplaced things and that he was not missing anything it became easier. There are some items that he rightly pointed out that we have not used for a little due to a number of reasons, not only his crisis (although that was a major contributor) and I have had to restrain his enthusiasm just a little suggesting that with our move we might have more time and opportunity to use the items.

I usually run things by Mr Darcy before I donate them, usually he is only too happy to but I have kept some things that he feels are worthwhile holding onto.

With my Mum, I just wait until she is ready to let something go and then deal with it. She does have things that would be better sorted and stored in the one spot (ie embroidery thread in a number of places and she cannot remember most of what she has). Have let her know that I am well able to help her with it, but have decided that I am not going to say any more about things and she can ask me if she would like assistance.