Saturday, January 14, 2017

Back At It Again!

It's been about a week and I've been cleaning out my townhouse for the 5th year in a row. You wouldn't believe how much crap I actually do toss out in the bin! 

Then, there's other crap that I give away. But that's stuff I didn't want to part with last year, and have thought it's time to do it this year. I know that sounds weird, but you do have to work through your own problems with your own junk before you part with it. 

This year, I'm hoping to part with more junk, throw out more paper-junk than I did last year. I've already been to Vinnies and given them a huge delivery of junk I don't need anymore and January's not out yet - and my Donation Box has other things starting to fill it up again. So, I'm doing well.

The thing you have to do is be brutal with yourself. Sure, keep the stuff you need: bank details, statements (go paperless if you need to) and work on your wardrobe too. If you collect books, find a way to love them in the same way you used to, but don't let them take over the house. If you love vinyls/records, store them correctly and show them off as well. Art supplies can inundate a house, so make sure you can use them and just as easily put them away.

Storage is a huge thing when it comes to junk. If you have more than one hobby (like I do), make sure you have the room to keep those hobbies under control. I use old suitcases for yarn. I've kept the box for my sewing machine so I can put it away properly and still know what it is. Plastic storage boxes you buy from the cheap stores are great! They are bought for between $5 and $30 and most have wheels so you're not worried about doing your back in while trying to get them down off a shelf - and they're stackable!

I have put all my Christmas decorations into 5 plastic boxes. The first year, it felt weird. That was 2 years ago. But then, I found this year, that there was more room than ever and that was because the top of the tree fitted into the box of where it came from for the first time ever! So, I had more room than I could shake a stick at! I also ditched the boxes that my Gloria Jean Mugs came in and wrapped them all in newspaper - yay! Then, I also started writing on all the boxes of what's inside them with a Sharpie. It's so much easier to know what's inside boxes when you specify what's inside them.

Well, I've also been cleaning too. The kitchen has been kept clean for the past week... two more weeks and it'll turn into a good habit. Then, I turned to another part of the house I'll keep clean and work on that for another month; and keep it up. 

You see, I'm not a good housekeeper. And now I have a little more room to myself - and a lot of things are being sent away to the charities - I'm looking at townhouse where I need to keep it tidy. But there is a lot of paper. 
My brother has told me that I have a place with nice furniture, but I need a bigger house to enjoy that furniture... to give it space to breath. And he's right. I'm living in a quarter of a house - and the longer I live here, the harder it is for me to live here. I see everyone getting houses and splurging on big things to make them into homes. However, I've spent the last 15 years turning my townhouse - the place - into a home; and this place (this home) is getting tiny. 

Cleaning it out is a good thing to do... but moving is better. For one thing my collections are getting too big. I'd like a bigger garden, a craft room (everything has to be put away all the time and that's annoying as it takes me 20 minutes to set up and longer to pull down).

This is another reason to clean out the place. I want to have more room to do my hobbies. Recently, one of my friends told me that I could get models to come to my place and do one part of a project we're working on... exactly how do we do that when I have no room, no privacy and nowhere to do this single part of the project? Yet another reason to clean out is to get myself moved out of here. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

1 comment:

  1. I’m always reluctant to throw out some electrical items that don't work right right away whenever I do some cleaning. There was one time my wife made me buy a new coffeemaker because the old broke but I did kept the old one with the idea of working on it in my spare time. Finally got it working after six months!

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