Less Clutter, Better Mindset

True to my word, I did a small de-cluttering of the house. I set up the new to me computer, tidied my desk and made it usable, filed some papers, organized some tax receipts (gasp-getting ready for NEXT tax season so soon!), reclaimed my kitchen table as a place to sit down and eat at instead of it being an additional desk, did a dump, laundry, returnable run, got the propane tank refilled for the grill, did a small grocery shop, cleaned the garbage pails I use for returnables and recycleables, did the ironing, put the clean clothes away and managed to get a hair cut fit in. All that on Saturday and I naturally spent Sunday being a lazy slob watching a coup DVD's and some re-runs on Fox. I think I deserved a day of doing nothing, osrting through my clothes to see what can go to Goodwill or the consignment shop can wait a few days.

I just could not take the mess anymore. As I said before, having all the clutter around and on my counters made it so I was tempted just to pack it in and buy my meals. I have lots of food in the cupboards and I want to get rid of the freezer reserves. I also like the fact that I can sit down at my table for dinner. I feel more in control of my life.

The weather is improving here in New England and my mindset is getting better as well. I plan on using the nice weather to do some spring chores that are not inside ones. Sweet.

Some New Links and Work on the Page

Having yesterday off and the holiday meal planned for the end of the day gave me some time to fiddle with the blog. I added some new links and new blogs. I also figured out how to work the RSS feed and subscriber stuff! It's amazing when you can sit down for a couple hours, read the instructions and get things done! My thanks to those of you who have started to subscribe in your readers!

I'm one of those weird people who likes to clean. A couple of my links (Flylady, Real Simple) have great cleaning, organization and decluttering tips. My new favorite way to really clean a sink comes from Flylady. I also highly recommend Method cleaning products for your home. I love the Pink Grapefruit and Cucumber All Purpose Spray and use the Sea Mineral hand wash.

I will also admit, I am a Cricket fan. I spent one full day of my vacation watching the test matches between England and Australia (known as The Ashes) in a pub, indoors, when the UK was having glorious sunny warm weather and I could have been out and about enjoying a great summer day. I'm not from a Cricket loving people by birth, nationality or marriage. I just think Cricket is a neat game. I read a variety of Cricket blogs depending on what countries are playing (Indian/Pakistan, England/Australia).

I also neatly sorted through my reciepts that have been collecting in my reciept wallet, worked a bit on my Christmas present list, actually addressed almost 3/4 of my Holiday cards (to go to the Post Office tomorrow), and started to think about my December to January Budgets.

Overall, I'd say it was a good day off and the meal with friends was pretty darn tasty as well. The evening was topped off by a nice glass of wine and watching Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty.

And For Fun Last Night, I Swept My Carpet

Just to add insult to injury, the other day my vacuum cleaner died. I turned it on to do a much needed vacuuming of the house, it made a funny noise and then died. First the car, now the Hoover. The vacuum is older than the car so all I did was swear a lot and drag theHoover and put it out to go to the dump this weekend. It is just not worth taking it to be repaired, it would be the cost of a new one and this one is old. Seems to be the story of my life, things dying and are too old to really spend the money on to be repaired or can be replaced with the new and improved model for the same price or less. At least I got a good ten years out of that vacuum, so I'm really not complaining, just complaining about the timing of it all.

The carpet needs a good cleaning, but for now, it got swept and at least looks better than it did before I swept it.

Part of what I will be doing this weekend will be a good clean out/clean up of the house. I did not get to do a dump run (the joys of managing your trash in the country), so that is a must do chore. I did clean most of my windows and screens last weekend (inside and out) as well as the window sills and I'll finish that this weekend.

I've had a bunch of books on half.com for a while and since they have not sold and I'm down to the minimum price, I will take them to Goodwill for a donation .

The car repair bill has been paid and I have $10 to spend on myself this weekend. I think I'll earmark that for a new vacuum......

Frustration Factor

Just to add to this mornings post. I logged on to a couple of the web sites that have financial/money mangement programs I'm supposed to complete prior to the whole bankruptcy being discharged. With the bank holiday coming up this weekend, I thought this would be a good time to get one or both of the courses done.

Of course, you can't take them until you have a case number, and I don't have a case number yet. It's two steps forward, one step back.

I also took a good look at my house this am. The clutter has taken over again! I think letting the clutter collect is a reflection of my frazzled state of mind. My desk is a mess, I had hoped to go through all the piles and do an organize session. Did not happen. I have a bunch of stuff in my file cabinet that can be brought here to work to be shredded in the shredder and then maybe I can clear off my desk. I need to stick to my weekly plan as I stated I would.

I live in a really small house and the decluttering will be good to also help me free up some space in my living space. I have to be more diligent in the 1) Do I love it? 2) Do I need it? 3) Is it useful questions when I look at my things. The upside is that E-bay is now has free insertion fees so I'll see what I can sell on E-Bay, see what I can sell on Half.com, and see if I can't clear out some space.

AND I have to REMEMBER to BREATHE.

So Lets Take A More Upbeat Approach

As I re-read some of mys post, I realized they were DEPRESSING. Yup, plain old DEPRESSING. Time for a more upbeat post. While I am going through this process I've been reading a ton of other blogs, and the theme I keep seeing this week is about de-cluttering your life.

All in all, I think de-cluttering is a good thing. I live in a really small house it is 476 sf, yup thats 476 sf of tiny. No garage, no attic, no basement, one very small garden shed outback. When I pick up and organize I feel so much better, in control, able to face the day. Some of these tips may make me sound like your mother, but so be it, they work.

1) Put away your clothes. I'm serious, fold your laundry and put it away (closet, dresser, wardrobe). I spent two weeks looking at my laundry basket of clothes to be ironed. I spent an hour ironin my clothes and put them away. One less pile to stare at and I know I have something clean to wear at work.

2) Do a clothes purge. Go through your closet and look at what you have in it. Be ruthless, do you really need all those pants, shirts, tops? If they are in decent shape you can sell them on
e-bay, give to a consignment shop, donate to goodwill or post on freecycle or craigslist, or have a clothing swap with friends. This way you will have room in your closet to put away your clothes.

3) Take a couple hours one evening and clean off your desk or bill paying area. Don't do this after a couple glasses of wine, have the wine after. I'm a bit of an organization freak and part of what drove me to bankruptcy was allowing myself to become un-organized, seriously, I lost control of my life. Get either one of those expandable files or a set of file folders if you have a filing cabinet and organize your bills. If you are computer literate, sign up for electronic bills, save them to your computer and "file" the monthly statement. Even your power company may send you an e-bill. Having a clean desk is not the sign of an unproductive mind it is the sign of someone who knows whats going on in their life. This is also handy for planning your budgets (more on those later)

4) Sign up for the do not call list and eliminate the junk mail from your life as well. By spending about 10-20 minutes on line, you can drastically reducde the amount of unwanted e-mail, phone solicitations, etc in your life. I use a PO box for most my mail and when I pick up my mail at the Post Office, the junk mail is immediatley put into the recycle bin. I find the mail I pick up at my mail box will sit on my desk for days until I actually get around to dumping the junk mail.

5) Get rid of your old magazines, newspapers, books, etc as well. Books you can donate to the local library. I sell some on half.com .

6) Now this one may sound really wierd, but clean out your refridgerator. I like to cook and I have a bunch of half opened jars of all sorts of condiments, sauces and things just sitting in the fridge. I grabbed the garbage can and went through everything. If I did not use it in the past 3 months, out it went, check those expiry dates, salad cream with an expiration date of October 2006~ Dump it. I also wiped down the shelves, etc. I have less garbage in my fridge, not less food. And less chance of giving myself food poisioning. :)

Now you may say, why the cleaning frenzy? It's all about getting and giving yourself some space and clarity in your life. I tend to feel very overwhelmed when I look at my un-organized desk. Even just putting my bills in files, dusting, making neat piles of paper allows me to tackle one project at a time and not feel like I'm tripping all over myself.

Putting my laundry away means one less pile of "stuff" to look at. Giving away or selling things I no longer need,use,want, wonder why the hell I bought it means these items will go to someone who can actually use a fondue pot (yup I had a fondue pot and never used it, it moved with me 3 times in 8 years).

AND at the end of the night, yes I did treat myself to a nice large glass of wine.