SYL - Week 25

Ahhhh a "catch your breath" week. I need this for a few reasons, mostly because I am so busy I can barely take a breath but also because I need to stop, again, and remind myself of how far I have come.

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Moving house, starting my own business, sewing for and attending markets, so many things happening this week and continuing for the month of July. I love all of these things, I just wish they were spaced out a little.

I am being pushed out of my comfort zone but I am getting there. I have to make phone calls and organise things like a window repairer and possibly removalists. I still dislike using the phone but I am getting better at just doing it, not over thinking it, and getting it out of the way before I have time to turn it in to a big deal in my head.

I am going to slow down, prioritise and find my way through all of this. I will not stop.

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Life hasn't become easier, it is just as full, busy and difficult as it has always been. I am just stronger, wiser and more centred than I used to be so life seems a little more navigatable. (I know that's not a real word but I think it should be, it looks pretty good to me haha).

So this weeks challenge for me is to take a breath, look for the path through and take it slowly, one step at a time, all the way to the end.

Jo

ps. I am hoping that I won't miss any link ups while I move house but I am unsure, I will be writing and will catch up when I get back if I lose internet service for a while!

SYL - Week 24

This is the week where I need to find a way to get past the hurdle I always fall at.

Clutter prevention

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I have decluttered in the past (obviously, or I would have been on the TV show Hoarders by now). I love to declutter, to start again with a blank slate...... but it never lasts. That clean bookshelf, table top, mantel piece, etc, always ends up collecting stuff again. I need to find a way to keep myself motivated to declutter and clean constantly. I also need to teach the rest of the family that if you just put it away when you're finished with it, then there is no tidying to do later. I'm guilty of forgetting this myself of course.

I can tell that we are heading in the right direction. Areas of our house are less cluttered. The mantel piece is a good example, Trav and I cleaned it off months ago as one of the jobs we were going to get done that week. Right now it has photos and candles on it, Mother's Day cards (ok, they could probably come down now but one of them is a pink Super Mum card and I love it!! so they stay until we move house very soon), and 2 bottles of perfume which need to be put away. To me, this is a win. After the last clean of the same area there would have been full of all kinds of things that had been picked up and no one had bothered to find a home for. We are learning and I'm proud of us.

We are moving house in the next couple of weeks so again, this section of SYL has come along at the perfect time. We've had a big declutter so far, more will be done as we start to seriously pack, and I have found the perfect motto to keep in my head as I decide what moves with us and what has to go somewhere else.

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I love this quote. It is simple and easy. It puts me in control. When I see something, as I pack, this quote will help me stop for a second and think. If it is neither useful or beautiful out it goes! Simple. Must go and get some boxes out of the shed and start packing......

SYL - Week 23

This week was all about Decluttering your wardrobe. 


We did this bit in our clean up last week but I still wanted to write a short blog about it.


I wasn't sure I was ever going to get Sophie, 12 years old, to downside her wardrobe! She is such a lover of clothes, which I'm sure will only get stronger as she grows! She has so many clothes but never anything to wear lol. Such a girl. Well I was pleasantly surprised. Sophie loved the thought of a clean out. She loved being able to get some extra space in her room, which used to be the playroom. So she was in!


Cameron, 14, wasn't as impressed or excited about clearing everything but he did manage to help and was great with the toddlers while we worked.


Hubby, Trav, was fantastic as well. I don't think he needed to get rid of many clothes but he was great for carrying the bags and delivering them to the Salvos for me :)


I really feel like things are coming together. Today we are applying for a new house to rent and I'm so excited about the chance to start fresh, find homes for everything and keep it that way. Now we just cross our fingers that we get this great house!


Oh, I almost forgot about the best bit! I will have my very own sewing room!! My business, Little Hannah Bear, will be a fully fledged business in 2 weeks and I will hopefully have my own space to grow my dream. Maybe one day I will have a room as lovely as this..

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SYL - Week 22

Decluttering our stuff


This week I'm going to start with the final facts because I'm so proud of them and my family for helping me get it done. We rid our home of 


6 garbage bags of donated items


2 garbage bags of rubbish


2 big boxes of items to take to second hand market (Most came home but will now be donated)


and a pile of hard rubbish ready to go out for roadside collection this coming week.




Impressed? I sure am!! I'm so, so proud of myself, hubby and the teens. We all worked together to declutter the old playroom, which is now Sophie's bedroom, a spot in the hallway that has just become a dumping ground for the things no one know what to do with and the broken items around the house that are going out for collection.


Even though this is just the start of the process, I can already feel the changes. There is less to worry and stress about and less for the kids to mess up. The fact that the whole family worked together, well the little ones just played with the new toys they found at the bottom of the boxes but they were still with us!, was fantastic. I think the thing that lifted my spirits so much was that the teens saw the need for the decluttering and were both more than willing to help us work towards a simple household and lifestyle. Life is starting to have a purpose again, oh purpose, how I've missed you.


We definitely haven't run a sprint race, we've just started our marathon at a great pace. (We still haven't touched our bedroom yet, that will be a day in itself!). I love that I am already looking at cupboards or bookcases and seeing new homes for them, in spaces where they would be much more useful. One of them will be filling up that dumping ground mentioned earlier to ensure that it doesn't get to that point again!


More of the same planned for this coming week, things are really looking up again :)


Jo xo


p.s. I just realised that I managed to achieve my goal from last week. I got this blog post written earlier than last week! Written and linked up on Saturday! haha. I wonder how early I can get next week's post done? 

SYL - Week 21

Home Audit

This feels like it's time to get my hands dirty! I like the hands on tasks, I find it easier to see and measure my accomplishments, especially now that I've learned to look at the things on my Ta Da list instead of my To Do list.

Hubby joined in on this weeks challenge which was really nice. It's hard to get him involved at times because he just doesn't have my passion for all of this which is totally fine but it really was nice to have him on board.

We printed out the home audit sheet and sat down together to discuss each room. We though of the way we used it, or didn't use it, the problem areas and the things that work really well. I found that most rooms had at least one bigger issue and then a few (or more!) smaller ones. The best part of this challenge was seeing, in black and white, that ALL of the issues were fixable. We can do this! We can have a tidy, organised, clutter free, simple home.

We now have a plan for each room and have already knocked a few of the jobs off. This coming week will see us get right in to the de cluttering and that will help sort out some more issues. The planets must all be aligned or something because in my mail box the other day was a brochure from the Council telling us that they were going back to having kerb side hard rubbish collections and ours is the week of the 11th June!! To say I'm excited is an understatement!

Right now we have 6 garbage bags of stuff in our hallway ready to donate to charity. We have a few things earmarked for the kerb already and will spend this week finalising it all. The other plan is to move things out of the house, to the shed, if we are not using them. Perfect example, the exercise bike that has been sitting in the hallway for the last 12 months. Why??!! Firstly, why am I not riding it every day! I'll admit that would help my mental and physical health. Secondly, why is it taking up space, looking messy and just annoying me every day?! To the shed for you bike!!

I was so excited about the home audit and it was everything I had hoped. It has filled me with ideas and information about my house. It has also given me the motivation that I needed.

Now I will sneak in and link up in the last 3 hours! Next week my goal is to link up on Saturday at the latest! haha