My house is a mess…. Christmas is well and truly over, my house needs an extension for all the new toys, I haven’t cleaned since December 21st and nothing seems to be in its right place. I’ll be honest, I’m completely overwhelmed by the mere thought of sorting it out, but living in the mess is getting me down. So I thought I would use the New Year as my motivation to actually sort out my life (well my house at least). I’ve come up with a list of ideas I’m hoping will help me turn my home into a tranquil sanctuary (ha!) or at least make it liveable again. I’m not claiming to be an organisation guru, in fact quite the opposite. I’m highly disorganised and very messy (just ask my husband!) but even I can stick to this plan and hopefully it will make a difference.
Step One: Organise
Keys!! I can never find my keys – are they in my coat (and which coat?!), bag (again which bag?), under the sofa? Or worse has one of my children ‘put them away’? (I may as well give up looking this is the case as they could literally be anywhere!). Totally loving this Traidcraft bowl made of keys to keep keys in! Genius!
Toys (too many). Short of throwing all the toys away (which I am sometimes tempted to), my theory is divide the toys into categories and buy lots of boxes to put them in. I love these Reversible Recycled Sari Baskets from Traidcraft – perfect for small toys, teddies, craft supplies etc. Plus they look gorgeous.
Food. I still have mince pies and twelve chocolate oranges in my cupboards and some Christmas ham in my fridge that is definitely past its best… After the over indulgence of Christmas (eating, drinking, spending) I’m doing two things to sort out my overeating and my overspending. Firstly I’m meal planning. I always mean to do this but now I am actually doing it. Monday morning I make the plan for the week, look in the fridge, make a list of what I need and then go to the shops. Easy. And I’m definitely saving money by sticking to my list and not making last minute dashes to the Co-op!! This sweet, spotty notebook from Namaste is big enough for me to plan and make my list on the same page, but small enough to fit in my bag. It also minimises the chances of me losing the list before I even get to the supermarket (something which happens to me regularly). Secondly, I have embarked on dry January, and it is going well so far, although this does mean I’m eating more chocolate to compensate (fair trade of course!).
Recycling – I hate paper – so many letters, flyers, bits of rubbish come into our house and I am afraid to deal with them, so I put them in a pile, which grows into a big pile, and then into an argument with my husband! So this year it’s going to be different. I’m going to deal with them straight away. If I don’t need it, it’s going straight in the recycling!
Don’t leave a room without taking out something that shouldn’t be there. This is a revolutionary way of thinking to me! I’ve only been doing it a few days and it does seem to be helping with the general clutter that seems to build up in my house.
Step Two: Donate
I love giving stuff away – to charity shops, friends, acquaintances – there’s so much stuff in my house I don’t want but other people do! The satisfaction of taking a box of unwanted clothes and items to my local charity shop is just that – satisfying. The new rule in our house is – if we don’t want it, it’s not allowed in the house. I’m going to give it away before it can even cross the threshold of my front door.
Step Three: Cleaning
Spring cleaning – not my activity of choice. However unfortunately it is necessary to clean the house. I’m planning to make it more bearable by wearing fair trade rubber gloves and scrubbing everything in sight with fair trade scourer. I’m also going to make my house smell beautiful with the Sweet Dreams Reed Diffuser from Little Trove. Easy peasy.
Step Four: Relax
Once all the work is done I’m planning on relaxing with a cup of Choc Affair Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate…. Yum!