My home is a mess

bearcub

Evening Messies.

Sonastin, well done for all that de-messying, even if it was as a direct result of an almost row. I often find that I start something and it leads onto another, but it's finding the first step that's not always easy. I've enver looked further than the first half-page of 'flylady'. I mentioned it to DD1 once (she;s elsewhere on OS MSE), and she just said 'no', so I thought I wouldn't go any further. Great news about the gas, and the GCH should be coming at just the right time, given the weather forecast for the country. As for your OH, glaciers may move almost imperceptibly slowly, but in doing so, they can have an impressive effect! :rotfl:

Oh, FW, I don't envy you the inspector's visit. My friends dread it, as it throws them out for a whole day at least.

Emms, you are so inventive with food! I think I was once upon a time, but I lost to knack through lack of practice and interest. And as YL says, that ham must have been huge. You have reminded me, though, that we have half an aubergine in the fridge. Mustn't waste that, as I love the stuff!

Oh YL, what are you going to do when you both retire? I do sympathise a little, because sometimes we just know the right way of doing something, and are aware of what could happen. It's the Venus and Mars thing - we can do several things at once, while most men .......

Not a lot done here today, as usual on a Tuesday, Mum's hairdressing day. I brought her back here afterwards to look at some google maps of London, and we found her childhood home, and that of her paternal grandparents. She was intrigued by the whole thing.

sonastin

bearcub wrote: »

As for your OH, glaciers may move almost imperceptibly slowly, but in doing so, they can have an impressive effect! :rotfl:

I like you're thinking - I'm gonna tell myself this every day!

OH sent me to toolstation on my way home from work and the code he gave me was for a carbon monoxide detector. Turns out gas engineer said we could run the boiler but he'll come and check the flue and fix the thermostat on thursday so we have heating :j

It is now so warm in this house that I am physically unable to lift a finger - I'd get far too hot & I don't want to spoil this luxury. Luckily OH has cleared all the radiators - just piled the clutter up onto the table but still, one step closer to tidy

YORKSHIRELASS

Ah the luxury of central heating. I remember when ours broke once and we were without it for a few days, then the joy of being able to switch it back on. I guess it couldnt have come at a better time for you with the forecast for such cold weather.

And Bearcub I have thought the same! Thing is I will really miss him when he goes back to work. It is my fault, home is my domain and I am too set in a routine and too picky about how things are done. Maybe when I get to retiring I will be more chilled out about things!! I know how my Mum and Dad have both changed over the last few years and how well they have both settled into retirement together.

grousescot

Some definite progress over the weekend although with a bit of subterfuge. With the disability assessor coming round yesterday afternoon I decided it would be best to concentrate on the living room. (That's another way of saying my bedroom floor is still a mess.) There has been a pile of stuff sitting in the corner of the room between the table and the bookcase for . . . 3 years? I honestly can't say for certain which is pretty awful. With the clear-out I've been doing lately I have been genuinely astonished at the useless stuff I have been sharing my home with and this was no exception. A box for a digital radio that I chucked at least a year ago. Lab notes from a science project I did during my last year of school and a folder with the curriculum timetable for exams I took when I was 15 (I'm 33). A whole box full of ancient piano tuition books - I haven't had piano lessons since I left school.

Lots got chucked out, in fact I've managed to fill the bin 3 days after it was last emptied and the binmen only come every 2 weeks.
I've found that reading this thread has given me a new mindset with regard to deciding what should be chucked: is it gong to be any use? Given I didn't know I still had it, does it really merit keeping? And so on. I've noticed other things that aren't strictly clutter and in the way but could do with clearing out. Like the bookcase, which is full of books I've not read for years if at all. The charity shop is going to get a large donation soon.

To clear the living room the spare bedroom now has my old keyboard and the clothes dryer in it but they're not staying there.

My flat seems so much more spacious now (it even echoes a bit!) and I'm still surprised at how it looks when I come home in the evening. I expect this is because I was so used to stepping over or around things for so long. It does wonders for raising one's mood, which is particularly welcome in the middle of January.

sashanut

Hi all:j

Juat popping back in to report on progress - or lack of it:D I didn't get too much done in our bedroom yesterday, had delivery of new office chair which needed assembling - cue lots of cursing from DH - and has to take library books back as reached online renewals limit.........then decided to pop into supermarket to stock up on a few things as weather forecast pants:eek:

Don't like this new fancy office chair, no good for me even though fully adjustable yada yada yada but heyho it's DH who'll be sitting in it mainly so he's happy. In fact was so uncomfortable I actually got off it & did about 20 mins clearing in bedroom finding lots of thermal tights - they will come in VERY handy atm.

I'm another Flylady refusenik - although I do use a timer often as I find it helps me concentrate better, otherwise I tend to go off on a tangent:rotfl:And of course, the other rule - don't pull out more than you can put back in 15 mins......many a time I have spent ages putting away stuff I've piled onto the bed earlier in the day & forgotten about.

Know what you mean about having the OH around - we work from home but keep out of each other's way until mealtimes. That way we don't kill each other:rotfl:So i suppose we're ready for retirement now:T

Emm-in-a-pickle

Morning Messies!
I just had a quick read while waiting for the car to de-frost. (when it`s time to go I`ll be panicking looking for the car keys!!) It`s COLD out there! Sonastin, great timing for the central heating!
Have a good day all, & try to keep warm. x

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies, Fly-Messies, et al!

I woke up to find a thin scattering of snow outside, the birdfeeders empty and a lot of birds lurking accusingly in the apple trees twittering about the lack of service here.. Daftie-dog was not at all impressed, but I`m SO glad the snow waited till today, when I don`t have to go anywhere!
Yesterday was a lovely shift, enough staff to give patients `quality` care, pamper them a bit and really enjoy the work doing it properly, but busy enough so the day went fast. Not a thing to grumble about (for once!) but when it was hometime some folks cars were frozen up. Mine was OK, so I ended up doing a round trip dropping off a couple of colleagues who couldn`t get theirs started (one couldn`t unlock her car and was scared of breaking the key in the lock.)
The soup I`d made from odds & bits was lovely, and the ham doorsteps with it STILL haven`t quite finished off That Ham. I think I`ll do a bit of freezer tetris today and freeze the rest for posterity....I`m thinking beef stew & dumplings for tonight, as there`s beef in the freezer if I can find it, & stewy veg in the caravan of Doom...

I now have some Time Off, and I shall do Great Things....dunno what, exactly, but I am quite determined to use freezer stuff and not go bargain-hunting for YS stuff again till I have freezer space for it.
Less time spent Out There means more time to get stuck in sorting and de-cluttering at home, if only because I`ll get twitchy doing nothing!
My recent efforts reclaiming flat surfaces here are still visible - stairs, mantlepiece, sofa & LR windowsill still clear. Doesn`t sound much, and I`m not claiming the place looks really tidy, but it`s much better than it was before, and that is encouraging.
EVERY little flat surface that stays clear is a Victory,
EVERY little carrier bag or shopping bag of `stuff` that leaves the house is Progress.
There`s a big empty wheelie-bin outside, and the world is my lobster!

bearcub

Afternoon/evening Messies.

Emms, I can't believe that the ham is still going! I'm glad you had a good day at work yesterday, and were able to spend more time with the patients. It must be those sort of times when you realise why you do the job. I love the idea of doing 'Great Things' - sounds as if you're going off to explore some rarely seen land! Hmm, come to think of it, clearing surfaces may be just that, huh?

Grousescot, it's wonderful that this thread has inspired you. It's truly amazing what we keep, isn't it? I know that most of what's stored in our loft is there for a reason ie if ever we have grandchildren etc, but I keep a lot of paperwork that isn't necessary to hold on to, and I know I have OU books in the loft that I kept because they were very interesting - at the time. Am I ever likely to use them again? No. Are either of my daughters (both still studying) likely to find a use for them? No - one's doing history, the other psychology, and my books are on Childhood Studies. So, WHY am I keeping them? Answers on a postcard, please! I hope the assessor's visit went as well as you wished.

Sashanut, OH and I get on ok in our retirement, due to two things. One is that he retired first, but worked part-time for 6 months before retiring completely, so we both had time to get used to it. The other is that he's an endlessly patient man, and very content with his life here, bless him. He has to be patient, as I can be quite .... mm, temperamental, is the best way I can put it. Generally, I'm pretty easy-going, but occasionally fly off the handle - not at him, but about things, and companies in particular.

I've been a fairly busy Bear in the last couple of days, by my standards, anyway. Yesterday, I did a WM load, vacuumed, washed the kitchen and bathroom floors, then spent an age cleaning the shower 'filter'. Today, I've finally removed the piles of Christmas cards that have been sitting by the tv, I put away clean bedding, finished putting together a monthly newsletter, cleaned the bathroom (even the mirror!), and cleaned the hob and work surfaces. My job this evening, should I accept it, is to tidy and clear the drawer at the bottom of my chest of drawers, that holds all my files of paperwork. I know that, since Christmas I've 'filed' various quite important letters and receipts; by that I mean I've opened the drawer and thrown them in. Time they were put away proeprly, before something goes down the back of the drawer, and I start panicking because I can't find something crucial!

Oh, and we have no snow - yet. We had a flurry of very fine snow yesterday, some of which stayed around until lunchtime. The forecast here is a bit confused - we're either going to get a huge dumping of the stuff, or lots of sleety rain. Ho hum!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Well done Bearcub, sounds like some good work there!

Woke up today feeling in the mood for some serious de-messying. It doesnt happen often so I needed to make the most of it! Hubby took two tellies, 4 carrier bags of clothes, a box of old books and some Christmas boxes and packaging to the tip.

Meanwhile I blitzed the kitchen and utility, tidied and cleaned our bedroom and cleaned the bathroom. I am ashamed to say I moved the sofa in our kitchen/diner and it was absolutely disgusting underneath. Thing is it doesnt take that much moving so there is no excuse really.

Oh and I have made a list of places to declutter. Just doing that made me feel better!

Very cold here and snowy here. Very pretty to look at but not much fun to go out in.

bearcub

I get that de-messying, or cleaning, mode occasionally, YL, but more often when the sun's shining - and we've not seen a lot of that!

The drawer didn't get tidied. DD2 called, feeling miserable and sorry for herself - she has a swollen and infected leg, infected eczema. As always, we talked at length, so I not only didn't do the drawer, but also missed the only tv programme I'd wanted to see. Never mind, since DD doesn't call all that often, it was good to chat, and cheer her up a bit.