Get It Done Weekly Challenge

chocolatebum

ok got on not too badly, not as good as i hoped but better than i would have done if i had made the list last year lol

weekend list 18th/19th January

Clear out youngest DD's cupboard and either sell/recycle/donate old clothes. half done, all cleared out and now have piles of items to photograph and sell along with a bag of things to go to recycle bank at school and a couple of bags to drop off to various relatives for their kids
Compile list of things needed for holiday next month and pack at least one of my suitcases. list made and some items in the case but not all
Clear out and declutter space underneath stairs. this is a plan for next week lol
[STRIKE]Update financial diary[/STRIKE] all done and ready for a new week

will be back in morning with my list for monday-friday

determined_new_ms

Things I'd like to do this coming week:

* drop off baby bits to the refuge
* take old clothes to the cash for clothes place
* finish the radiator - hangs head in shame....
* exercise 3 times
* make dress at sewing group
* contact friend I haven't spoken to in ages & arrange getting together
* meet up with best friend
* put items in the loft/garage
* do 1/2 hour Portuguese

LoveaDove

Hi all,

Happy New Week!

My new list is as follows:

• [STRIKE]Pick up Passport Documents From Post Office (Renewal)[/STRIKE] - Done
• [STRIKE]Fill in Passport Forms[/STRIKE] - Done
• [STRIKE]Photos for Passport (eek!)[/STRIKE] - Done AND Sent Off!
• [STRIKE]Acquire 100 Nect@r Adpoints[/STRIKE] - Done
• [STRIKE]Go on 2 Runs This Week[/STRIKE]- 1 Run Cancelled by Running group, so I have partaken in one dance/combat cardio session instead & 1 Run. - Done
• [STRIKE]Partake in 1 Toning Session[/STRIKE] - Done
• [STRIKE]Finish Current Book[/STRIKE] - Far too optimistic I will make this a bit more achievable and change this to-
• Finish 4 More Chapters of my Current Book - Getting There!
• [STRIKE]Hoover Downstairs[/STRIKE] - Done
• [STRIKE]Get Washing Washed, Dried and Put Away.[/STRIKE] - Done
• Treat Damp Around the Back Door. - Started

Here goes... :j

mothernerd

Noticed the signs last night. I started to put things back in the kitchen and I was putting a lot of stuff on the worktops (that's a luxury in itself after 12+ weeks of only putting things down on the bits that had something propping them up).
My 'new' kitchen has four lots of open shelves (they were bought for my old house - middle son currently 'renting ' it from me - and never got put up - another long story for another day) When current crisis hit, I wheeled them here on my dolly truck, my eldest son put two up on the wall and the others I stood one on top of the tall freezer and one under the worktop. now they are all installed along with a small white 'end' unit (part of one of the two local lots - thanks to ebay local deals mapper - that also make up part of the 'new' kitchen.
After a while I noticed that I was quite reluctant to put stuff on the shelves and I was arranging it ,as well. The plate stack -was it in the centre of the shelf.
The novelty of having useable base units is going to take some re-thinking as well - I put all the tinned stuff away in one last night, then noticed I was automatically 'facing' them (the way you are taught to do it in a supermarket with all the tins lined up and the front of the tin facing forward - it's over 40 years since I did shelf-stacking).
There's still an awful lot of stuff I haven't put away (maybe half done).
Then there are my herb jars. I bought them a few years ago, one lot as a present (my mother gives me money for Christmas - she pays my brother's television licence, so I always had a rough idea how much it was going to be - mine gets absorbed into the household budget but I always try to buy myself something) and then the second in a sale. they are white ceramic with rubberwood lids and they are beautiful. Yes you can re-use the supermarket ones and buy the large packets and re-fill (I do - gosh I am feeling defensive, basically I don't do jewellery or handbags, very rarely spend any money on myself at all but linen sheets and simple elegant cookware are my idea of heaven).
I felt so guilty about buying them that they have been hidden in a cupboard for ages. Doing a lot more cooking recently (years of no money leaves you on the hamster wheel of they like this, they'll all eat it without poking at it, there won't be any left) and am slowly building up my stock of spices again (buying the 500g bags where possible). Put them out recently (still a bit reluctant as number one son and his girlfriend are staying weekends a lot at the moment - latest housing crisis, all his furniture is in the middle bedroom (that's how I ended up in the attic, easier than carrying furniture up two flights of stairs when it will be going again soon - and I thought he might take a fancy to them). I didn't really want to put labels on them, they look less perfect. Then yesterday when I put them out (couple of new bags I bought on the January mega shop) moved all the labels lower down the jars and then kept looking because they didn't look as if they were straight).
I know I have been going on for too long - I keep pausing and going to do another little bit - the toaster is going to have to live in a cupboard , I have just rubbed it all over with neat stardrops and it's still too dented, battered and bruised to go in the new kitchen. I THINK THE SUB-TEXT OF THIS POST IS -I AM WORRIED THAT I MIGHT BE TOO.
My inner neat freak is escaping and I don't know how to cope.
This morning I got up and my three things rule after half an hour I was still picking things up and had a bucket and a waste bin (rubbish at the bottom, then a plastic file bag for separate layer, pots and recycling for washing, then another layer of disparate items that should be somewhere else and a couple of bags. The more I moved ,the more I saw.
When the builders moved in I came up here to the attic along with most of the contents of the downstairs house. Eldest son had ended up in hospital so me and Mrs builder had to scoop up the stuff that hadn't been moved -most ended up on the landing. All the early stuff was in boxes, labelled and listed so that eg when I wanted my best tablecloth for the Christmas table I knew which box to look in. The later stuff (more the stuff we use everyday) was shoved in bags and is a lot less sorted. Some of - it basic kitchen stuff went back downstairs as soon as the builders finished, but as everywhere had to be painted (after the plaster was dry) a lot stayed.
I have been through most of it in the last few weeks and a lot has been filed, separated into categories and where possible gone back to the room where it belongs. Last week I did a post Christmas reshuffle of the boxes as this is stuff we don't use a lot and most could remain in the attic (it's in a cupboard that runs along one side of the attic - you have to crawl round on your hands and knees but it holds a lot) until we move. I put the Christmas decorations at the back and pulled forward a box that has padded envelopes in (old ones for re-using for ebay selling). I also took out the material for the front room curtains (already cut to length) and the bolt of cloth for the living room curtains. Everyone must have a bowl they use for lost buttons, hairclips, safety pins etc. Basically what is left on the floor is that bowl multiplied by the contents of a house.
So I sat back down on the bed for a minute or two and thought - if I go round putting all of those things where they are supposed to be it's going to take another two hours and none of them are even on my list of things to do. So I got up, got to the top of the stairs and then decided I couldn't stand the lightshade any more - previous owner's, small, ugly, makes the room darker. I looked at how to take it off - take out lightbulb and it will come off. Turned light off, checked how hot bulb was (used a dust cloth),tiny crunching noise. Shade off, light bulb broken, burst into tears - and I hardly ever cry.
First thing I did when I got downstairs was put away the washing up liquid bottle, it will have to live in the cupboard. The window is dirty and I can't find the bottle of stuff - all the other windows were done but I usually stand on the worktop to do this one but there was only a piece of board holding the sink up, so I couldn't until now.
Concentrate on it being sunny and how lovely that is not on the mess it shows up.

Primula

Been away from here for a while, but like the idea of this, I also love lists, so please can I join in too?

Craftyc

Hi everyone and welcome to new people who have joined in

Our week progressing well, dd out looking at a school tonight and another to do on Fri night.

Phoned re router yest and on phone for an hour bband speed was 1.1 so have cancelled and will pay extra for diff provider not very MSE but hopefully will get better internet speed and wifi router should be better.

This was most dreaded item on this weeks list so done now and onwards and upwards.

Hope everyone having a great week cc

Fmess

Quick midweek update

1. Go to the gym two times - one done
2. Do two tutoring sessions- one done
3. Hoover upstairs at least once - done
4. Hoover downstairs at least twice - done one
5. Mop the kitchen floor
6. Mark at least one class's coursework (they start it on Monday)- half done
7. See sister before she goes to new job
8. Dust downstairs - done
9. Do at least 6 loads of washing - done five already![/QUOTE]

mothernerd

Firstly apologies to all for the mid week moan. Realised shortly after posting that I had had a run of nights with not enough sleep (a couple less than 4 hours) and needed to take a moment to breathe and relax.

Wasn't having a great day earlier and waited till I was in a more positive mood. Probably only going to meet about 80% of weekly job target, unless something radical happens in the next 24 hours, so here it is:-

4 Walked 5 days out of 7, mostly around 1and a half - 2 hours. The two I didn't manage, one I spent an hour unpacking plants, watering them and lugging bags of soil around (emptying last years grow sacks -1m x 0.5m into repainted dustbin to take one of the new trees). Counted this as walking equivalent as next day was back to walking up and down stairs one step at a time (first one foot then the other).

The other day that I didn't walk, I spent two hours sorting out the little bedroom/box. Carried old kitchen wall units upstairs, squeezed into the room, moved loads of books, mountaineering and larping gear, got the cupboards into the wardrobe (managed to spray with anti-mould and paint before Christmas- this is where the damp spread through the cavity wall insulation), anti-moulded top cupboard and side of bed, all the stuff plus the contents of the bathroom cupboard (next to be painted) into the wardrobe, cleared the bed. that left me with 8 washer loads of curtains and bedding (smelled of mould some stains). Putting it all out on the line for a good air then see what son's can use.Couldn't move next day, painkillers + ibrupofen gel.

3 Very positive first meeting with health trainer. Keep diet as now (hadn't lost or gained any weight in last three weeks but as this included New Year to my birthday, doing okay). Keep walking every day. Take time to celebrate what I have achieved (lost 3 stone in last year, since being diagnosed with diabetes). Have fun and look after myself (easy to lose sight of when things get busy). Next meeting in 4 weeks.

2 Did stocktake of freezer contents and re-arranged them a little (did chart with tally marks (people are supposed to cross things off when they take them out and use them, so list is always up-to-date) and went through veg basket and fridge using up stuff (smallest potatoes blanched, divided , marked salad, in freezer). Had to throw one thing away, as oven is now refusing to work at all ( it died on New Year's Eve, just after I had taken out the buffet food and parsnips etc to defrost for New Year's Day). By twiddling the switches I have managed to coax it to work a couple of times since (took roast potatoes, parsnips and yorkshires to mum's, cooked them all and then re-heated in microwave covered in gravy and cling film but got told the parsnips weren't crispy enough) but it wouldn't cook the aubergine and mushroom bake (did it in the microwave, edible but only just) and the savoury crumble didn't make it.

1 All the kitchen stuff is back in the kitchen - still re-arranging bits of it - will be easier when all number one son's stuff is gone (he and girlfriend are out hunting for a house to rent and according to facebook, they have found somewhere they like). I gave him some room in the dining room cupboard for his kitchen stuff (his furniture is taking up the second largest bedroom and stuff in the sall bedroom is his as well) (He downsized from a house , to a bedsit, to a house share that gave him access to a kitchen again but the actual bedroom was tiny). He likes to cook and every weekend more of his stuff migrates from the dining room - he now has more of my cupboard space than I do.

5 Green waste brought back -done
8 Fireplace clean -done
10 Baskets from old house -done -though they may be used in DS3's room - he is using two old filing cabinets as bedside tables and covers the tops with so much stuff it falls off. Trying to persuade him to put most of the stuff in the baskets -the cabinets have a pull out shelf for a printer, baskets will stop it falling off edges.

6 Shed door is not back on - I nearly went out to do it when I was doing the freezer stocktake but ten minutes later hailstones were bouncing off the floor, so not the right day to do it

Still had the weekend to do jobs

Yesterday went to mum's (she fell down stairs in February and is still having problems with her neck and hands and her partner has dementia and other health problems). Every week I clear a little bit more of the clutter - he has always refused to throw things away but is okay with me doing it at the moment, I show him what is going and why - old pot of glue, dried up, no use ok.

My right leg was still hurting, I had to take painkillers and couldn't get up from the table after tea for about half an hour. This morning I nearly fell off the small steps trying to put up an extra clothes line. So going up the big ladders and reaching across to do the shower rail is not going to happen. So I am going to do two job swaps and put off the shed door, the shower rail and the sewing machine until next week.

I was feeling so useless and despondent that I decided to go for a walk (thought it might loosen my leg up a bit).
DS3 offered to take me to the cinema but then decided we wouldn't be able to agree on what to watch (I don't think he wanted to get dressed). He had been mithering for sweets earlier (he's 23). When I did the freezer earlier in the week I thought we had enough to get through to the month end and I have some things to start off the next round of cooking when there is space in the freezer. I have started a list of things that are going to run out in February and I thought I would make a list of things we use regularly, use the receipts I have to establish a guide price and spend some time in the next week going round the pound shops and other bargain establishments to see if they had the same or equivalent products at better prices.

So I went upstairs to tell him I was going out, what did he want and was he going to contribute. He gave me £20, a list and told me £5 was for me so I have spent a couple of hours hobbling round writing down prices and when my leg began to hurt too much, I got the bus home (reduced to £1 now, it was £2-10 until recently). So not a no spend day but some progress made and I felt less useless (oh and I got an £8 deben.... voucher in the post and the last bit of my Council tax rebate came - told DS3 he has to bank it when he goes in to university next week (he has a bus season ticket till the end of his course, I would have to pay £4)

The other thing is, I am accumulating a lot of paper since starting this process - list making, jotting down good ideas, writing down information about different challenges etc. I am not helping myself because I tried to start by using up the tattiest scrattiest bits of paper and old notebooks first - the A4 paper I used for the food audit didn't have a back and I found it folded in three in the middle of a pile of DS3's Art books. When I was clearing the small bedroom I found a three year diary I bought in a sale (I love alphabetized hard back notebooks but they are very expensive, I have used diaries before - page a day ones for offices start selling for about 50p mid way through the year - and they already have sections, you just write your own index at the front eg clothes notes in March (what needs repairing, what's getting tatty - downgrade for painting or other mucky jobs, what works really well and makes you feel good - look for something similar in sales), list of house jobs in June (things to do, price up, house log - how many rolls of paper did it take to do that room , which paint was used in which room ) and December for Christmas - if someone you love mentions their favourite perfume write it down so you know - gets you a really good reputation because they don't remember mentioning it and don't know how you worked it out and you can get it when it's on offer.

So second substitute job is to sort all these bits into one handy book and start setting myself up for February's challenges. Will still keep a smaller book for taking out with me and use up leftover scraps for shopping lists and jotting down odd jobs before I forget them ( three of those ticked off this week as well)

So that's it - will be back with next week's list. Another apology to end with. I haven't done any writing (or much computing) for a long time. My brother died seven years ago, just as I was starting the final assignments on a two year course of study. I made a complete hash of the assignment I was doing (had nearly finished then,mistakenly, thought I had got the length wrong, hacked it to pieces - the original was only a few words out) then got writer's block and couldn't do any of the assignment's. My old computer was useless, it was taking me a week to get my e-mail - most days I turned it on, it said it was tired and turned itself off again. Then last year DS1 got me this laptop and DS3 introduced me to facebook (just to play games, because I like old slow simple games - although they did admire my skill when we had a tv with a broken tube. The screen was black and white with a rainbow in the middle and the little balls changed colour three times dropping from the top of the screen to the bottom)
So sorry my social skills are a bit rusty and I wander off down little side- alleys. I have a minor panic every time I want to write per cent because the knowledge of how to make the computer to go up/ come down and half size the 0s to make the % sign is buried so deep (I have done it, I must know how to do it) and then I remember its already there on the keyboard. So I hope I will get better. I know my posts are long rambling essays at the moment but please bear with me. I am re-learning as I go along. Someone complained about my not putting paragraphs in the other day. I thought I had been doing paragraphs but then I realised I hadn't left an extra line between them, so thank you to that person - i did thank him but it was for something else.

Fmess

Hey all, how are we?

Update for the end of the week is...

1. Go to the gym two times - two done
2. Do two tutoring sessions - one done, one cancelled by tutee
3. Hoover upstairs at least once - done
4. Hoover downstairs at least twice - done twice
5. Mop the kitchen floor- done by OH!!!
6. Mark at least one class's coursework (they start it on Monday)- done
7. See sister before she goes to new job- done
8. Dust downstairs - done
9. Do at least 6 loads of washing - done seven

Had a very productive week by the looks of it

treasure013

Morning all. Well done to everyone who has managed to get some things done this week.

I only managed one thing from my list, and that was the thing I'd already done when I posted the list :eek: I don't know why - I haven't had a particularly bad week workwise or timewise or anything else wise, I've just been de-motiviated and lazy! The decluttering and paper shredding/filing was okay for the first couple of weeks because I could just skim things that were obvious; now I'm going to have to start going through drawers and files properly, which means it's more of an effort. Also, I can't really see any immediate difference - in fact, it looks even more of a mess than usual.

I'll have a proper think about my focus for this week and how I'm going to manage it before I post my list.

See you later

t x