My five-week challenge

lisa110rry

Oo, Funbrum, excellent advice. But on top of my wardrobes are hats in hat boxes, sadly. Never know when a wedding will occur! (Or, sadly a funeral.). And I love lists! Just writing it down and ticking it off is great! I shall be doing a revised, combined list soon! And adding another mini-room to clear, the office under the stairs.

pollypenny

Had a major clear out of books yesterday, prior to moving a unit from dining room into living room.

Quite ruthless, but as I woke up I realised I'll have to buy my Peter Ackroyd book on Blake back.

FunBrum

Glad to see we are on the same wavelength Lisa110rry!;)
Hat boxes are great to stash things in too! Your hubby will think he's in a new house when he returns.....well done!:T

lisa110rry

A new, updated list, ever growing! I'm getting through it all though:

1. 1. Clear out pantry, shelf-by-shelf, clean down and replace needed items and work out what to do with “not needed” items from top shelf. Replace all food items in groups so I have a vague idea of what’s in said pantry. DONE
2. Eat from said pantry and from freezer. See how long I can go without buying any food, except bread and milk (and perhaps the odd gin and tonic, though there does seem to be quite a bit of alcoholic stuff hanging around from Christmas and earlier including last summer and even May 2015!). DONE
3. At the appropriate time, when freezer is becoming empty, remove what’s left, store with friend, switch off and defrost. Clean and reconnect to mains, allow to cool then put any items remaining back in freezer from friend’s freezer. DONE
4. In the bathroom, use up all those samples of shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. given to me by friend who frequents hotels regularly. Should only have to buy toothpaste and toilet tissue, perhaps some cleaning materials. ONLY A FEW BITS LEFT!
5. Rationalise the books in the library. This sounds very jumped up, but it’s only that we house the library of a society we belong to in our small third bedroom. So many new books on the subject have been written in recent years, some shelves are over-full with books on the floor. DONE
6. Have a look at my “send to e Bay” suitcases to identify things suitable to list at this time of year and do the photos and listings.
7. Clean the back of my car. It's a 4wd in which I took two labs and my little terrier-type mongrel to the beach a couple of weeks ago. DONE
8. Clean the 'George Formby' grill. DONE
9. Clean the slow cooker, the bowl of which is in the dishwasher after soaking. Done
10. Do the clear out, sort, decide what we will use again, clean and repopulate the vestibule, as we've always called out porch area. DONE
11. Clear my dressing table!!!! DONE
12. Do my listings of things from the pantry on eBay. DONE, BUT MORE EBAY STUFF TO DO (SEE ABOVE)
13. File lots of paperwork. DONE
14. Clear out the office, clean down and sort out everything. DONE

15. Enjoy the solitude and be sure to make time for 'me'. DONE! Including exhibition at gallery and Murrayfield for the match so far!

Fifteen items on my list now and [STRIKE]only five[/STRIKE][STRIKE]ten[/STRIKE] thirteen completed so far, but they are good ones.


Also, left some meat to defrost for tea, not sure if it's chicken or pork steak, but it doesn't matter as it will go well with a Cantonese sauce and pak choi.

lisa110rry

'For the avoidance of doubt', as we often say in the industry in which I work, the mystery meat was pork steak, two of them, as my portions are always for two, husband and I.

It was delicious. First I heated the wok to really hot, added some sesame oil (other oils are available) then added the finely sliced pork. Cooked three minutes, then added two bunches of pak choi and put the wok lid on to wilt quickly, then one liberated chilli, finely chopped. Added the Cantonese sauce. I didn't have any noodles, so served with rice and it was scrumptious. And because there were two steaks, enough for tomorrow.

So, that's two pork steaks liberated from the freezer and one large red chilli used up from the fridge. The pak choi I bought last evening after work and the rice was from the infamous pantry, as was the oil. The sauce sachet I bought last night. So, reckon that was £2 or maybe £2.39 in bought stuff, can't remember the sauce price, but the pak choi was £1. (Have you ever tried to write pak choi in predictive text? It wants peak, park, even Pam!)

lisa110rry

Well, the slow cooker is dead. Never mind, another job completed. I've ordered another for £29.99 from Lakeland. The old one was just that, very old, and well used!

[Deleted User]

<<<1 husband
1 suitcase containing various warm weather clothing
1 picnic sized pork pie (didn't fancy the beans on toast in the end)
1 pot of face moisturiser>>>

Love the idea of decluttering a husband along with a pork pie :):)
Glad to see you are doing well with your to-do list . onwards and upwards honey :):)
JackieO

Pollycat

lisa110rry wrote: »

Well, the slow cooker is dead. Never mind, another job completed. I've ordered another for £29.99 from Lakeland. The old one was just that, very old, and well used!

Hi Lisa
Just wanted to mention re slow-cookers (after reading that you'd had yours soaking in the sink for ages):
I'm not sure if it was in the sink with water inside or in the sink that was full of water (IYSWIM) but mine says not to immerse in water for too long as it might affect the porous bits - mine has a rim on the bottom that isn't glazed (just in case you're not aware).

The switch on my 6.5 litre one is loose (and I can't see any way to tighten it back up) so I'm debating whether to bite the bullet and order a new one now or wait until it fails. :think:

lisa110rry

I see pollycat! It was in fact the slow cooker bowl that contained water, not the sink with the bowl in it. Good to know though, I didn't. The item was given to me, it had been used in a pub situation I believe, and it was a very large one. I think it just died of old age or much use, because on its last outing it managed to cook at a significantly higher temperature than it should have. I'm looking forward to my new one!

candygirl

JackieO wrote: »

<<<1 husband
1 suitcase containing various warm weather clothing
1 picnic sized pork pie (didn't fancy the beans on toast in the end)
1 pot of face moisturiser>>>

Love the idea of decluttering a husband along with a pork pie :):)
Glad to see you are doing well with your to-do list . onwards and upwards honey :):)
JackieO

I'm brilliant at decluttering hubbies, permanently though :D The rest of it, not so good