Everything is possible if you try!

Tea&Kittens

New energy supplier is ready for readings! Must remember to update them when I get home!

Happierdays

Well done on your disciplined food shop... I will try to take inspiration from it and make sure I check what I have got in already before meal planning/making shopping list! I'm very bad at doing this so reading how others do things helps spur me on!
Thanks and happy continued debt busting!

Tea&Kittens

Got stuck at work today till after 7 .. grrrr! So I'm really glad I made the effort to cook such a lot yesterday, or I would probably have succumbed to nipping across the road to the chippy or chinese! Yay for weekend cooking
Hi Happierdays, I had a big cupboard organisation day last week, determined to use it al wisely, I had so many duplicate items I didn't need! Made this week's shopping budget go further at least!

EssexHebridean

On the housework/cleaning stuff, it's easy to get overwhelmed by it all isn't it, particularly if like me you find it all rather dull and that there are usually a lot of other things you'd rather be doing! Something I find can help is the "15 minute approach" - so you set a timer for 15 minutes and then just attack one room - maybe the bedroom is a good place to start if that's looking a bit cluttered. Be methodical - literally pick an item up and deal with it - so maybe the first thing doesn't belong in the bedroom at all - stick it aside for rehoming at the end. The next might be a pile of receipts for shredding - start another pile for stuff needing shredded. Rubbish goes straight to the bin or bin bag depending on how much of it you have. The key is not to keep running from room to room with stuff as you get distracted - anything that needs to go elsewhere goes there at the end, and that way you make a massive impact in a short space of time. when the timer finishes, rehome your misplaced items to where they belong then that's that - you're done for a while. I'll sometimes precede a 15 minute blitz in one area with spraying cleaner onto the bath & sink in the bathroom - then when the timer for the first area finishes it's the work of minutes just to wipe and rinse in there.

Other silly time savers that can help you keep on top of things: have a rule about always wiping the edges of the bath & the tiles when you've showered (or if you have a shower enclosure rinse the glass clean on soap splashes while you're still in there as that can really help!). A 15 minute run about with a bin bag from room to room can work. As can a 15 minute blitz where you literally intend to go from room to room - pick up something that is in the wrong place, return it to the room it should be in, find something in there in the wrong place, and repeat.

The Flylady thread on here might be worth a look - I occasionally kick into using their level 1 as a bit of encouragement for getting things done.

Tea&Kittens

Hi EH,
Thanks for popping by! I do find housework gets a bit much, especially when I've been at work. It's a combination of a) it's boring and yes, there is always something more fun to do! and b) genuine fatigue (If I'm struggling with making a cup of tea, then anything more physical than that is out).
A friend lent me Marie Kondo's "The Art of Tidying Up", so a few weeks ago I had a big clothes purge. (Probably should do another one though!). I have too much clutter and not enough storage for it all, so I do need a general purpose throw-out/ebay etc.
I've been trying to keep on top of things by doing a bit in one room per day, so I might wipe over the bathroom one day, and hoover the living room another. I find it hard to do it every day though.
I'll have a look for the flylady thread, see if there's useful stuff there.

EssexHebridean

A couple of the things I've taken from the Flylady thread - setting clothes out the night before ready to just throw on in the morning - sounds mad but if I'm struggling it really makes a difference not to have to think about that stuff! And the "Swish & Swipe" approach for the kitchen can be brilliant - definitely means it gets less cluttered too as you tend to rehouse things before you wipe over! Even if I'm beyond shattered I can generally fit in 15 minutes while dinner cooks or something like that so I do find the 15 minutes thing works well, for me. Another good trick can be ad-break housework too - you'll find a lot of folk swear by that!

I can't quite get my head around the Kondo method I must admit - not sure why, I'm not a huge man of minimalism, it's not me, so that might be why.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Oh my goodness ad break housework. I thought it was just me that did that.
It is amazing. (French open tennis on itv 4 is the best for this.)

Willowtree222

Hi,

I found it overwhelming to list individual eBay items. I ended up just putting it all in the middle of the carpet, took some pictures, and posted it on eBay as a job lot. Then put it in a box in the garage and the week after someone collected it.

I might have got more if I would have put it on individually, but time alone meant it would take away from me doing other things I needed to do. I was happy with the amount I got in the end and the house looked so much better.

I love the meal plans. I am awful at things like that even though I should really do it and stick to it. I just shop as I go and that costs me so much money.

Hope you get the 4 NSDs.
x

EssexHebridean

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Oh my goodness ad break housework. I thought it was just me that did that.
It is amazing. (French open tennis on itv 4 is the best for this.)

Definitely not just you wishing! There are a positive army of devotees of the art out there!

Tea&Kittens

Oooh lots of helpful advice!

I'm going to try the 15 minute approach! I don't actually have a proper TV aerial set up, so things I watch tend to be series or films on netflix/amazon prime, so ad-break cleaning isn't such an option.
I do tend to give the bathroom a quick wipe when I'm in there, but Kitty is (even) less interested in doing such things (and she has really long hair which gets everywhere!)
Meal plans going well for the week, Kitty was invited out for tea yesterday which meant there's more left in reserve (yay!).
I've turned down an invitation to go out for sushi this evening, even though it is one of my faves!
So far, on target for this week's NSDs and lunches.