Simplifying Life

rosieben

mary43 wrote: »

...
And wouldn't something like that make a lovely present for someone.........now there's a thought. First girl we ever fostered (she'll be 30 this year........groan........I feel old all of a sudden.........lol) has moved to a lovely cottage in the country and longing to get her garden sorted.
So looks like a box for me and a box for her..................lol :T ...

all I did was cover the box first in plain coloured paper (some old red wrapping paper that had been hanging around for yonks) and then pasted some pictures onto the box – I put some on each side and some on the lid so the box is recognisable from any angle! As I said, it’s a mens boot box and its a really useful size. If I hadnt had the red paper I would just have covered the outside with veg/flower/gardening pictures from magazines or from the internet.

Great idea to give a gardening box would as a gift, never thought of that! and ideal for a new gardener; loads of things you could put in it - make it as expensive or inexpensive as you wanted!

Shoe boxes are sooooooo useful!! I use them for storing all sorts of things!

mary43

I love shoe boxes...............there's currently 6 on my shelves that I put a coat of paint on and then sponged another colour on top. Oops......looking again, one of them was covered in wallpaper. They all have a label onb saying more or less whats in them from 'oddments' -meaning bits I dont want to part with..........cards from people that I want to keep, all dads slimline diaries..........lost count but they fill a shoebox, christmas card making bits etc. I did buy some self assembly ones from a charity shop for £1 each for bits and pieces of my dads so at least all my little bits of 'clutter' are organised and out of the way,
Just need to find another shoe box now...........the one I've got that'll do for me has a bit of a dent in the lid. To do one as a present its got to be a bit better so I'll have to have a word with the shoe chap on our market.
I have got a load of brown wrapping paper - I could use that to cover the box.Think I'll do mine first and see how I get on.............ooohhh !!! Just remembered..........I bought a pack of skeleton leaves from charity shop ages ago. Used some when I painted a cupboard in the bathroom.........I could put a few of them on..............oh lor...........best not mention this to OH............he got fed up with me and my cheap baskets...................lol:rotfl: I'll keep this one to myself and show him when I've finished...........:T Thanks rosie............any more ideas ?

ceridwen

It will soon be the TUC's annual Work Your Proper Hours Day - concerning itself with how much unpaid overtime the average British worker does each year.

So - I've been thinking about that today - overtime (both of the paid and unpaid variety). I came back today and read the comments on the thread and noted the comment by Bails about the cluttered mind. To me - I feel the basic point of decluttering the house/paperwork/etc (ie all the external things) is to help in achieving the uncluttered mind - as indeed it does.

Just as many employers conduct an annual review of the performance of their staff - I feel its worth us all conducting our own personal annual review of our source or sources of income - to see how well, or otherwise, they are "fit for purpose".

I like the idea of taking a few hours out each year (maybe specifically going on a long country walk to do so - as, to me, walking does get the mind working particularly well for thinking purposes) and during this walk (accompanied by OH if there is one in your life) assessing the income source/s and asking oneself questions about how they fit in or otherwise with the rest of your life.

I was thinking what questions I would ask myself and thought they could be as follows:

- Do we need the money?
- Are we under an obligation to do it - because we have made an agreement to and are not easily replaceable?
- Are we doing it to escape from a home environment we feel uncomfortable in for some reason (if so - is there any more enjoyable way to do so until the situation resolves itself or we resolve it)
- Are we doing it to avoid having time to think and just be
- Are we doing it because we dont actually need the money - but the opportunity to earn it is there and it seems a shame to turn it down
- Is it presenteeism (ie we're scared if we dont do it that we will be seen as targets for redundancy - and, if so, realistically how likely is it that our employer couldnt replace us with cheaper labour, hence chances are that that probably wont be that effective for protecting ourselves)
- What else would we do with the time saved by not doing overtime (ie would we have problems filling it - so we'd just do mindless shopping/tv watching/etc - or are we longing for more time to do x/y/z)

and - after all that - if the answer is that we have a "Hobsons Choice Job" (ie we dont want it and/or have time for it - but the other options on the table are even worse) then what strategies can we come up with for coping with it whilst we have no option but to stay put.

(you all know me and my links by now - so I give below one about Work Your Proper Hours Day:

www.worksmart.org.uk/workyourproperhoursday/

(it includes a good quiz to help you work out whats the case for you)

ceridwen

kethry wrote: »

I've also got an OS Journal which i keep all my recipes and household notes in. both are just covered A5 clip files, and i write my own sheets, however, there is this site if anyone wants it, which has printable sheets for just about any planner. This lady (who writes a simple living blog) used it to make a planner which looks really lovely.

Thats an attractive-looking journal mentioned there. I've been looking enviously at some of the ones featured on the Christian fundamentalist websites - enviously because I'm not creative enough to produce anything remotely like it - but have taken on board the idea and duly have my own journals (mainly filled with things I have picked out from MSE O.S. forum - lol).

Greenshieldstamp_2

Use by
Type
Location
Item
Portion Size
Date





Hi Ches,

I have one idea which I am trying which may be useful to you.

I did an inventory of my cupboards and freezer and recorded the details in a table in a word processor. It had the following columns and you can then sort by any of the columns when you need to.

Use by (date format)
Type (Choose your own categories such as Veg / Baking / Meat / Fish etc.
Location (Choose your own categories such as Freezer / Store cupboard etc.
Item (Short description of item)
Portion Size (E.g. 1/2 packet / 2 people / bottle)
Date Bought (Shopping date)

It takes work to go through your cupboards to start with and like I said I am not sure how often I will be able to do it each time I do a major shop. However it gives me a quick and easy way of then reviewing what is left in my cupboards and what needs to be used up soon, and any duplicates that I don't need to buy in my next shop.

If you sort it by use by date then it can give you food for thought as to what needs using up and at least gives me some ingredients to work from which I can then search the net for recipes if I am stuck.

It may well prove too difficult to keep up and I think I need to simplify it but I will let you know how I get on.
Best wishes

rosieben

Well done Jane on the new rule! Glad to hear you are winning the decluttering battle. Gives you heart to carry on and do more doesn’t it?

kethry wrote: »

I was given a garden journal for christmas, which i'm currently filling out, and i think its going to be extremely useful. …
… I would also add that blogs are extremely useful in different ways to the journals. You can share your triumphs and disasters there, it works as a kind of diary as well (for the past, rather than the future)... i really wouldn't be without mine. I know there are quite a few people on here who have their own blogs - i'm slowly finding them! - but i think more is always a good thing!

keth
xx

Keth, would be interesting to hear your progress with the garden journal.

I agree about blogs, I find so much inspiration on blogs – including yours – and I’m an addict! there’s just so much information out there and so much of it is thought provoking and often I read something which will make me stop and take a good look at issues in my own life.

A few years ago I designed an A4 garden journal which I can make available via 4Shared if anyone is interested. It has various sections, and could be printed out and bound or used in a ring binder. At the moment the covers are powerpoint files but I could change to something else if need be, the pages are in word I think.

rosieben

mary43 wrote: »

I love shoe boxes...............there's currently 6 on my shelves that I put a coat of paint on and then sponged another colour on top …

I’ve never painted one of mine, did you just use ordinary household paint? All sorts of ideas floating through my head now! :j

Greenshieldstamp wrote: »

…
I did an inventory of my cupboards and freezer and recorded the details in a table in a word processor. It had the following columns and you can then sort by any of the columns when you need to.
…
It may well prove too difficult to keep up and I think I need to simplify it but I will let you know how I get on.
Best wishes

I did this Greenshield, and found it really useful. Tbh I just do the whole thing from scratch about every 6 months - given that I have the sheets already printed with the correct columns it doesn’t take long except for tiddly baking ingredients - I store them in plastic baskets so I lift down a basket at a time.

I found it really useful to do with my meds too, and sorting by date is such a help to keep this up to date. This is more of a permanent list, which I just update as I replace and its brilliant!! :T

mary43

I had some leftover emulsion rosie...........used that as a base coat and got some matchpots from local decorator or woolworths just to sponge two more colours on.I found just painting them didn't do such a good job but by the time they were sponge painted any little flaws from the first coat were hidden. Did the same with some box files as well..........same paint technique and then a piece of left over wallpaper border down the spine before putting a label on. A lot of box files and ring binders can be a bit boring and I pick mine up from the charity shops where I can.........doesn;t matter what colour they are if they're going to be painted. I stuck some cut outs on the front of some of them just to make them a bit different.
Used to run riot with a paint tin...........almost nothing was safe........even painted my metal filing cabinet in a metal brass coloured paint.............lol
You name it...............I've painted it...........................:j

Oh..............this is something I did.................didnt have a splashback for the cooker so OH cut a piece of plywood to fit the back and I painted it, stencilled on a tile pattern and varnished it..............looks a bit worn now but its been there about 7 years................lol

rosieben

Sound great Mary! I shall pinch your idea and try it out on one of my remaining boxes. It would be a cheapy way of getting matched filing boxes, ring binders etc.

ecoelle

hi guys, oh my goodness! This is an emergency post, i've lost my bloke! i was in the bank, doing well with the savings, and mentioned to what i thought was my man that i might declutter the spare room tomorrow this imposter replied "yeah that's a good idea, i'll help you, there's some things i think i can get rid of, maybe we could put them on ebay" can someone please return my man to me because nice as this robot is i'm a little bit frightened...maybe i'll just keep him til i've finished the spare room!