My pseudo packing party!

I mentioned a few days ago that I’m doing a pseudo packing party. Mostly inspired by the realisation, after having participated in my step-mums house move, that I most likely still have a lot of stuff hiding in nooks and crannies, even after my decluttering effort the last year(s).

I decided there are a couple of questions I need to add to my regular decluttering rules, questions like;

If I was to move to a different country or a smaller house, would this item be worth paying good money to have it moved, or would it fit in a smaller lifestyle?
Would I keep this item if I myself had to physical carry/haul this over to the new place, with no help from anyone…

I don’t want to do a real packing party, like The Minimalists did, as I don’t want to cover up everything I own, and live in boxes (especially after the last few days), but I decided I want to do a smaller version, where I “pretend” I’m moving and therefore have to go through my stuff as if I was packing up for a move. And while I go through my stuff I will evaluate the items according to my regular declutter routine and add the questions above to the mix!

All round better me – one of our fellow bloggers – quickly asked me what it involves, joining my “packing party”!

My original plan was to just “pretend (in my mind)” that I packed up room by room, and while I was going through my stuff I would use the questions above, hoping that that would make a few more things go out the door.

But, All round better me’s question made me stop up and think, that maybe I should do a “proper” job 🙂

So I have made a plan for my pretend packing party. Now! If there are anyone out there that wants to join me, you choose yourself what it is you want to join this “party” with. You can do a room, or a closet, or the cupboards (Therese?), or an area of your house or the whole house. Whatever area you feel you would like/need to give a once over 🙂

The key is – you need to empty the space you have chosen!

Since I’m doing most of the house, I’ve decided I need a plan, to keep it from becoming to overwhelming:

I will do one room at the time
I will not touch any of the furniture (the original packing party covered them all up, but I’m not going there)
As with the furniture I will not touch the TV, cable, stereo ++ as it’s way to many cables to mess with…
I’m not touching my books, as I’m doing those separately as part of my read a book program
I’m not touching my photo collection as this is a whole project on its own
I’m not buying any moving boxes or packing items. The idea is to get rid of thing, not have to buy anything to get that done. I will use boxes, bags, suitcases I already have, and I have “borrowed” some of my step-mums moving boxes. If I have no boxes to use, I will stack the stuff in piles, use plastic bags or whatever I have. The key is, if you are joining me, use whatever stuff you have to pack in 🙂
I will store my “packed” items in a different room than the one I’m packing – if possible!

Packing:

I will pull things out of my cabinets and drawers and pack away everything that is not going to be used the first 48 hours.
While I’m packing I will use my declutter system and ask the questions mentioned above
I will only keep out the items I know I will use the next 48 hour (e.g toothbrush, clothing, cups and plates and so on)
Then I will “sit back and relax” and enjoy my clear space for the next 48 hours. Why 48 hours? I’m thinking that that will give me just enough time to enjoy my empty space, and also contemplate on what I really want to put back in, when I unpack!
Since the space is empty, I figured this is as good a time as ever, to do a proper spring clean! So maybe not so much relaxing after all 😉

Unpacking:

I will only put back the items I really want or absolutely need in that cleared space.
Since I’m only putting back the things I really want or need, I’m sure I will have leftover items. These I sort through again
Items I know I’m keeping that belong somewhere else, I will put where they belong. If that is in a room that is next on the list, I will still put it there, for me to go though again, together with that rooms stuff.
Items I’m getting rid off, I will dispose of either as donate, sell or toss (recycle off course).
Items I’m not sure about, I will keep packed up, put a future date on them, and store out of the way until that date and then get rid of anything I have not taken back out by then.

When?

I’m lucky to have some long weekends I can use for this task, and I was planing on packing Fridays and unpacking Mondays!

Saturdays and Sundays will most likely be used in the garden as spring is finally on it’s way, and there are plenty, and I mean plenty of things to do outdoors 🙂

I thought the month of April would be a great time for this job! But, since I have a whole house to do, I will start as early as next weekend, and I’m starting in the bathroom!

Jump on in, any time, from now through April 🙂 And why not blog about it? Let me know, I’ll add your links to my posts 🙂

And remember! A great rule when you are trying to decide what stays and what goes:

Choose what to KEEP, not what to get rid of!

Plans for 2015?

We are halfway into January, and you’re wondering, do I have any plans for 2015?

Yes, off course 🙂

I have plans within the areas of decluttering, finance, exercise and life in general! Why don’t you let me tell you all about it 😉

Declutter
In 2014, the focus was mostly on decluttering, and I’m afraid I still have ways to go 😦 Seems like decluttering and getting less stuff, inspires me to want less and less. So I will continue this in 2015. Last years goal was to declutter one item a day (365 items) and I far succeeded that, so I thought maybe I should try that one, one more time.. I think it will be harder this year to find the 365 items, but I’m sure gonna try 😉

I don’t know if you remember! Just like I’m reading myself out of my bookshelf, I’ve decided to watch myself out of my movie collection, and I also have this big, actually huge, photo project which I mentioned for you guys in November, that I will be spending time on this year.

My declutter goals for 2015;

365 items
100 Movies – that’s half of my collection
Cut my physical DVD series collection by 30% (yeah, that’s a lot, I have a lot, a lot of series)
34 books – I did 82 or something like that, out-the-door last year, but now I’m getting into more of the books I love…
Photo collection – oh lord… I can’t even tell you what my goal is for this year! Half maybe?
My overall goal is to keep key photos as physical photos, scan the other ones I’d like to have access to, and get rid of the rest. Now having several thousand photos, this is a task that will take time, and most likely spill over into 2016…

Only buying necessities
My focus last year on only buying necessities ( I want, I want – I want it now!!!) served me very well, as I had to spend quite a bit on medical treatments instead. It served me so well, I think I’d like to continue the focus this year. But with a small change compared to last years – I will add an allowance;

Books – I can still buy up to 10 books/magazines – preferable as e-books
Eating out – We did pretty good last year – we will try to squeeze even more this year, by reducing another 25% on last years results.
Flowers and plants – stay at the same level of last years result
New allowance: I can buy up to 10 non essentials throughout the year 🙂

Other financial goals
Last year I managed to pay off my car (a few months early) and I’m pretty happy with that 🙂 My ultimate goal on the other hand, is to have my house mortgage paid off, in 16 years or less, compared to the 25 it was originally. I’m 7 years in and have almost halved the mortgage so far, which is phenomenal! But it’s getting harder now that I’m on a severely reduced pay due to not working so much. Every January I pay a lump sum towards the mortgage, so my goal for 2015 is to save up 60 000 NOK for my lump sum in January 2016. If I manage that on my reduced pay, I’m doing very well.

Activity and exercise
Due to illness I have not been the most active person the last few years, every time I think I’m ready to start exercising, I’ve managed to screw that up somehow, and I’ve gotten worse again. Now on the other hand, I’m feeling better than ever and I think it’s time to give it another shot. But this time around I’m going to be careful about it and take my time!!!

The goal for this year is to build up to, by the end of the year: 7 days of activity a week, with 3 of these as real workouts.

By activity I mean something that gets me up and going and preferable out of the house, like a walk in the neighbour hood, work in the yard, run around playing with kids… just about anything that gets me out of that couch, gives me some fresh air, and brings me into a moving state 😉
With real workout I mean an activity like for example going to the gym, yoga, biking, running, Rollerblade … you get the drift.

Other activities/projects this year
I have a few other things on my agenda 🙂 Like; travel, projects in my yard, other projects, throw a garden party, ++
But these, I think I’ll tell you more about, as we move into the year 😉

So that’s it for my 2015 goals… enough don’t you think?

Packing up for winter…

It’s been getting colder and colder outside, and it’s time to prepare the garden for the winter season.

On the west coast of Norway we never really know what winter we will have. A couple of winters ago we had so much snow it wasn’t funny (well actually it was 🙂 ), then there is the no-snow-freezing winter and last year we had a mild wet winter. So you see.. it’s hard to know what to prepare the garden for.

Last weekend, I cleaned up my water-feature and packed away the power, pump and lining. I packed away the pump/filter for my automatic watering system and cleared away some pots and plants.

I’ve started to pull my Begonias from the ground (have one big pot left I’ll take care off this weekend), I store the tubers indoors during winter. And I have one big pot of Dahlia which I’m keeping outside until the first frost and then it’s going in, just like the Begonias. Fortunately for me I have a friend that have a storage room that I can keep bulbs and tubers in (you see, my storage room is warmer than my house 😦 )

I’ve washed all my patio furniture and yesterday they were all packed together under the furniture cover (living in 807 square feet.. I have NO storage for my outdoor furnitures, except the pillows).

I have to admit, I’m not to fond of this time a year, when I have to pack “summer” away. It makes my patio (and me) a little sad 😦 The view from the living-room isn’t quite as cosy as it it during the summer months.

It’s not like I don’t like winter. Winter can be really beautiful, especially when we have those beautiful cold crystal clear days.

I’m just not quite ready to welcome the winter yet 🙂 Fortunately, I don’t have to, as there are still plants that are flowering in the yard, so I’m hanging on to “summer” a little while longer 😉

“Homemade” apple juice

My step mum have two apple trees on her allotment. One little one and one big brute of a tree! Somewhere along the way she decided it be a good idea to pick the apples, but she didn’t want any.. would I?

Saturday last weekend, a friend of mine and me, moseyed over there and picked the trees clean. With the exception of about 6 apples hanging so high there was no way I was going to get to them, without risking my “life”. Yes.. had a little “scare” when my ladder started to slip because a branch gave in, or rather to be absolutely frank with you, it broke! Not a comfy feeling let me tell you 😉 So I caved and left the last ones on the tree. Better safe than sorry.. right? 😉

There are a couple of places in town that lets you do something about your apples.

One place will exchange 1,25 kg of apples for a 0,7 litre bottle already made apple juice (of the type that has been treated to last a while). You pay for the juice, but you pay less than normal, since you are bringing the apples.

There is another place in town where they will press apples into fresh apple juice for a small fee. Since this is not treated apple juice (pure fresh, as if you used a juicer yourself) they will only last a few days, so you will be needing some room in your freezer for storage.

Since this was the first time ever, trying this (and we had no clue if the apples were good or not), we decided it be a good idea to try both of the options above.

So off we went with about 60 kg worth of apples 🙂

We delivered about 38 kg to the “swap” place! Which amounted to 30 bottles of juice at reduced price. But since we had no idea if that juice was any good or not, we decided to buy only 15 bottles this time, which gives us a another 15 we can buy later.

Then we delivered 22/23 kg at the apple press place, and would you believe it, it amounted to about 17,5 litres of freshly pressed! Woohoo 🙂 How’s that for utilising our resources, and they are guaranteed organic (since nobody have done didli squat with the trees in years) 🙂

Which one tasted the best? As nice as the juice at the swap place is, I have to admit the freshly pressed is way better. So guess which version I’ll be doing next year? Yepp, the freshly pressed way (depending on how much room I can borrow in my friends freezers 😉 )

Did we save some? Yes, off course! The little tree had some really nice red tasty apples, and these are kept outdoors in my garden box. So right now, I’m eating apples like a crazy person 😉

Garden give aways!

Before I left for Houston, a few of my outdoor items was moved over to my step-mums allotment. She needed a garden storage box and I had one to many 😉

At the same time I figured I could clear out some more stuff, and she ended up with 3 flowerpots, 2 trays for the flowerpots and one of my Hydrangeas, in addition to the garden storage box.

At the time I totally forgot to take the pictures for my blog 😦

Today though, I went over to her allotment to pick some apples from one of her apple trees 🙂 and I figured it was as good a time as any, to show you the things that made it out-the-door (or out-of-garden as it was) before I left for my Houston trip.

I guess.. better late than never.. right? 😉

Another crazy purge! And a very happy neighbour.

Last week, I must have inadvertently eaten a pep pill or something, cause I roamed around the house tearing stuff out of my cabinets, drawers and “loft” space. And ended up with a pile of things to get rid off.

I have a neighbour who just moved in, and since she pretty much came over with nothing but a few suitcases and boxes, from the US, I was hoping there would be a few things she could take off my hands!

A couple of days ago, she popped by to have a look, and I couldn’t believe it, but she took most of my stuff! She looked really happy with the stuff, and even came back to get me, to show me how the things fit in her house 🙂

When I counted up all the stuff that went out-the-door, I couldn’t believe the numbers!

Have a look…

5 notebooks – for her kids to draw in
2 “baskets”
1 furry pillowcase
1 furry blanket
1 wool carpet
1 file organizer
1 Ikea storage box
40 hangers – counted as 1
4 packs of hanging “lamps” – now hanging in her kids play corner 🙂
1 empty tea box
1 roll of stretchable wire
1 wineglass box
3 presentation portfolios
2 packs of table decorations
1 sauté pan
2 purple pillowcases
2 large candles
1 glass container for candles or flowers
1 picture from Virgin Islands
6 cloth place mats
6 plastic place mats
4 Texas cloth napkins – counted a 1
1 plastic table runner
1 red cloth pot holder
2 green glasses
1 bag of decorative rocks
1 glass soap dispenser – given to a friend
1 bamboo plate
2 more large candles
4 bags of decorative stones
6 white wine glasses
6 red wine glasses
2 camping chairs
4 flowerpots
2 glass plant watering things
1 outdoor recliner
2 big floor flowerpots

That’s 81 items – and with the exceptions of a few items, my neighbour took them all! 🙂

How’s that for a purge 😉

Happy as a clam…

I can’t even begin to tell you what wonderful weather we have had here the last week, it feels like summer (actually, you never know, it might be our summer! )

In my post Spring cleaning a month ago, I cleaned up the wall around my raised flowerbeds. After this, my patio looked a little forlorn 😦 probably wondering if I had forgotten all about it.

Well I’m happy to say that with this great – and I mean GREAT weather – the perfect opportunity presented itself for a little patio TLC.

He never knew what hit him, before he had time to take a breath, he was stripped bare of furniture, plants and stuff.

One proper clean-up with cleaner and a pressure washer, and my patios hair was standing up in pure shock.

Well we couldn’t have any of that, could we! So next day when everything was dried, out came the sanding paper and my Black and Decker sanding mouse. Throw in a few hours of “elbow crease” and my patio was smooth as a baby’s bottom 😉

Fast forward a couple of days, and about 40 minutes ago I finished putting on the last lick of oil!

The patio is positively radiant! Happy as a clam, in mud at high tide 😉

And here it is! Before and after – and a couple of more, for good measures 😉