Re-Boot

So. I spent yesterday evening and this morning looking at the house and garden. Jeez it's a LONG list!

Here goes.......
Front Garden:

• Prune back shrub
• Weed
• Dig out big "grassy" thing
• Try to exterminate the Budlea (AGAIN!!)
• Relay weed barrier and put new mulch down
• Maybe plant some bedding plants or bulbs

Front of House

• Sand and repaint window frames
• Sand and repaint the door
• repaint the garage door and the gas/electric cupboard doors
• Get someone in to look at the misted window panes

Front Door/Lobby

• Empty out the rubbish
• Sort all the coats/hats/gloves/scarves etc
• Clear out all the shoes and wellie boots and keep just the current size!
• Reclaim and reorganise the shelves for the Guiding stuff I use every week
• Find somewhere for DH to stash his many....MANY....Train photos.....and his (important I'll grant you!) Tour Notes.

Living Room

• Clear out the rubbish for starters (we're drowning in paper!)
• Get rid of old computer
• Decide what to do with the rack of Videos......now we have lots of DVDs instead!
• Repaint eventually (not a priority.....have to find the room first!)
• Sort out/empty/get rid of/reorganise the 11 boxes and at least 12bags of "stuff" that has accumulated

Kitchen Diner

• Dust down the cobwebs
• Reorganise the cupboards - get RID of all the extra plates, cups and tupperwear!
• Save up for a new fridge and microwave
• Clear off the counter for display and packed lunch item storage
• Redo the Command centre (that I can't get to at the moment for all the junk!)
• Get rid of the dozen bags of "Stuff" that have accumulated there.

Sheesh!

I'm exhausted!
That's just DOWNSTAIRS!!!!
Upstairs is my room and the wardrobe I haven't been in in the last 5 years!
Upstairs is the kids "dungeon"......ULP!!!!

And then there is the back garden.....and the play house.........
......AND.......

..........................The............GARAGE!!!!! (Cue scary music!)

So.
There.

I've told you the first part.

So now I HAVE to do it........don't I?!

Promises, Promises!

I know, I know!
I know I said I was going to get a wriggle on.

But.....

Well......

You see........

Oh who am I kidding! It all boils down to just not being bothered! A lack of motivation. A dislike of putting the effort in.

.....Or maybe, just maybe.....I just DON'T KNOW WHERE to start!

If I sit on the computer, I can't see the mess behind me.

If I go to bed and read I can "forget" the junk piled everywhere.

I'm fed up of it, and I *HAVE* to change.

I just......

......don't know.......

....................how.............


Sigh.


Time to take a bite out of the Elephant.

I have people coming over in a few weeks.

New colleagues........for a planning meeting.......they could be here a while.

They will walk through the jungle to the front door. GULP.
They will squeeze through the junked up untidy lobby. GULP.
They will walk through my scruffy - full of junk - living room. OUCH
They will sit in my cobwebby kitchen. ....Which honestly I though was getting better as I had really been making an effort in there......until I put the light on last night! Oooopppps!
And if the weather holds - they will sit out in my untidy, junky, full of weeds and not a flower in sight back garden. SIGH.
NOT a good start to a new working relationship.


I *KNOW* I've said it like a gazillion times before.........but I *HAVE* to change.

Anyone want to take bets on how far I actually get?

Not a lot of progress

So.
What Now?

I started this blog, full of good intentions, the week BEFORE Christmas 2011.
The house was a MESS. Christmas was a week away. I had NO idea HOW I was going to find space for the Tree, WHERE I had put most of the presents bought in advance, and I was TIRED!!!

Tired of the mess.
Tired of the hassle.
Tired of all the bad temper from my children and my husband....and me.
Tired of climbing over ALL the STUFF everytime we wanted to get to the window to open or close the curtains, of moving a pram from the doorway ever time someone called.

I was DETERMINED the Christmas 2012 would be better.
That the House would be more organised - emptier of mess.
That relationships would be less fraught - after all, we would have space and organisation.
That we would have had FUN...because I would know WHERE I had stashed the pressies for the Elves to bring (and have found the Elves in time for the beginning of December rather than the last minute attempt to bring them into our Christmas as usually happened!)

What Happened?

.........Not........A......Lot!

Sigh.

It's now the week AFTER Christmas 2012.......and the house doesn't look much different to the way it did when I started this project.
I still have a garage you can't get into.
I still have a storage unit draining my finances (and I still have NO finances!)
I still have boxes and bags of STUFF.......EVERYWHERE!!!

So.
New Year.
New Resolution.
New Attempt.

But now only 50 weeks to Christmas (well, OK, 51 if you count this week....that's already started!)

Can I do it?

For the sake of ALL of us in the house......I'd better!
AM

26 Weeks + 3 Days to go

OK, so I've heard it many times before, and I know it's true.....but even so I've just spent the last hour doing it!

YOU CAN'T ORGANISE CLUTTER!!!!!

Sheesh Woman, get it into your head, it just doesn't work!

One of the reasons - and it really is a little reason - one of the reasons our house is always such a pigsty is thatit's such a LITTLE house, really only made for two....or two and a baby at a push. There are 5 of us living here.
Even with minimal belongings it would be a bit of a squash.

But we are NOT minimalists.......far, FAR from it! All 5 of us - even my husband who always declares none of the mess is his (on account of never being here! Lol!) - have WAY too MUCH "STUFF" !

There's.....

School "STUFF" (Me and Sprogs 1, 2 and 3)
Guide "STUFF" (Me and Sprogs 1 and 2)
Camping "STUFF" (All of us)
Travel "STUFF" (DH)

Not to mention all the usual household "STUFF" like bills, toys, decorations, clothes too small for one but too big for another, the DVDs/CDs and even videos, the cameras and photos and all the rest of the "STUFF" !


I once found an acronym for "STUFF" on a blog somewhere -

                                          Something 

                                          that

                                          undermines

                                          family

                                          fun

And I have to say, in our house (notice I said "house" and not "home" sigh!) it really does. 

Just now, as I tried to tackle one of the MANY, MANY bags of 

"STUFF" in my living room, without throwing anything away, it occured to me.... The ONLY way I'm going to get rid of this "STUFF" is to first SORT it (Teaching, School x3 Sprogs, Guiding - me x2, Sprogs x2, Kids x3, household and DH) and THEN thin it out one area at a time.

So, Plan .....ohh, must be U or V by now! (because I have it on very good authority that "Plan B" is always 'go to the pub'!!), is to hit the new idea this evening and tomorrow,

We'll see!

However, today I've ........ cleaned the kitchen sink, done (most of) the dishes, done a load of washing (though it does still need hanging out), spent some time with Sprog 2, home with Chicken Pox, chased a few emails for Guides (....and got sidetracked by the computer!) and found some bits and pieces ready for trotting to the bank tomorrow.......so it's not ALL bad!

AM

Trying Again!

...for about the 5 millionth time!

Sigh

I just SO need a kick up the Bum......but I think I've had it..... (no I'm not going to go into details....yet...it's a bit personal).... AND as my Boss has just given me two weeks "off" (not a holiday, cos I still have some paperwork to do, and of course I've still got all my other commitments, NOW is as good a time to start as any!

It's goodness knows how many weeks to Christmas now......I'll find my diary and have a count up at some point in the next few days......but here's the plan.


1)  Do ALL the ironing  (not just the smalls things and leave the rest for DH and Sprog 1 to do)
2)  Make some headway in my bedroom....taking a rubbish bag in there for one, and also bagging up all the kids old clothes to take to the Salvation Army bin for another!
3)  Clear off the stairs and landing.......it's a SMALL space, and I need a quick fix to spur me on!

Extra's - if I get chance:

a)  Blitz the bathroom (beyond the usual "keep it clean")
b)  plan my next few blog posts so I'm more focused....AND remember to have photo's! :-)


Oh - and here's a few things I HAVE to do.......

A) Iron the smalls school uniform (before bed, they need it tomorrow!)
B) Plan Brownies for tomorrow night (I have 3 girls making their promise)
C) Plan the next few sessions for the Toddler Music group I have on a Tuesday!

.....Best get on then!

Oh Dear!

Life - and illness - has rather got in the way of me doing ANYTING lately....which is EXACTLY how we got into this mess in the first place!

Sigh!!

I really DO need to get my act together and concientiously work through all the problem areas in the house.
There are now only 40 something weeks til Christmas and I am DETERMINED (!!!!) to be sorted by then!

So, new motivation - Organised Junkie has a challenge running throughout February. I think I might just take part.
Now, which should I tackle? The living room - where I might make some serious headway, or the Kitchen/Diner which is causing chaos?

Arrggghhhh!!!
Decisions are NOT my strong point - another reason why we're in such a mess!

Oh Dear!

51 weeks to go (just!)

For lots of reasons I'm running late with the weekly post this week (it's Wednesday...so I'm already over halfway through! Eekk!) And - for lots of reasons....I haven't really done any more work on the situation since the last post!

What I HAVE done:

• Found my Home Management Folder
• Printed off some new calendar sheets
• Bought new ink for the printer so I can re-print the calendar sheets! (sigh!)
• Spent a day in London (when I SHOULD have been sorting out the folder!)
• Had a tea party with my youngest girls
• Downloaded the photos to the computer!

Oh....AND come up with a "plan of action" for the rest of the year!....Which I'll have to post later because I need to find some web addresses before I do!

So, I'll leave you with a photo of my favourite afternoon so far,  and head to bed. If I'm going to get caught up tomorrow, well, I need my beauty sleep!

Our Fairy Tea Party!