Thank you both @Boogie and @Sandemaniac for your suggestions. I have no idea what he is stuffed with, but it's as hard as a rock, he's not at all cuddly. When I have some room in the freezer, I'll pop him in overnight.
I watched a video at the weekend which mentioned something that I know I suffer from. The lady talked about the danger in going to the op shop to drop stuff off, and then "just going in for a look, to see what treasures might be there". I have been that person and have been deliberately avoiding those places for that reason.
I have been foolish and bought clothes that don't fit because they are a manufacturer that I like (and no longer exists) and picking up things because they are a bargain. I'm trying to shop a bit more mindfully now and even though I love our local auction house, I'm trying not to buy things that will never be used.
I haven't subscribed to the channel because I'm trying not to take too much advice from too many voices, just trying to think more sensibly about things and working through my own junk and let some of it go. I figure stuff stored in a cupboard and not able to be enjoyed is not really worth hanging onto.
It's too hot today to do anything much, but I have some things earmarked mentally that need to go.
We have almost finished clearing out the bedroom which we are going to redecorate. We have filled both our dining room and the Loon's bedroom with boxes. The hole in the floor is due to be fixed on Friday, so we need to have the bedroom empty and the carpet up by then. It feels as though we have got rid of a lot of "stuff" but there is still far too much "stuff" remaining.
Oh yes, I could have written that last sentence. I just lack the motivation to get stuck in again. Today I have no nothing on my To Do Today list. Everything can wait, so I am at a loss. So much time, so many things still to sort.
My self-appointed target of Easter has been pushed back to the end of July, which is more realistic, but too far away to motivate me.
I just don’t know how I managed to get so much done in the last 18 months.
That's really good news @Martha, that feeling of additional space is nice! I hope too that the recipients of your chest find it suits their needs and helps with their own organising needs.
Not a lot done over the last few days, though Cheery son did clean his room and vacuumed before his girlfriend visited. Today I put away some table cloths that I got out for Christmas, but hadn't used, the sideboard looks a whole lot better now!
A big day of washing, just keeping on top of things and clearing the octopus of underwear, so we are all ready for the week ahead.
I made a horrible discovery that our wool mat was a home for a colony of moths. So I've thrown the rug outside and it will be going to the tip as soon as we can get it there. I'm looking forward to getting a replacement, but I suspect cheery husband is not as he will have to pay for it!
January was a complete failure as far as clearing out is concerned, though my house downstairs is more or less tidy. Although I went out when there was something to go out for, I have nothing to show for the rest of the time. Utter laziness on my part. I’d better get stuck in again in February.
Well I have started on the box of paperwork relating to the estate. Some shredded, some in the recycling bin, some carefully filed, some still togo through. I feel better for that.
Our bedroom has had its floor repaired, and has been repainted and re-carpeted. We're going to put the bed back in tomorrow (to get it out of the living room!) and then we're going to go through everything from the bedroom which is currently boxed up in the living room. Our new bedroom wardrobe has been delayed, so we should have plenty of time to declutter properly.
I made a trip to my local donation center, where clothes that were now too large were donated. I have to wonder why I kept them hanging in the closet for three years. I also donated the mix of storage containers that I replaced with a set of matching ones that take up half as much space and are color-coded so you can tell which top matches at a glance. I have only had them a month, but they are much easier to use than the mix-mash mess I had stuffed in the cabinet. Although I am usually not in the habit of new purchases, sometimes it is worth it to make life easier.
The monthly cleaner has been, so I'm revelling in the (short-lived) tidiness. He also assembled an IKEA step-stool - a simple piece demanding little more than a degree in structural engineering.
Sounds like people are chugging along doing bits and pieces as they can. I know I've got a pile of bills and things to file, but can't get motivated at present, bler. Am concentrating on keeping tidying things done so I don't get behind. I'm always astounded how the benchtops seem to need constant wiping!
Oh dear, guess it is bad when others notice. I just received this text from my son. I sent you a set of kitchen towels. They should arrive on Tuesday. I bought them for you because the last time I was there, your towels were looking a little sad. These will freshen up the kitchen and give you some backups. Time to declutter the towel drawer. I must admit some were my mother's, and they have no holes but are differently very thin.
You make me think of a friend of mine at work, GI, who mocked me (in fun) a little and told me that although I might have thought I was 'resourceful', I was only an apprentice tight-arse (that is, miser). He had a photo from his parents in law, both in their middle 90s, who had towels out on the line with big holes right through them. 'Ah, they'll see me out' etc :-) That's a nice present from your son, buying something you (and I!) might struggle to justify buying for yourself.
Our cleaner comes here once a month on a date to suit her and at a time to suit us. She has other customers. She does 3 hours hard work starting in the kitchen, then the bathroom. then the halls. She does the other rooms as best as she can in the time she has left. I can keep on top on what she misses without too much effort.
That sounds perfect @Telford! My Aunt has a similar arrangement, though her person comes fortnightly. They do the bathrooms and the floors and she is able to manage the dusting, clothes washing and cooking. I get mad with her, because I think she should get them to help her with the changing of the sheets, because I find lifting the mattress to tuck in heavy work and I'm 20 years younger than she is!
Have just vacuumed a couple of rooms and the dishwasher has been run and the clothes washing caught up today. Rewarding myself with a cup of tea and some TV, before it's time to put the dinner on.
My monthly (first Friday, am) Chap also does any outstanding odd jobs - clean oven, fix fallen blind, assemble IKEA stool. Then change the bed - I've twice injured my back lifting the mattress, so no more. Then kitchen, bathroom and global vacuuming.
With that I can keep on top of cooking, washing up, laundry, general tidying.
Oh dear, guess it is bad when others notice. I just received this text from my son. I sent you a set of kitchen towels. They should arrive on Tuesday. I bought them for you because the last time I was there, your towels were looking a little sad. These will freshen up the kitchen and give you some backups. Time to declutter the towel drawer. I must admit some were my mother's, and they have no holes but are differently very thin.
My MIL had drawers full of new tea towels but still used ancient ones with holes in. I wasn't brave enough to say anything!
Hmm. I washed and hung on the airer this morning an old towel that has holes in it - Mr Nen uses it to wipe his sweaty face and neck once back from his run. TMI. Having said that I am seldom permitted to get rid of such things - similarly old sheets, cloths, cotton tee shirts - because they come in for wiping up the oil-type messes generated by his classic car habit. The same goes for spent washing-up sponges.
On a related subject, I did some bed linen washing the other week for Nenlet1 and with the help of YouTube learned how to fold a fitted sheet neatly. I have never bothered about it with our own but Nenlet1 is a Marie Kondo Folding Goddess and I didn't want to return her stuff to her looking messy.
Reading about wash day I have had to drastically alter my laundry habits since moving to Spain. When I first landed I put a load in for a "regular wash". Well that thing spit-moistened the load, and proceeded to rotate and slap it for three solid hours before rinse and spin and when I took the clothes out the stains were still there.
European washers just do not use enough water IMO and it's not like you need a lot but you need enough immersed agitation in order for the surfactant action of the detergent to lift out the grime.
So now my laundry day is a two day process.
Day one, pretreat all stains and odors, and fill a large rubbermaid tote a quarter full with water from the hose. Add two buckets of hot water. Add the laundry ingredients, immerse the load, put the lid on, and let soak overnight.
Day two, use a broom handle to agitate the clothes a few times, rinse and spin the clothes in the washer. Hang to dry or take the heavy things over to the laundromat and use their big 14Kg gas-powered dryer to tumble dry for half an hour.
It's more work but since I have nothing else pressing on my agenda, it is what it is. The results have been entirely satisfactory and that's what matters.
Something wrong with your washing machine @A Feminine Force. I can do a 15 or 30 minute full wash with normal clothes - no smell, no stains.
Yes the something wrong it that it doesn't flow in enough water to get the job done. I'm used to a top loading central agitator, not one of these fun-sized drums that uses the "how many slaps on a river rock does it take to get things clean" principle of action.
If I load in 6Kg of dry clothing in a 7Kg washer it's as if I never even bothered. Smaller loads are twice the time and effort, and I have better things to do with my day than babysit the washer for two pairs of socks and undies and a tee shirt every day.
It's OK. Maybe it's just the washers in Spain that suck. There are a lot of things that are head-scratchers here maybe this is just one of them. I do have a neighbor who trades me avocados for doing his wash and he tells me that he can't get his clothes as clean at the laundromat so there's that to be said for my method.
We have very cheap over night electricity due to our electric car. So I time mine to come on at one am and take it out in the morning.
It sounds like we are living in different quadrants of the universe. Power not cheap and laundry timer, what is that?
I'm happy to call laundry a "hobby" now. Also "floors" are a "hobby" since the amount of the Sahara desert that blows in and piles up in a matter of two days (one, if there's been a wind) is nothing short of phenomenal. I'd be buried inside a year of I didn't sweep and mop 3x a week.
I don't know where AFF was moving from, but when we lived in Canada, large top-loaders were the norm. I'm rather vertically challenged, and I had a pair of tongs beside the washing machine for picking up small items that had migrated to the base of the drum ...
Some (many?) UK washing machines have a timer that can set when the machine runs. This helps to take charge of the cheap rate tariff which some contracts in the UK use to encourage people to use power at a time when there is less demand on the system. I keep saying ‘in the UK’ because I don’t know where else these things are available.
We (in the UK) had a top loader when we were first married. We're talking over 35 years ago but it was a novelty for me as my family didn't have a washing machine at all at the time.
We (in the UK) had a top loader when we were first married. We're talking over 35 years ago but it was a novelty for me as my family didn't have a washing machine at all at the time.
My Mum had a top loader, tongs like Piglet describes and a mangle! Washing was all day of a job.
Ah yes, wet Wednesdays in a Belfast back scullery in the 1950s. The machine would cease its churning and sploshing. I think there was some business with a hosepipe to the sink for getting the water out. Then haul up the mangle, affix the lid at the back, and crank the handle, shirt buttons flying like shrapnel.
In those days of coal fires, drying outside in a tiny yard was apt to merely get things dirty again, so there was a pulley in the living room where we sat under a slightly steaming canopy of damp clothes. Woollens were layered in newspaper under the hearthrug.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate my washer/dryer.
I too love my built into the kitchen washer/ dryer. When we first married almost 50 years ago we didn't have a washing machine and had to go to the launderette. Three years later with one child and another on the way we got what was called a twin tub. Doing the washing, hanging it in the lean to and putting the machine back to bed took most of the day!
We bought a new American washer a year ago. It too is rather miserly with the water if you put it on automatic fill. It weighs the clothes and, depending on setting, will adjust the water. We can set the fill manually which Mrs Gramps does--she prefers super no matter the size of the load it seems. When I do my wash, I will use the auto fill.
Our electricity is hydropower so the rate is quite low--one of the lowest in the states, so we do not have a timer on the washer.
We have been converting our gas appliances to electric over the last couple of years because electricity is cheaper now due to some clean air taxes.
For most of my early years, Mum had a huge, top-loading English Electric washing machine, with agitator and wringer, and when I was (probably) in about my late teens she got an automatic (but still top-loading) machine. I don't remember there ever being a time without a tumble-dryer, although she would hang things out on the line in the summer.
As I recall, after she went into care, Dad got a front-loading automatic washing machine. But still - three washing machines (and two tumble-dryers - the old one was replaced at some point) that between them lasted over 60 years isn't bad going. Things were built to last in those days ...
Following my mum’s example, I did not have a washing machine when my children were small, but whereas she had a mangle, I had a spin dryer. My first washing machine was a huge top loader. I have never had a tumble dryer - they are the work of Satan.
When we were first married we used my Mum's old semi-automatic washing machine. It was a hardy beast and probably about 25 years old at the time. After a couple of years and parts being harder to get, I got a new top loader where you could create one favourite cycle but also had the capacity to fast forward through a cycle if things weren't particularly dirty.
After experiencing a front loader while living away from home, we loved the speed at which they washed, a whole cycle - 30 minutes or under!! As soon as we got home, we replaced the top loader and have not regretted the decision. Our washer's door has a small section where you can add the inevitable sock that appears after the machine has been started, after pausing the wash. I would never go back to a top loader.
Most of our clothes are hung up on hangers straight from the machine, minimising ironing and then straight to the wardrobe. We do have a dryer which the daughter occasionally uses, but we rarely need to use it for the small loads I do each day.
My mother had a wringer washing machine with a tall handle on the side that stopped and started the machine and set the speed. She kept it in a closet in the dining room and rolled it into the kitchen to fill and drain into the sink on wash day. As a young child, I would line my dolls up in front of the closet door, step inside, work the handle, and play elevator. I would call out the floor, open the door, and load and unload the dolls for a ride.
That’s interesting @Cheery Gardener about you finding the front-loader quicker, as we have found the opposite when encountering them in serviced apartments. We have a top-loader with a delay timer and the ability to move forward to any step in the cycle, which is very handy for spinning swimmers and towels from pool exercise. Mr WitG is in charge of laundry in this household. Some things from ordinary clothes washing go straight onto coat hangers here too. The rest either goes out to the clothes line or onto a clothes horse standing over a central heating duct. We have gas central heating, but our house was built sufficiently long ago for the under floor space was sufficient to install ducts there rather than in the ceiling.
I can just remember my Mum having a copper (an electric one, to the envy of many of her friends) and a wringer, and my Granny having a separate wash house with a wood-fired copper. Wash day at Granny’s was an all day event once a week. She was very happy when she moved to a flat which had a twin tub.
Our environmentally friendly automatic washer takes ages. Part of it's energy saving is to let the wash sit at various points in the cycle. Towels take 3 hours!
@Cheery Gardener : you need to leave your cuddly toys in the freezer a bit longer than overnight to be sure you've killed all the moths and eggs. A museum curator I know recommends 2-3 days.
I expect the reason why top-loading washing machines are rare on this side of the pond is that European houses tend to be smaller than American ones. Front-loading machines can go underneath a worktop.
Meanwhile, we are having our house redecorated, and not before time. Some of the rooms haven't been redecorated since we moved in, 22 years ago. Unfortunately this means there is absolute chaos as we move things out of the way for the painter. And the dog is freaking out.
Comments
I have been foolish and bought clothes that don't fit because they are a manufacturer that I like (and no longer exists) and picking up things because they are a bargain. I'm trying to shop a bit more mindfully now and even though I love our local auction house, I'm trying not to buy things that will never be used.
I haven't subscribed to the channel because I'm trying not to take too much advice from too many voices, just trying to think more sensibly about things and working through my own junk and let some of it go. I figure stuff stored in a cupboard and not able to be enjoyed is not really worth hanging onto.
It's too hot today to do anything much, but I have some things earmarked mentally that need to go.
My self-appointed target of Easter has been pushed back to the end of July, which is more realistic, but too far away to motivate me.
I just don’t know how I managed to get so much done in the last 18 months.
Small steps and you climb a mountain 🙂
I make it part of my routine, like cleaning my teeth.
I do it by looking at only the small step, not at the mountain. So tomorrow will be just one shelf of one cupboard.
The mountain can wait. 🙂
Not a lot done over the last few days, though Cheery son did clean his room and vacuumed before his girlfriend visited. Today I put away some table cloths that I got out for Christmas, but hadn't used, the sideboard looks a whole lot better now!
A big day of washing, just keeping on top of things and clearing the octopus of underwear, so we are all ready for the week ahead.
I made a horrible discovery that our wool mat was a home for a colony of moths. So I've thrown the rug outside and it will be going to the tip as soon as we can get it there. I'm looking forward to getting a replacement, but I suspect cheery husband is not as he will have to pay for it!
As long as the two are not intimately conjoined...
I need to but got carried away with cross stitch instead.
Have just vacuumed a couple of rooms and the dishwasher has been run and the clothes washing caught up today. Rewarding myself with a cup of tea and some TV, before it's time to put the dinner on.
With that I can keep on top of cooking, washing up, laundry, general tidying.
My MIL had drawers full of new tea towels but still used ancient ones with holes in. I wasn't brave enough to say anything!
On a related subject, I did some bed linen washing the other week for Nenlet1 and with the help of YouTube learned how to fold a fitted sheet neatly. I have never bothered about it with our own but Nenlet1 is a Marie Kondo Folding Goddess and I didn't want to return her stuff to her looking messy.
European washers just do not use enough water IMO and it's not like you need a lot but you need enough immersed agitation in order for the surfactant action of the detergent to lift out the grime.
So now my laundry day is a two day process.
Day one, pretreat all stains and odors, and fill a large rubbermaid tote a quarter full with water from the hose. Add two buckets of hot water. Add the laundry ingredients, immerse the load, put the lid on, and let soak overnight.
Day two, use a broom handle to agitate the clothes a few times, rinse and spin the clothes in the washer. Hang to dry or take the heavy things over to the laundromat and use their big 14Kg gas-powered dryer to tumble dry for half an hour.
It's more work but since I have nothing else pressing on my agenda, it is what it is. The results have been entirely satisfactory and that's what matters.
AFF
Yes the something wrong it that it doesn't flow in enough water to get the job done. I'm used to a top loading central agitator, not one of these fun-sized drums that uses the "how many slaps on a river rock does it take to get things clean" principle of action.
If I load in 6Kg of dry clothing in a 7Kg washer it's as if I never even bothered. Smaller loads are twice the time and effort, and I have better things to do with my day than babysit the washer for two pairs of socks and undies and a tee shirt every day.
It's OK. Maybe it's just the washers in Spain that suck. There are a lot of things that are head-scratchers here maybe this is just one of them. I do have a neighbor who trades me avocados for doing his wash and he tells me that he can't get his clothes as clean at the laundromat so there's that to be said for my method.
AFF
We have very cheap over night electricity due to our electric car. So I time mine to come on at one am and take it out in the morning.
It sounds like we are living in different quadrants of the universe. Power not cheap and laundry timer, what is that?
I'm happy to call laundry a "hobby" now. Also "floors" are a "hobby" since the amount of the Sahara desert that blows in and piles up in a matter of two days (one, if there's been a wind) is nothing short of phenomenal. I'd be buried inside a year of I didn't sweep and mop 3x a week.
AFF
I don't know where AFF was moving from, but when we lived in Canada, large top-loaders were the norm. I'm rather vertically challenged, and I had a pair of tongs beside the washing machine for picking up small items that had migrated to the base of the drum ...
Some (many?) UK washing machines have a timer that can set when the machine runs. This helps to take charge of the cheap rate tariff which some contracts in the UK use to encourage people to use power at a time when there is less demand on the system. I keep saying ‘in the UK’ because I don’t know where else these things are available.
My Mum had a top loader, tongs like Piglet describes and a mangle! Washing was all day of a job.
Yes, that's ours. I just take it out and hang it in the lean-to in the morning.
The dishwasher is also on a timer.
🙂
In those days of coal fires, drying outside in a tiny yard was apt to merely get things dirty again, so there was a pulley in the living room where we sat under a slightly steaming canopy of damp clothes. Woollens were layered in newspaper under the hearthrug.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate my washer/dryer.
Actually, on my way down the rabbit hole I see what we had was actually a wringer - since made obsolete by the spin cycle.
Our electricity is hydropower so the rate is quite low--one of the lowest in the states, so we do not have a timer on the washer.
We have been converting our gas appliances to electric over the last couple of years because electricity is cheaper now due to some clean air taxes.
As I recall, after she went into care, Dad got a front-loading automatic washing machine. But still - three washing machines (and two tumble-dryers - the old one was replaced at some point) that between them lasted over 60 years isn't bad going. Things were built to last in those days ...
After experiencing a front loader while living away from home, we loved the speed at which they washed, a whole cycle - 30 minutes or under!! As soon as we got home, we replaced the top loader and have not regretted the decision. Our washer's door has a small section where you can add the inevitable sock that appears after the machine has been started, after pausing the wash. I would never go back to a top loader.
Most of our clothes are hung up on hangers straight from the machine, minimising ironing and then straight to the wardrobe. We do have a dryer which the daughter occasionally uses, but we rarely need to use it for the small loads I do each day.
I can just remember my Mum having a copper (an electric one, to the envy of many of her friends) and a wringer, and my Granny having a separate wash house with a wood-fired copper. Wash day at Granny’s was an all day event once a week. She was very happy when she moved to a flat which had a twin tub.
I expect the reason why top-loading washing machines are rare on this side of the pond is that European houses tend to be smaller than American ones. Front-loading machines can go underneath a worktop.
Meanwhile, we are having our house redecorated, and not before time. Some of the rooms haven't been redecorated since we moved in, 22 years ago. Unfortunately this means there is absolute chaos as we move things out of the way for the painter. And the dog is freaking out.
It'll be nice when it's finished...