That sounds like a project that became bigger than Ben Hur @Roseofsharon! I hope you've had a few days to recover and the wardrobe review has worked out well!
I think things are getting to the stage here where I actually need to tackle some boxes in the garage. Not fun, especially when cars are in the way, but I might get husband to just take one box down for me to work on. I know the contents of that box are mine and that will make it a lot easier to deal with. Many of the boxes stored out there have my kids' things in them so, will need to negotiate the disposal of stuff with them, urk!
I hope your next plan is coming together @Puzzler.
I am used to one cleaning job completed revealing another that needs doing, but never before have had to reassemble furniture!
Currently I am cleaning the dust of years from the 6 big carrier bags of books removed from the bookcases a couple of weeks ago. My rhinitis is aggravated by house-dust, so not enjoying it much.
A lot of the books will need to be culled, but I cannot face that yet. I need to see what I can cram onto the shelves once the bookcase is in its new position.
The chest of drawers has to be emptied, relocated and refilled first, and for that I need a day when Mr RoS is at home to help.
I cleared out my side porch, and now that it is clear, I can see the dirt that the plants and clutter were hiding. Another day with a bucket and cleaner.
I cleared out my side porch, and now that it is clear, I can see the dirt that the plants and clutter were hiding. Another day with a bucket and cleaner.
Arrghh, you said the 'P' word :-) I have been trying to stop our fancy Edwardian wooden porch from rotting off for about 25 years (the 5 years before that I was renting here so it just deteriorated whilst not being my problem). I am currently mid way through my 3rd go at it, and have seriously run out of steam. A normal person would have replaced it in glazed-in plastic by now, and would be warmer this winter as a result.
I cleared out my side porch, and now that it is clear, I can see the dirt that the plants and clutter were hiding. Another day with a bucket and cleaner.
Arrghh, you said the 'P' word :-) I have been trying to stop our fancy Edwardian wooden porch from rotting off for about 25 years (the 5 years before that I was renting here so it just deteriorated whilst not being my problem). I am currently mid way through my 3rd go at it, and have seriously run out of steam. A normal person would have replaced it in glazed-in plastic by now, and would be warmer this winter as a result.
Oh, I feel your pain- we used to have a lovely and very draughty Edwardian house.
I love that you are trying to preserve something beautiful.
We have four sheds. Mr Boog’s workshop (very tidy) Mr Boog’s bike shed (very very tidy) My shed (arty stuff and treadmill, also very tidy. Yes, I do use the treadmill!) And Shed Four - a messy mess. (For storing stuff like our granddaughter’s toys, other things which have No Place and my gardening gear)
Yesterday Mr Boogs had a day-long sort out of his stuff in Shed Four, he rearranged the shelves and put up new shelves. Now it’s my turn.
We have two sheds: one for garden stuff, not particularly tidy and containing quite a bit of stuff we don't need (paint pots with 1cm of old paint in them, for example) and a small one which used to be a porch on the back door of our house (when we moved here 25 years ago) and now functions as a small shed at the side of the garage. Nenlet1's guinea pig used to have his hutch in there and it now houses various sundries such as pieces of wood and a large plant pot which had a plant in it I wanted to carry over last winter. I promptly forgot about it and the plant has died, but the pot is still in there. Mr Nen (who seems to be something of a kindred spirit with @mark_in_manchester ) has recently worked hard on this second little shed, putting on a new door and some new roofing felt, so it will survive this winter at least.
Mr Nen also had a rash and rare moment of sorting out some of his clothes into "clothes recycling" and "charity shop". They went out with the recycling and up to the charity shop this week before he could change his mind.
How do you recycle clothes, @Nenya ? Apart from those I got too fat to wear (alas, 34" jeans are I think not coming back this side of a serious medical issue) my clothes leave me when they are completely shot. Most get turned into rags, but I hate putting fabric in the bin. I half remember one of our charity shops accepting clean rags for weighing in, years ago - I should ask again.
I like the sound of your revitalised shed. I have several small ones, but since the thing I most like is fixing stuff using free rubbish, I need to keep a lot of rubbish to have the right thing to hand when the next project presents itself. Then some rubbish is too good to waste on any old project, so...free bench space becomes hard to find!
And thanks, @MrsBeaky . I thought it was beautiful 30 years ago; now it often feels a bit like a chore and a bit futile (Trigger's porch, rather than broom), and your encouragement is really rather helpful!
Occasionally there are organised clothes swaps here - you take in things that no longer fit, or that you never wear, and choose the same number of items that will fit. It's a fun way of refreshing the wardrobe, because you never know what you'll find.
How do you recycle clothes, @Nenya ? Apart from those I got too fat to wear (alas, 34" jeans are I think not coming back this side of a serious medical issue) my clothes leave me when they are completely shot.
The same with me - very few of my clothes can go to charity by the time I've finished with them. We are really fortunate in our area with kerbside collections - they will collect clothes and fabrics every week, as long as they are in plastic bags. We also have some clothes recycling bins in a couple of places in town where you can also put shoes as long as they're in pairs and bagged.
Very sorry to hear about your serious medical issue.
I took mark_in_manchester to mean that it would take a serious medical issue for his girth to reduce enough for him to fit into 34" jeans once more.
At least I am hoping that is what he means.
At the weekend I tackled the most difficult part of re-ordering my bedroom.
With some help from Mr RoS. I emptied the chest of drawers, moved it to its new location and repacked it..
This gave access to the underneath of my adjustable bed, The mechanics of which, and the carpet beneath, were in dire need of cleaning, and because of the wires etc. it had to be done from very close quarters. As I am allergic to house dust I am now in the throws of a nasty attack of rhinitis.
The bookcase and the "Wendy-house" sized chest of drawers are in their new positions, and the room does look more spacious - which was the object of the exercise.
I still have to go through the carrier bags of books, dust them, decide which to cull and try to fit the remainder on the shelves, then a few more odds and ends that need to be found homes and I am done!
@Roseofsharon that sounds excellent, though not the dust allergy bit, I'm a bit the same so if it's particularly bad, I'll pop on a mask to at least try to reduce the load a bit!
I have just done a quick wipe-out of the pantry as it was looking bler. Dust sticking to sticky on the shelves, quite grotty looking.
At the same time I've done a cull of things past their use by date. A couple of things I've left in place - does spam ever go off??? Anyone know? Sad to say two full grocery bags will be in the bin today. Putting aside my crossness about that, I'm very pleased with the result.
I also co-opted an empty clear plastic choc box to stand all the sauces on as I figure if there is any dribblage, I can rinse under the tap and put the stuff back and the shelf itself will remain clean. I am anticipating complaints later, when people "can't find anything", but I've returned most things to their approximate position, so I shall just feign deafness if and when that happens!!
Tinned stuff has a 'best before', not a 'use by' date. It's often pretty arbitrary - just a "don't come running to us if this is a bit manky five years after you bought it" rather than "this will go off after this date".
If I find stuff past its 'best before" I just use it ASAP and prepare myself for the possibility of disappointment.
I was about to take some tins to the Harvest service, for the food bank, but some were well past their BB date, so I changed my mind. I shall not hesitate to use them myself.
When the supermarket shelves emptied round about Brexit time and we all started stocking up on non-perishables I took to writing the best-before date on all tins, jars and boxes in large indelible pen - only the year, not bothered about the month or day, (I don't expect anything to go off overnight).
At the start of January I empty the cupboards, remove the old year's goods and leave them out on the counter for ASAP usage, and return the rest to the cupboard, along with anything for the new year that remain put away in what I still call the Brexit store, where there are a few cans dated up to 2027
And I do take the opportunity to wash the shelves!
At the same time I've done a cull of things past their use by date. A couple of things I've left in place - does spam ever go off??? Anyone know?
Yes, in 2-5 years, depending on how it's stored. Temperature of the storage space is the main variable.
My mom moved everything from her pantry with her when she moved into a senior living community and then ended up not using a lot of those things because she found she liked just going to the dining room for meals. Five years later one of the plastic containers of peaches exploded, so my nephew and I cleaned out her pantry. We opened all the cans, dumping the contents down the dispose-all so we could recycle the cans, and found that everything in them was disgusting - soup, fruit, vegetables, everything was foul. Canned goods don't magically get nasty the day after the best by date, but you can only push them so far. The oils were rancid and the flours smelled awful.
She had a sealed 20-pound plastic bag of rice that looked fine, however, that we didn't touch, and it was still there when she moved into memory care a few years later. It was at minimum 7 years old. I took that home, opened it, and it smelled great. We ate it all. And the vinegars were all fine, not surprisingly - vinegar lasts indefinitely, even opened.
A recent bout of Covid had me quarantined in an area with Boxes to Go Through. So I slowly tackled some, and made progress! Results were modest but satisfying: two full bankers' boxes, a full tote bag, and a painting out the door and donated today.
Well done @Leaf, nice work! I've slowed right down after the pantry, we've spend the weekend outside, so inside is suffering a bit. I really must get onto the wardrobe, perhaps tomorrow!!
Now I would have to be Flat Stanley for that to work successfully!! Since putting in wardrobe units 3 years ago, I'm still waiting for the husband to cornice those properly.But they have made a huge difference to being able to see everything, so I have no excuse for not removing everything that no longer fits!!
Does anyone have tips for how they organise their clothes? By colour? Special hangers? Around basics with a couple of tops that work with those? I think perhaps I'm overthinking it all.
I think I need to keep a couple of funeral outfits (seasonal), a good jacket and coat and some tops that work with those. Also a wedding outfit (not dark) and then work out how many t-shirts and pjs I need to have on hand. I'm of the unhelpful mindset of worrything that I'll get rid of something that I'll later regret. And that seems to stop me getting started. Off to make a start right now!!
In my hanging wardrobe, I also have things underneath the hanging space. Shorter items are hung above the suitcase one side, with rarely worn jackets ( for special occasions) at the far end. At the other end are long, rarely worn items. In the middle are trousers, black and blue, then blouses, tops, fleece jackets, in sections according to colour. Dresses (3) hang on the inside of the door.
Everything else ( about 500 tops/ jumpers etc - well not really but too many to count- of various colour, weight, thickness) is in the big chest of drawers. I rarely get rid of anything. So I am not much help, am I, in the clothes decluttering department.
Thanks @Puzzler, it is interesting to hear how people make their own situations work. I have a row of storage boxes at the top of our wardrobe. Two sections of short hanging with wide drawers underneath. The drawers contain shoes and other miscellaneous stuff. A small section of small drawers for lingerie and scarves, gloves, jewellery, handkerchiefs. Then quite a short length of long hanging for a couple of dresses, coats and nightgowns.
Yesterday I filled 4 supermarket bags with clothes to go. Either too small, light fabrics that I don't like. Work shirts that I'll never wear again and things I've purchased online that were sized appropriately, but no armpit to armpit measurement, so too small across the bust. Glad to be getting rid of these, freeing up some coat-hangers (about 20) and making me feel less hoarder-ish. I do hope someone will get good use from my discards as they'll be going to our church charity bin. All these items are still in good condition and can go onto a third life now that I'm done with them.
Regarding clothes, I read advice somewhere that suggested at the beginning of the year you hang all your clothes up with the hooks going the wrong way. Once you've worn and washed an item it goes back with the hook going the right way. At the end of the year you discard everything with the hook still going the wrong way.
This can't apply to everything, of course - there's no way I'm discarding the outfit I wore to my daughter's wedding, even though it hasn't had an outing for at least a couple of years.
I had read that somewhere too @Nenya, I think it could be a useful method to work out the lesser worn things. This time I just focussed on the never worn things using the move to this home as my benchmark date. If it was something I'd never worn since leaving work and moving here, unless it could be justified for a special reason it was in the "out" bag!
That seems fair enough. Apart from two
‘ wedding outfits’, I am pretty sure I have worn everything except a couple of summer skirts. It is almost eleven years since we moved here, and I retired six years before that, so all my work clothes are long gone. I have some tops and jumpers which are older.
Two carrier bags of culled books went to a National Trust property for their 2nd hand book shop last week, and today Mr RoS carried two carrier bags of assorted odds & ends, plus scarves and a few items of clothing to the local charity shops. Including my winter coat which I haven't worn for 3 or 4 years as I find it too heavy these days. The remaining clothes in my wardrobe and chest of drawers are better for not being shoved into places were there is just no room for them,
The bookshelves still look a bit crowded, but at least there are no longer piles of books on the floor or under the furniture.
Well done. I have emptied all the bookcases downstairs ready for the decorator and the books are in the shelves in the study upstairs. I think when I put them back I will cull them a bit further and, together with the rest of Mr Puzzler’s books, they will go to Oxfam bookshop and NT. That’s a lot of lugging that I don’t have the strength for, so has to wait until I can get some help.
Similarly I might opt to get rid of some of the many items that adorned the room. I don’t want a minimalist look, but less clutter would be good. I might put some in a box in the garage and swap them around twice a year if I can’t bear to part with them.
I had finished a 3-year tidying of the house after our big move from large to small. It was time to tackle the screened-in side porch this month. I have four boxes of art supplies. Yes, I know collecting supplies and making art are two different hobbies. The plastic bins were stacked on my screened-in porch, which could have been more attractive. I had a tall, unused bookshelf that I turned on its side. The bins fit in each slot the shelves made. I next made a cushion to place along the top, added pillows, and a skirt made from an old tablecloth at the bottom to hide the bins, and I now have a nice seat to read or drink my coffee in the morning. It is quite lovely if I do say so.
Cleaning & rearranging my bedroom has had an unexpected benefit. I now have a chair that can be positioned so that I can comfortably watch iPlayer on my iMac when Mr Ros has sport or BBC Parliament on the TV.
This afternoon I watched the first episode of the new series of 'Ambulance;, which I missed last week and, this evening, the first episode of Ludwig, which I am unable to watch on the day it is broadcast.
I must start on a necessary clean of the bathroom. Most of it is used only by Mr RoS, and he is supposed to keep it clean, but as the sole user of the shower I am responsible for the state that is in. It is really mucky as getting down to anywhere near floor level has been nigh on impossible in recent years. I should be able to get down there now, as my back is so much better, but the idea of cleaning out that little gully that the shower door slides along is not filling me with joy.
I am hoping that confessing that here will shame me into doing something about it soon
So glad to read of everyone's progress, loving your work!
Today I got myself organised and left home early to take the bags of clothes to the charity bin at church. Alas when I arrived, I could see it was already almost overflowing. So the bags have made it to the car and I might put in a phone call later to see when the bin might be cleared, so I can plan this and subsequent drop offs more efficiently.
What with the bronchitis and currently the burns to my legs/stomach, I've done zilch housework for weeks. But even when well, some things - like changing the bed linen (the mattress is very heavy) - are getting beyond me.
It is the duty of the monied (wo)man
To give employment to the artisan
I know that feeling... Over the last few evenings we have built a display cabinet (bought, not from scratch) for a sizeable proportion of my camera collection to free up shelf space, and are adding shelves to the built-in wardrobe space that they were in before to get more stuff in. The idea is that we will have space to be able to have both the ironing board and the sewing/project table up at once in what a friend, knowing my taste for scabrous interpretation of innocent remarks, referred to as an "adult playroom".
As a result, most of the room currently looks as though a group of rugby stag parties have collided in it.
Because I work full-time and am (a) lazy; and (b) unfit, I would love to employ a cleaner, but I'd be embarrassed to do it, as my flat is about the size of a cigarette packet and hoovering (which I hate with a passion) could be accomplished in about 10 minutes.
It would be nice not to have to change the sheets or clean the bathroom though ...
People need work, there is nothing wrong with employing someone to do thing you don’t want to do or lack the capacity for, provided you pay them a fair wage (I would say at absolute minimum the living wage and it might be more) and treat them with respect.
Comments
I think things are getting to the stage here where I actually need to tackle some boxes in the garage. Not fun, especially when cars are in the way, but I might get husband to just take one box down for me to work on. I know the contents of that box are mine and that will make it a lot easier to deal with. Many of the boxes stored out there have my kids' things in them so, will need to negotiate the disposal of stuff with them, urk!
I hope your next plan is coming together @Puzzler.
Currently I am cleaning the dust of years from the 6 big carrier bags of books removed from the bookcases a couple of weeks ago. My rhinitis is aggravated by house-dust, so not enjoying it much.
A lot of the books will need to be culled, but I cannot face that yet. I need to see what I can cram onto the shelves once the bookcase is in its new position.
The chest of drawers has to be emptied, relocated and refilled first, and for that I need a day when Mr RoS is at home to help.
Arrghh, you said the 'P' word :-) I have been trying to stop our fancy Edwardian wooden porch from rotting off for about 25 years (the 5 years before that I was renting here so it just deteriorated whilst not being my problem). I am currently mid way through my 3rd go at it, and have seriously run out of steam. A normal person would have replaced it in glazed-in plastic by now, and would be warmer this winter as a result.
Oh, I feel your pain- we used to have a lovely and very draughty Edwardian house.
I love that you are trying to preserve something beautiful.
Yesterday Mr Boogs had a day-long sort out of his stuff in Shed Four, he rearranged the shelves and put up new shelves. Now it’s my turn.
I can’t say I’m very motivated. 🧐
Mr Nen also had a rash and rare moment of sorting out some of his clothes
I like the sound of your revitalised shed. I have several small ones, but since the thing I most like is fixing stuff using free rubbish, I need to keep a lot of rubbish to have the right thing to hand when the next project presents itself. Then some rubbish is too good to waste on any old project, so...free bench space becomes hard to find!
And thanks, @MrsBeaky . I thought it was beautiful 30 years ago; now it often feels a bit like a chore and a bit futile (Trigger's porch, rather than broom), and your encouragement is really rather helpful!
I also wear my clothes until they are falling apart. They are passed on, first for ‘best’ then for wearing only at home, then for gardening. 🙂
The same with me - very few of my clothes can go to charity by the time I've finished with them. We are really fortunate in our area with kerbside collections - they will collect clothes and fabrics every week, as long as they are in plastic bags. We also have some clothes recycling bins in a couple of places in town where you can also put shoes as long as they're in pairs and bagged.
Very sorry to hear about your serious medical issue.
At least I am hoping that is what he means.
Sorry, I should have written more clearly
With some help from Mr RoS. I emptied the chest of drawers, moved it to its new location and repacked it..
This gave access to the underneath of my adjustable bed, The mechanics of which, and the carpet beneath, were in dire need of cleaning, and because of the wires etc. it had to be done from very close quarters. As I am allergic to house dust I am now in the throws of a nasty attack of rhinitis.
The bookcase and the "Wendy-house" sized chest of drawers are in their new positions, and the room does look more spacious - which was the object of the exercise.
I still have to go through the carrier bags of books, dust them, decide which to cull and try to fit the remainder on the shelves, then a few more odds and ends that need to be found homes and I am done!
I have just done a quick wipe-out of the pantry as it was looking bler. Dust sticking to sticky on the shelves, quite grotty looking.
At the same time I've done a cull of things past their use by date. A couple of things I've left in place - does spam ever go off??? Anyone know? Sad to say two full grocery bags will be in the bin today. Putting aside my crossness about that, I'm very pleased with the result.
I also co-opted an empty clear plastic choc box to stand all the sauces on as I figure if there is any dribblage, I can rinse under the tap and put the stuff back and the shelf itself will remain clean. I am anticipating complaints later, when people "can't find anything", but I've returned most things to their approximate position, so I shall just feign deafness if and when that happens!!
If I find stuff past its 'best before" I just use it ASAP and prepare myself for the possibility of disappointment.
At the start of January I empty the cupboards, remove the old year's goods and leave them out on the counter for ASAP usage, and return the rest to the cupboard, along with anything for the new year that remain put away in what I still call the Brexit store, where there are a few cans dated up to 2027
And I do take the opportunity to wash the shelves!
Yes, in 2-5 years, depending on how it's stored. Temperature of the storage space is the main variable.
My mom moved everything from her pantry with her when she moved into a senior living community and then ended up not using a lot of those things because she found she liked just going to the dining room for meals. Five years later one of the plastic containers of peaches exploded, so my nephew and I cleaned out her pantry. We opened all the cans, dumping the contents down the dispose-all so we could recycle the cans, and found that everything in them was disgusting - soup, fruit, vegetables, everything was foul. Canned goods don't magically get nasty the day after the best by date, but you can only push them so far. The oils were rancid and the flours smelled awful.
She had a sealed 20-pound plastic bag of rice that looked fine, however, that we didn't touch, and it was still there when she moved into memory care a few years later. It was at minimum 7 years old. I took that home, opened it, and it smelled great. We ate it all. And the vinegars were all fine, not surprisingly - vinegar lasts indefinitely, even opened.
I highly recommend
https://eatbydate.com - big, easily searchable database.
Me too???
Does anyone have tips for how they organise their clothes? By colour? Special hangers? Around basics with a couple of tops that work with those? I think perhaps I'm overthinking it all.
I think I need to keep a couple of funeral outfits (seasonal), a good jacket and coat and some tops that work with those. Also a wedding outfit (not dark) and then work out how many t-shirts and pjs I need to have on hand. I'm of the unhelpful mindset of worrything that I'll get rid of something that I'll later regret. And that seems to stop me getting started. Off to make a start right now!!
Everything else ( about 500 tops/ jumpers etc - well not really but too many to count- of various colour, weight, thickness) is in the big chest of drawers. I rarely get rid of anything. So I am not much help, am I, in the clothes decluttering department.
Yesterday I filled 4 supermarket bags with clothes to go. Either too small, light fabrics that I don't like. Work shirts that I'll never wear again and things I've purchased online that were sized appropriately, but no armpit to armpit measurement, so too small across the bust. Glad to be getting rid of these, freeing up some coat-hangers (about 20) and making me feel less hoarder-ish. I do hope someone will get good use from my discards as they'll be going to our church charity bin. All these items are still in good condition and can go onto a third life now that I'm done with them.
This can't apply to everything, of course - there's no way I'm discarding the outfit I wore to my daughter's wedding, even though it hasn't had an outing for at least a couple of years.
‘ wedding outfits’, I am pretty sure I have worn everything except a couple of summer skirts. It is almost eleven years since we moved here, and I retired six years before that, so all my work clothes are long gone. I have some tops and jumpers which are older.
The bookshelves still look a bit crowded, but at least there are no longer piles of books on the floor or under the furniture.
Similarly I might opt to get rid of some of the many items that adorned the room. I don’t want a minimalist look, but less clutter would be good. I might put some in a box in the garage and swap them around twice a year if I can’t bear to part with them.
This afternoon I watched the first episode of the new series of 'Ambulance;, which I missed last week and, this evening, the first episode of Ludwig, which I am unable to watch on the day it is broadcast.
I must start on a necessary clean of the bathroom. Most of it is used only by Mr RoS, and he is supposed to keep it clean, but as the sole user of the shower I am responsible for the state that is in. It is really mucky as getting down to anywhere near floor level has been nigh on impossible in recent years. I should be able to get down there now, as my back is so much better, but the idea of cleaning out that little gully that the shower door slides along is not filling me with joy.
I am hoping that confessing that here will shame me into doing something about it soon
Today I got myself organised and left home early to take the bags of clothes to the charity bin at church. Alas when I arrived, I could see it was already almost overflowing. So the bags have made it to the car and I might put in a phone call later to see when the bin might be cleared, so I can plan this and subsequent drop offs more efficiently.
What with the bronchitis and currently the burns to my legs/stomach, I've done zilch housework for weeks. But even when well, some things - like changing the bed linen (the mattress is very heavy) - are getting beyond me.
It is the duty of the monied (wo)man
To give employment to the artisan
We have visitors arriving tomorrow night and I am about to embark on a major tidy / clean in happy anticipation.
I have accomplished Step 1: The impressive to-do list!
As a result, most of the room currently looks as though a group of rugby stag parties have collided in it.
It would be nice not to have to change the sheets or clean the bathroom though ...