Hello and Welcome Spring

Its funny how a date on the calendar can make you feel so much better.  God turned on the most beautiful spring day on the first day of September, and it was like drinking in a long tonic of sunshine.   There were people out and about walking or just standing, looking up into the gentle sun, smiling.

Of course in Melbourne Springs means one of two things for the vast majority of Melbournites.  Its either finals season for AFL (footy) or its Spring Racing Carnival time.  So you are either going to be getting dressed up in your footy clubs clobber from head to toe with painted face and coloured hair downing meat pies and beer in the company of 80 to 100 thousand screaming fans or you are going to be visiting a milliner for your race day hats and designers for your racing wardrobe whilst sipping champagne.  I of course, will be doing neither of these activities.  I will be spending time in my garden communing with worms and playing with poo, having great chats with the veggies and giving them lots of encouragement.

A garden is a dance between Mother Nature and the Gardener.  

See, this is me dancing in the garden!   Honest.  

Our dance at the moment is more like a military tattoo though in a month or so I'm sure we'll be doing an elegant waltz together.

Of course today, 2nd of September,  its raining and that's OK too because winter hasn't been exactly wet. Cold, freezing even but not wet. I am, however, talking about my side of Melbourne, the West.  My sister lives in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne near the Dandenong Mountains and she complains that it never stops raining. We often have different weather. This is due to the effect of the warm waters of Port Phillip Bay meeting the cooler waters of the southern ocean and the prevailing easterly winds causing the rain to move to the East towards the mountains.

I'm near Werribee in the West and Glenda is up near the Dandenong ranges.

FYI for my overseas readers

Now that you have all enjoyed a lesson in geography and meteorology, on to more interesting things.  I, of course, am feeling much better since my last post and i thank my loyal readers for their kind comments.  You do know that was the aim, don't you?  To elicit as much global sympathy as possible. It worked. I feel restored.

OK, sound the trumpet, bang the kettle drums ^Boom _Boom ^Boom _Boom ^Boom , Mum has moved into her new home in Narrandera and seems to be settled in and very relieved.  At 85, it seems though her heart is willing to take on another house her body and emotions have taken a toll. Time for a rest.
Its been a big, long-winded adventure for an her.  First selling her home in the next town, packing, saying goodbye to many memories and then moving back to Narrandera, which we all think of as home.

Huge kudos for the many members of my family that worked tirelessly for a weeks and over the last weekend. When Mum told me she was concerned about how much effort it was taking i simply reminded her that this is why you had six children.  This is payback for all the stretch-marks and hernias, the million meals she cooked, the clothes she made and all the great advice she has given.  Laryn, I'm sure, would rather forget the frying pan to the back of the head many years ago when he was being cheeky but there he was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards with his grandma keeping a close eye on the pot drawer.

I am looking forward to making a trip home to see everyone.  I'm not going to plan it.  I'm just going to go so that the planets do not have time to align under the title of "holiday" and there is no chance of things going wrong.

Back on the home front (are you confused now, where is home) here in Melb we are going about our working lives.  Rob in his new job on the other side of the city.  He's not enjoying the extra driving but he is enjoying the work environment and his colleagues.  Change is difficult but worth it sometimes.  On weekends he's been working on fixing his car.  I've told you before he can turn his hand to anything.  This time he's been a panel beater and spray painter of his XR6's front bumper bar which was badly damaged by many run-ins with gutters and it was practically falling off making it undrivable.

All the supports had to be bent back to normal and the bumper itself heated with a heat gun and remoulded till it was back into shape.  Many many hours of sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, painting (get the picture - he's a perfectionist) and its now back on the car.  This has been done over several weekends and i lent him my car for the duration as he has so far to travel.  Lucky Tom has a car too, so i borrowed it for work.  Rob's happy to have the life support for his sound system back on the road and i will be happy not to have a bumper bar on my dining table for weeks, drying inside because it was too cold in the garage for the paint to dry.

Since I'm putting tickets on Rob at the moment, he also fixed his Samsung Note.  He left it on the top of his work ute several months ago and later received a call from someone who had picked it up off the road, taken it home, removed the Sim and located him.  It was very very crushed.  As you will know, a Samsung Note is an expensive phone and when you are locked into a phone plan you pay whether it is working or not and in this case, for almost another year.  What to do?   Fix it of course.  He took all the parts he got back and through the magic of You Tube he taught himself what to do and what parts to order via EBay.

Even the battery was bent.    Total cost of repair $250 for all parts.  

Rob's head will be getting too big with all my praise and so i tell you that i dragged out my 20 year old sewing machine to take Rob's new work pants up when he had asked me to take them to the tailor.  It's been ages since I've sewn but took immense pleasure in doing a neat job.  It only took an hour and by the time he was home that day two pairs of work pants were shortened, hemmed, washed, pressed and ready to wear the next day.  Cost - $NIL

My friend tells me that blogging is one big brag. I guess she is right.   I didn't put in a winter garden but i do have some amazing snow peas on the go.  With being away and being ill i missed going outside for two weeks.  When i went out this weekend the snow peas were everywhere.

Snow Peas galore!  We've had them in slightly cooked in multiple meals (2 min in microwave with dash of water) , as fresh snacks in lunch boxes and I've given a bag away.   The more you pick the more they crop so I'll be back out there again this weekend.  

One last brag.  Do i not have the cutest dog?  You know those embarrassing photos you take of your kids and threaten to expose when they are 21.  Well i think I'm safe so here they are.

You know that she sleeps with me but did you know that she sleeps upside down on her back between us. She is so so cute and the skin on her tummy is so warm and pink.  She has both her undercoat and top coat so she is super fluffy.

I haven't forgotten Tom, my fingers are crossed for next weeks driving test.  He's completed his PC based Hazard Perception Test and now its just the actual Drive Test to go.  I think his life will change so much when he is independent and can drive himself.

Tootle Peep till next time.

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Strolling in Williamstown

Gorgeous, isn't it?  With a view like this, the overcast sky didn't matter at all!  The city you can see in the background is Melbourne and my BFF and i were strolling along the Williamstown foreshore on the other side of the bay Sunday afternoon.  A leisurely walk (or for those in our FitBit group, a fast paced romp clocking up steps) admiring the boats, the gulls, the large cruise ship and some rather expensive real estate. Williamstown was the original sea port of Melbourne in the mid 1800's and after many years of being an industrial wasteland it has evolved into a genteel suburb of a original cottages and terraces, glass fronted mansions, a maritime precinct, public parks with walking and bike paths for all.  Weekends see the main esplanade of restaurants and the foreshore packed with both locals, city dwellers arriving by water taxi  and people like us who visit from the outer burbs.  The cruise ship in the top picture is the Sea Princess on its first stop out of Sydney and bound for Perth via Margaret River.  A leisurely 7 day cruise.

We took our time driving back along the bay through Altona (quick stop for an ice cream) looking at houses, both admiring and critiquing as only those who are addicted to watching  home renovation and real estate programs can do.

Speaking of renovating, the long drawn our Arch of Bob (as it has become known) is nearing the end.  Of course the arch i refer to is the one between Tom's two bedrooms and it seems to have morphed into a long term project rather than a quick weekender.  A coat of paint went on this weekend but not before much sanding of grout and plaster with the ensuing mess transported throughout the house.  Can you guess by who?

I seriously must have the patience of Job.  Even Tilly is in on the act.  I must have washed those floors three times in one day.   Rob was like the Abominable Snowman covered in plaster dust from head to toe.  "Stand Still" for goodness sake!

I seriously had to undertake some therapy so i went out to the garden to fetch a pumpkin.  This is my first crop and i am justifiably proud, so allow me a little showing off, if you please......

The one most in danger of falling off was huge and so i split it with my BFF.  We both made soup last night.  I oven roasted mine with onions and then pureed them with a little (homemade) chicken stock.  Bring it to gentle simmer and add cream (either normal, sour cream or coconut cream), salt & pepper, nutmeg and stir to combine.  Yum Yum Yum.  

Work is still go go go at the moment and so nothing extraordinary has happened.  I would love to do some more workshops but the home projects beckon.  One day, one day........ they will be done but in the mean time we will enjoy the journey and learn some new skills, like plastering!

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Four Day Weekend, Again!

After the Easter four day long weekend i kind of got use to it and booked another one.  Truth is, i had accumulated time in lieu for overtime worked in March and so i thought I'd use the mid month lull to have some time off.  Who am i kidding, what lull?   I ended up working till 10pm Friday to have everything ready for Monday morning and then had to work like a Trojan to catch up when i returned on Wednesday. Was it worth it?  Absolutely.

I already posted about going potty in Tottenham on the Saturday morning so you know i had a new pot and some leftover Clivea to transplant.    

These front garden beds on the blind side of the house (usually this is just a strip but because of an easement we have 2-3mtrs width) were completely filled with clivea gone mad.

It was so beautiful when in flower but it had really overgrown the path and this is our only access to the back yard for a wheel barrow or bins.  I put an ad on Gumtree for free plants and i was inundated with calls. They came, they dug and they left me with a big mess which we forgot about because we couldn't see it - out of sight, out of mind.  Not any more.

I've removed the old fashioned shear curtains on all the windows and so we now have a view.  I  had better make it a good one as it really draws your eye when you walk in the front door.  We will have to sort out a privacy screen from neighbours as well.

My new pot and balls.  The balls add colour and interest and don't need weeding or watering.  There is about 5 clivea plants in the pot, so it wont take long to fill out.  

I'm thinking that the this path needs a good wash down with a pressure washer and then painting.  What colour do you think?   A shade of grey or do i go crazy and make it a shade of red?

Once i had done the bed outside the window i needed to plant out across the path because it was in view from inside as well.

You can see all that free mulch (still half the pile left) is coming in handy.   These wall pots were generously gifted from my sister Glenda when she moved house.  I've planted Seaside Daisies, Lobelia and Alyssum so they will fall gracefully and fill the view from inside.   The potted palm just got moved from elsewhere.  Do you play musical pots with your garden?  Doesn't cost a thing except a bad back.

So now both sides of the path are neat and tidy.  Oh dear, now the next section is looking worse for wear. After a few house of hard labour moving plants from here to there and repotting you can see it all coming together.

Oh no, the mould is really evident.  Wish i knew how to chop a triangle out of a photo.  Its looking much worse in the photo.  

As you can see, this garden is in full view of the dining area.  This is where i use to have the bantam chooks running around under the palms.   You can also see two things.  Its gorgeous but its also in need of a pressure wash.  Look at that mould.  This is the North side of the house and so this pergola has a fairly heavy shade cloth in "wheat" to give us protection from the Summer sun.  Its very effective, but as soon as it gets a bit wet, the mould arrives.

My beautiful pot is still waiting for its final resting place.  It could end up a water feature.  Perhaps i do have a pot fetish?

Today i found another bargain to add to this garden.  It was $60 reduced to $20.

The sign said woman praying but Rob thinks its a mother strangling a child.  Huh?    

So enough of gardens.  I did take some time to go for a drive with Tom.  Adding more hours to his 120hr target as a learner driver.  This Tuesday he will start with a professional instructor to finish off.  Its taken ages to find an instructor that will let him use his car.  Its what he feels most comfortable in and he will use it for the test, so he should learn in it.

We started out for Echuca on the border of NSW (big trip for one day) but he felt unwell an hour out so stopped at the closest town, Castlemaine.   Since having Idiopathic Inter-cranial Hypertension when he was about 10 he has suffered from occasional vertigo and feels unwell when going up and down hills and tight turns.  Just getting out of the car and walking around makes him feel better.

Castlemaine is an old gold mining town and you can see that in its time there was significant wealth in this small regional town.  Most of the dates on the buildings are around 1855-1865's.

Castlemaine - Link

You can see in the picture below the gutters are all extremely wide and made of bluestone.  Tom tells me that's because they carried a lot more than storm water in the past.  Ewww!

Sometimes it pays to look up.  What beautiful windows.  I would have loved to look inside.

For all my veggie garden friends, look here.  Its a kerb side veggie plot open to the public.

It would be great if the cities would follow the example of some of our smaller country towns.  It was full of veggies.  

Of course there had to be a lunch break.

The lentil soup was delish and i cant even find words to describe the almond meal and raspberry/cranberry cake. Tom wasn't so impressed with his gourmet meat pie (give him a plain $2 pie from the servo any day) but the custard almond danish revived him.  He felt so good on the way home, he sung me to sleep (ummm am i suppose to be supervising?  He has done 100 hrs)

So why was Tilly looking very guilty spread out on the back of the couch?

Because when i left, the bed was made, neat & tidy.   She's usually jumping up and down and being hysterical when i walk in the door but this is how i found her and my bed.   Hmmmm someone is a naughty girl.

Oh  i forgot to show you my other pot purchases from last weekend.

This white mosaic pot costs $5 and the ball 3 for $15.   The plant is Coleus Henna suitable for shade to semi-shade so I've got in the big pergola.

Those who know me know that i have a coffee addiction and so i couldn't go past this pot.

This oversized cup yet to be filled was $20

I am sure that if this didn't have a hole in the bottom of it, i would have been presented with this full to the brim with coffee for breakfast by either or both of my men as a joke.   Do you remember me saying what great service i received from the owners of the pot place.  I would have grabbed the outside plain one but she said "No, there's a really nice one inside and promptly emptied the shelf of these quite heavy pots to get this one out.  Lovely colouring.

Before you start think I've become Rockafeller, my entire garden makeover including pots, plants and ornamental lady came to $150.  I won $160 last week on Powerball with a ticket paid for from a winning ticket the previous week. Thank you Mr Tattersall.

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Going Potty in Tottenham - CDLS Paramount Pots

Nope, I'm not on a holiday in jolly Ole England, I'm in the western suburbs of Melbourne and about 2 min from my work in West Melbourne.  Tom and I drove through this industrial sector after having picked up the work ute and made our way to the depot where his new mattress was ready to be picked up Saturday morning.   Out the front, between two rather ugly factories,  were two big red SALE flags that caused me to turn my head to the left (imagine comical speed) almost giving me a crick in my neck.  What was on sale?

There they were, pots and pots and pots and pots of all colours and sizes just waiting for me.  It was like pot nirvana.   No time now, we were on a mission.  That's not to say however that when i returned the ute an hour later, on my own, that i didn't call in for look.  

So, was this impulse buying and blatant consumerism gone mad.  Was I  lured by those big red flashy flags or the word "SALE"? Was i a victim of my own love of pots?  Probably, but i just happened to need a specific size that i didn't have already.  Honest!

Besides, i won Tattslotto this week.  I don't normally pay $12 for a piece of paper that goes in the bin but sometimes it seems that you are surrounded by people in need and my desperation led me to buy such a piece of paper in the hope i can FIX everyone's problems.  - no lectures please.

Actually, I've had a small win for three weeks in a row.  I'm on a roll.  I only paid $12 for the first ticket and they keep funding the rest.  This week however i won $160 and so its coming out of Tattslotto's bank account and into mine.  I'm a fully funded pot shopper.

During the week i used one of the contacts i had made by placing a FREE plant ad on Gumtree to get rid of the rest of the clumping cliveas in my side garden.  I think they are beautiful but not in the ground.  They take over when they have their ideal growing conditions.

As you can see they were taking over the beds and paths.

At 7am (lucky I'm an early riser) an older gentleman who loved to talk (way too much at that time of the morning) arrived to dig them out and take them to a lady friend with a farm in need of greening.   I asked him to leave me several to put in a pot.  So, there you have it.  I needed a pot.  Not just any but since it would be instantly on show as you stepped into our front room through the side window (now naked of shear curtains).  It had to be beautiful.

Am i justifying my purchase too much?  Why do I think I need too?  Oh dear, more therapy needed.

What a find.  Not just the merchandise but the loveliest Vietnamese couple I've had the pleasure to meet.  I was offered a cup of tea on my arrival.  Hello?   I was given space to browse but also advice.  I was picky, I took my time, I was (a pain in the arse) changing my choice over and over but she smiled very politely and sought out any request i had, often offering cheaper pots.  I think she could recognise a fellow pot lover. Great customer service.

Speaking with her husband later i discovered it was their 2nd anniversary of business that day and so as i do, i started asking all those business questions that accountants love to ask.   I applauded them on their success as so many small businesses fail in the first two years.  With a history of being a machinist and then a landscaper i could see many examples of his handiwork in the healthy plants in well placed beautiful pots. Great advertising.  

The traffic of customers was steady while i was there and they seemed to have a good rapport with most, greeting them as friends.   The prices were extremely cheap in comparison to larger chain stores.  Looky here.....

Those decorated pots in the top left were only $5 each!!!!   The larger on the top right only $15.  So many designs to suit everybody.

I thought it very clever that they arranged the pots in waves of colour.  If you are shopping for a pot you usually have a particular colour in mind.  From greens to blues to reds to grey and that very boring neutral colours that are all the rage now.

They also have a few eco options around and sell their own potting mix.

1000L Water Tanks - 1 for $80, 2 for $150

OK, so i think you get the message.  This place is a find.  No website i can find but here is their business card.

Go potty everyone..

Oh, if you want to know what i bought (why wouldn't you) then you'll have to wait for the next post where i spent my weekend making over the side garden.

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I wanna go back to work.....

I think i got these buttons mixed up. Truly, this long weekend malarkey just means that instead of two days a week to do home projects and gardening, we have 4 and i can tell you now that i can not wait to go back to work tomorrow and sit at my desk, all day.  I'm stuffed, not from eating all that gifted chocolate but from working all day.  My feet are throbbing under the desk as i write and the 11,094 registering on my FitBit today is in no way indicative of the physical effort undertaken.

We did this weekend all wrong.  We rested and bummed around on Friday with visitors and then worked the hardest today because we were running out of time.  Oh well, we will recover.  Glenda (sister) and I have been waiting to watch the show Vikings.  I bought Series I & II and so it was a marathon that lasted from breakfast to supper on Friday.  I love historical shows and this didn't disappoint.  A little gory (that saw me under a blanket some of the time) but in context and a great story.

I'm looking forward to the III series. Its screen on TV now but ill wait for the DVD and we'll watch it together. When a TV show has you on the end of your seat you don't want to interrupt with adverts.    

Saturday and Sunday saw the backyard veggie garden clean-up (here) and as you can see today I'm a frustrated hairdresser. No one will let me loose on their hair and so i make do with the trees and shrubs in the front yard.

The big pile of cuttings under the tree need to dry off so that the stems can go through the shredder for chips and the leaves into the blower vac for chopped up leaf mulch. You would think i would have washed down the concrete before taking a photo, wouldn't you?

You cant see it but there is new mulch in the beds.  Funny thing happened a few weeks ago.  I came home expecting to pick up the boys (i really should call them men, now that Tom is 18 and Rob 54) for a dinner reservation at 7pm. When i pulled into the drive at 6.30pm i found them across the road in front of the school shovelling mulch into the rear of Rob's work ute.  That would be the one with a canopy and so through the back window the mulch was flying all over the tools.  It was filled to the brim.  Doh! Did he think to remove the tools first? Nuh, just straight in on top of them.  Apparently there was a FREE sign left by the school landscapers who had a late delivery of several cubic meters of mulch close to finishing time.  Rob told me there was another person who was filling up his boot (his wife was not impressed either with the boot filled with dirty mulch straight onto the VW boot carpet).  They went hammer and tong at it for a while trying to get as much as possible when they both looked at each other and agreed to share.  They were buggered and slowed down.  You can just picture it can't you, two men going at it for free mulch. I was wavered across not having a clue what was going on and told to help.   Ummmm aren't we due at a restaurant with OUR guests in less than 10 minutes?  Rob was still in his grease covered work clothes with bark all over him.   Since the ute was full, i thought for a moment and remembered that the bins had been emptied just a few days before.  Easy Peasy, shovel it in and wheel it across the road.  When it came time to empty it i just tipped them over in the bed i wanted filled.  Up there for thinking 99.

At least it wasn't me who had to empty the back of his ute, clean out several tool boxes and then wash out the ute.  It had a lovely woody fragrance.  It still cracks me up but i do have a lovely pile of free mulch which got spread around today.  Lucky for us the dinner guests were all friends.  A quick call later they were shaking their heads and no doubt not surprised at all.

Now that I've humiliated Rob i can tell you I'm super impressed with his efforts this weekend.  He is working in Tom's room, preparing and plastering the opening between the two bedrooms which was complicated by having to put in a supporting beam.  Plastering  is a new skill for Rob and Friday saw him watching a few You Tube clips to see how it was done.

Its not finished but its well on the way.  It will take 3 coats of Gyprock which need 24 hrs dry time between coats.  My only contribution was to hand him the nails and to remove yet more nails from the skirting boards, so that they can be re-stained and put back on.  This two room combo is going to set the standard for the whole house and you can already see the bamboo boards leaving the back corridor and now making their way across the family/dining room.  It will look much nicer and fresher with white walls.  Rob is doing some boarding at night after his day job.  Its tough on him doing two major projects at the same time but he can see a light at the end of the tunnel and he hates the existing 20 year old stained cream carpet with a passion.

So to reward him, while i sit here with throbbing feet, I've made him a roast lamb dinner.

I think i got an A+ so we are all happy and there is plenty of leftovers.  We have all developed a preference for smashed garlic & rosemary potatoes rather than normal baked.

So what did you get up to?  Do you need a rest from your weekend?

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De-Cluttering Workshop

My shameful secret is that i am a hoarder of paper.  Bills, statements, receipts, policies, assessments, you name it, they are all in about 3 large plastic tubs and all over the house in little piles.  I'm not even sure how far back some of it goes back and it scares me to think about it. Several years, at least.

Well,  i am whiter than white and large (but don't forget adorable).

I'm accountant and at work when a piece of paper hits my desk, its dealt with and filed immediately.  Since i work on several companies, any inter-company transactions are processed in their respective systems first before being filed, probably in both. I never do one side without the other (saves reconciliation).  Folders are colour coded. I'm surrounded by book cases full of blue, red and lime folders.  Previous years are archived and boxed.  If you asked me to find the hard copy of an invoice 5 years ago, i could within moments.  Its not hard, its habit and I've worked this way for (Oh Lordy) 34 years.  I de-clutter my mobile phone, deleting messages and recent calls everyday.  Before i started this post, i cleaned my email inbox.  Sorting all the emails into their respective folders or deleting them.  I defrag my computer regularly to reshuffle the files on my hard drive and open up space.  Someone hand me the halo polish, quick!

So WHAT THE ! happens when it comes to this paper pile?  It grows every week.  We (and by that i mean me, in our household) have never filed anything by the looks of it.  Oh, Ive tried. I have little filing cabinets with hanging files and labels.   I've sorted through my mountain of paper several times and then run out of time to complete and so had to store it and, well you know the story.  I'm a busy girl.

Do you think my Bestie is trying to send me a message by inviting me to a de-cluttering workshop?  I think she must because she has the tidiest house and very little to de-clutter at all.  I'm thinking that my accompanying her was a ruse to get me to address my issues.  Clever girl and I'm sure one day when my clutter is gone i may forgive her and be just be a little bit grateful.

So, did i learn anything?

Yes, i guess i did but first a bit of info on the workshop.  It was run, for free, by our wonderful Wyndham City Council as part of their Green Living Series.  They are going to have to start paying me soon.

You'll remember that i recently did a post on a visit to an Off Grid House in Little River.  If not, check it out here. It was only one of many workshops on offer.  They are very popular and book out quickly. Its great that so many local residents are interested in living more sustainably and supporting the councils green initiatives.

Tanya Lewis, the creator of EcoOrganiser was our presenter.

Do you know that you can hire Tanya or one of her team to come and help with the de-clutter?   Tempting.  

I highly recommend visiting her website and looking under her resources tab for her blog which includes Home Organising Tips & Tricks.  I like her style.  She calls a spade a spade.   No one is going to do anything about a problem if they are patted on the head and given a "there there dear".

The presentation was based around the 10R's.

The 10R’s© Eco Organising Solution

“Because life is too short to be looking for STUFF”

1. Rethink
    Do I need it, do I want it?
    How will it make me feel if its not here?
    Is there an equivalent with less packaging?
    How can I reuse the packaging?
    Do I have similar already?  Once you have de-cluttered you will know what you have.

So simple - bull dog clips on side of desk.  Dont forget to use bread labels (you know those little plastic doobies) for labelling the cords.  

2. Responsible

    Is it in good condition, is it saleable?
   Where will it go if no one buys it?

3. Refuse
    Say no thank you to free things.  Use a "No Junk Mail" sign on your mail box. Say no to samples.  

Say NO NO NO to a bathroom cupboard full of products and packaging that you will not use.  Don't be a victim of marketing!

4. Re purpose

    Rethink clutter, re-purpose before buying new

These shoe organisers are great for all sorts of things and take up no space on the inside of a door.
  Children's toys,  underwear sets, that dreaded "i don't know where to put it" stuff.   Also great on inside of pantry for packets of spices, soups, gravies etc.  

5. Re organise
    Fit within our current footprint.  Can an old set of drawers be used inside cupboard or turned into shelves.

Tanya brought in a fitted sheet and showed us how to fold it flat and pop the set into the matching pillowcase.  This keeps the linen cupboard organised and neat.

6. Repair
    Can it be repaired?  Buy quality that can be repaired rather than cheap throw away items.

7. Reduce
    Clutter and waste.  Buy less packaging and refillable items so nothing extra comes in.  

Cut up plumbing pipe - genius!

8. Reuse

    Before landfill.  Glass jars are fab storage solutions both in the home and the garage.

    Share magazines with friends or drop off at medical centre or aged care facility.

Reused packaging

9. Recycle
    At home.  Tanya provided us with some great links to find how and where to recycle.  See Below

10. Reward
     Yourself, your home and your planet

Its important to note that Tanya's business is based around Eco Organising.  This means creating more time and space within the home in an environmentally friendly way.  Landfill should be your last option. We could all spend a fortune, and have, on plastic tubs and cute storage containers in matching patterns and colours. Tanya teaches us to focus on storing items inside things we already have. Eg. pots within pots.  We shouldn't have to spend more or bring more stuff into our homes when what we are trying to so is de-clutter.

There was a sample of an Ewaste collection box on the table and guess who got to take it home.  OH, i just broke a rule.  I brought home a sample!!!  Lets just hope that a lot more things leave in side this box.  Its sitting here in the office beside me, empty - so i guess its become more clutter!

What is Clutter?

Anything that is no longer relevant or useful TO YOU!

Anything that brings you down - like my paper piles.

The term "clutter" means different things to different people.  

If something is important to you and your life would be less without it then it is NOT clutter to you. Sentimental things that enrich our lives are NOT clutter.   If you want to keep them then don't hide them away in boxes, bring them out so you can see them.  Perhaps rotate items, keeping them all in the one box marked as such.

Emotional factor - questions to ask yourself when deciding what is clutter.

What practical value does it provide?

If I got rid of it what would I miss about it?

If it was taken away from me, would I try to recreate it?

Does it invigorate my life now or deplete me?

What’s worth more-this object or the opportunity to achieve my vision?

How to maintain the harmony

How to get past “I’d love to but I don’t have the time”

• Focus on three priorities a day

• Put a cap on the favours you do each week

• Put a limit on the time you spend on everyday things

• Get the important tasks done

• Remove something from your to do list

• Know when good is good enough

• Focus on the important stuff

 

These are Tanya's suggestions for successful de-cluttering:

Ask yourself

 

1. What area/space do I want to transform?
2. What will my space or life look like without clutter?
3. What will I use this new space for?
4. What will I do in my de cluttered life?
5. What was my OMG!!!! moment that made the decision to change easy?
6. How will I spend a de-cluttered day?
7. How will I maintain this beautiful new space?
8. When will I start?
9. When will I finish?
10. How will I reward myself?

Top Tips

• Only organise one space at a time!!!
• Take before and after photos
• Acknowledge and reward your efforts
• Learn how to say "no thank you"
• Use the D word- Delegate.
• Believe in yourself.

So where do I start?  Obviously for me the thing that bothers me the most is this paperwork.  Its a big job and before i start I'll need to set myself some rules.  Am i keeping hard copies of bank statements?  Can i scan anything and create electronic copies?  I have a shredder so at the very least the paper can become garden mulch.  Which pile am i going to tackle first as i cant do it all in one go?  

Do you have more suggestions.  

Tanya's Resources

EcoOrganiser

Recycling Near You

EcoActiv - Batteries

EcoActiv/Mobile Muster/Kings Storage - Ewastebox

Wyndham City Kerbside Collections

Wyndham Waste Directory 

Wyndham Recycling Stations - Location Map

There was a recycling station in the foyer of the community centre in Point Cook where the workshop was located.

Clothes         Wear for Success

Furniture       Habitat for Humanity

Fridges and Whitegoods for Refurbishment  Phoenix  (best of all, free pickup)

Ozrecycle

Freecycle

Gumtree  I had a glut of cliveas in my fernery so i gave them away by putting a FREE ad on Gumtree  - they got free plants and i had them removed with no effort on my part within a week.  

Clothes Swap  SwapStyle

Old Computers  Computerbank   Must tell Rob about this one.

Ziilch

GIVIT

If you have a favourite charity you donate too then pop a link in the comments section.

Thanks For Visiting Living In The Land Of Oz.