Decluttering

I love lights.
My living room is awash with them, and I can't help thinking that less should be more...
Candles, lights, lamps, fairy lights.

They'd all look their best displayed properly instead of mixed in with clutter.

I have a lot of rechargeable lamps, which I love because you can put them anywhere. I started with ones for my daughter's old room, as I moved the bed and there are no sockets where the bedside tables need to be, and now I have them all over the house. There's one in the middle of the coffee table, for instance, which wouldn't be possible with plug-in ones.

I'm still living with the chaos of the unfinished larder. It's getting to me.

I want to get some pretty solar powered lights for the back garden. I’ve got several bottles with those little battery powered lights inside but they’re currently stashed away in a cupboard. I do love to see them all lit up, though.

I've been at a friend's house this evening, and she has little lights strung around her sitting room. They looked very pretty.

The handyman has been in touch.
£350 to emulsion my tiny, tiny kitchen, and put up a chipboard shelf.

I think its steep.
I know I'm stingy, but there's no painting involved, just emulsion.

I wanted to pay about 20 quid!!

Well, some STUFF is in the boot ready for the charity shop.
A couple of bits might be worth something but I cbb any more.
Some is re-packed and waiting for DC to decide if they want it or not.
At least some rooms are a bit tidier.

Now to get Christmas out of boxes 🎄🧚‍♀️☃️🎅

MissAdventure

The handyman has been in touch.
£350 to emulsion my tiny, tiny kitchen, and put up a chipboard shelf.

I think its steep.
I know I'm stingy, but there's no painting involved, just emulsion.

I wanted to pay about 20 quid!!

Does that include the paint? Years ago, when I had to stop doing my own decorating, I used a young lad from the next village who had been recommended. He gave me a quote after seeing the cluttered living room but told me later that he always added on the cost of clearing stuff away, assuming that the homeowner wouldn’t do that. I realised at the time that the part of decorating that I hated was clearing up afterwards, especially cleaning the brushes etc.He had a special brush cleaning gadget in his van; he said it was the best thing he’d ever bought. I’d been paying a lot of money for stuff like brush cleaner. When he moved away I used someone who was really expensive for some things ( what used to annoy me was that his working day seemed very short; he would arrive late and leave early and spend a lot of time on his phone or in his van eating his lunch). Having said that he would often come out and advise me about any problems I had. He repaired the patio door which had started to rot and charged me very little for that, and then he’d charge me a fortune just to paint a few walls. It’s the same with my current odd job man. He’d charge very little for quite a lot of work ( and he does put in a full day) but then charge me quite a lot for a small job. I think the cost of everything has gone through the roof over the past few years. The picture framer told me the cost of glass has tripled over the past few years. I guess it’s all down to how you feel about the amount you have to pay. A friend who dealt in antiques once sneered at some people who he overcharged for an item. But I pointed out that they were happy to pay that amount and were still pleased with their purchase. I paid those gardeners a fortune but to see so much work done in such a short space of time plus having all of the rubbish removed really lifted my spirits. I’ve finished with the back garden now and will leave the front garden till spring.Have left the ground there covered in leaves and pine cones for all of the insects to live in. Might start on the house later. I had a disaster last night/early morning when I noticed that the temperature in my freezer was -15 and I thought it had stopped working so I couldn’t sleep after that.

No, it doesn't include the paint.

I just can't bring myself to pay it - it's too much for me.

Now I'm thinking though, if I paint it, I'll still need someone to put up that blooming shelf (so it can hold more clutter!)

I expect to pay between £150 and £200 a day plus materials, with plasterers, plumbers and electricians at the top end. The trouble is, as has been said, that not all 'tradies' put in a full day.

A quick lick of paint shouldn't come to £350, unless you want wallpaper stripping, cracks filled and lining paper put up. Maybe a decorator would be cheaper than a handyman, as they can really work quickly as they do it all the time.

My cupboard is being done on Tuesday, apparently. I really hope so. If we get much closer to Christmas it's going to be really difficult to get organised.

I would think there is about 4 or 5 hours work.
It's what I would have allowed for doing it myself.

Ten cds in the bin tonight.
It was painless, and has freed up space to put some "stuff" in

I’ve just rewatched The Yardbirds documentary that I missed the beginning of which took up a couple of hours. Might do a bit of a power declutter for an hour or so. Or might fall asleep with the dog….

She's beautiful.
Am I right that she is a she?

I think I remember her being a girl from when she had a bad paw some time ago.

She's a lovely, silky, shiny girl.

Or boy... 🤗

We’re not friends at the moment. She hasn’t wanted to go out all day because of the weather but, while I was watching The Box of Delights, which I wanted to watch when it was actually on, not on catchup, she decided she needed to go out ( she had been for a wee not long before that). It happens every time I specifically want set time aside to watch something. She is incredibly shiny, her coat is like silk. However, in winter she loses a lot of it and becomes known as baldy bum. It does grow back in spring, though. I’ve been asleep on the sofa for hours and now have to make a couple of cakes because the fruit has been soaking for ages and I should have done it this afternoon! I’m becoming more and more nocturnal!

Having my new bathroom blind tomorrow. Yesterday I painted a strip on the window recess where the new window had been fitted. Didn’t want to paint the whole recess. Took the masking tape off this afternoon and the plaster came away with it. This has never happened to me before using my beloved frog tape. Now have to rub down and paint to whole recess before the blind man arrives. Painting the whole recess would have taken me far less time: no idea why I stupidly decided to just paint part of it. So annoyed with myself. I’ve had the paint for months. Why did I leave it to the last minute to paint it???
Tomorrow my partner is taking lots of toys to the charity shop for me!

Oh, you're doing brilliantly!
Annoying about that paint, though.

I'd paint part of it, too, though.

Nothing done here, but... in the process of shifting clutter,I found a few rolls of good old sticky backed plastic.

I have had to change my doors in the hall, to those horrible plastic concertina ones (don't ask!)

They show a bit of the cupboard floors, which are awful.

So I may try to put down a strip of sticky backed plastic under each door to neaten up the appearance.

If it looks bad, well I'll do away with it.

The window looks better with all of it being painted. Trouble is, where the plaster came away it needs filling properly now. It will, I think, be behind the blinds but I’ll know it’s there. I’ll be up in the early hours putting another coat on. I save Amazon boxes with the intention of using them when I sell things on EBay. Which I’ll never get round to doing. So, I’m either going to put them out in the green bin or I could use some of them to put the charity shop stuff in. I can’t bear the thought of seeing my things in a charity shop and usually try to take them to an area where I don’t shop but there isn’t time. For the past few days there’s been a high pitched noise in my hall. I’ve been really worried that it was coming from the new burglar alarm. It was driving me mad and I was worried that, being high pitched it would upset the dog even more. Thankfully today I found that I’d moved a toy off one of the shelves and it was coming from that. I’ve been wandering round the house for days trying to find the source. I found that it got worse nearer to the outside alarm which made me think even more that it was the burglar alarm. I thought I was going to have to ask the company to disconnect it! Not a folding door but, years ago I was staying at my nieces and she had a downstairs toilet with a sliding door. I forgot and pushed it open. Thankfully it didn’t come away from the wall. The same visit I did something to the timer in the cooker and thought I’d broken it. I rarely stay with people but, when I do I usually damage something. I can’t believe my trusted frog tape let me down. I remember thinking at the time that I should remove it straight away. I think it would have happened anyway, though, as there was a slight crack in the plaster.

Ah, I bet it was the crack.
It's allowed some paint in, and torn it off so it's bound to be a wobbly result.

I'm sure the toys will go and have adventures with new children, but I can understand you'd prefer to stay away from the shop.

Our local charity, Blythswood, take all donations to their warehouse, sort them and send back out to the shops so you don’t get donations staying in the shop they were donated to.

That's a good idea, I think.
I'd probably end up buying back some of my donations!

So would I.

What a pair!!

I’ve ordered several pairs of Marigolds and can’t believe how much I’m looking forward to receiving them. I’m fed up of the cheap rubber gloves I’ve got being a nightmare to take on and off. I’ve even ordered some special black Marigolds gardening gloves. Now going to sort out my collection of cardboard boxes to put the toys in. Might even go through the wardrobe and dig out some dresses, many of which probably came from charity shops in the first place. Odd job man is coming to see me tomorrow about putting my coat hooks up. Woohoo! If I ever get on top of this decluttering I won’t know what to do with myself…I’m also sending away for some compost bags I’ve seen on Facebook that are fully biodegradable but don’t leak after a couple of days. I hate lifting them out of the compost bin to find a brown mess underneath.I even put all of the dogs bone collection in the brown bin and the dustmen took them away.

DH took another boxful, old glassware, some could be worth something, to the charity shop when I was out this morning.
I'd actually packed it all up carefully to put back in the attic in case any DC want it.
Not worth worrying about it.