Do enlighten me about the uses of steamers, please (apart from moth eradication). I borrowed one from a friend once to see how I got on with it and all it seemed to do was make everything wet.
Someone gave me one - at least it's a really small one - and I have yet to find a use (beyond starting cold diesel engines, which is perhaps more up your husbands street ).
I'm wondering if you might live in a climate sufficiently extreme (to hot OR cold) that you could bag the whole cat-tree and set it outside to freeze or bake. I suspect the size of the thing is a challenge.
It is pretty big @Lamb Chopped . I don't think I could get it out through our sliding glass door, though I might do a quick measure up and check, that's a great suggestion. Had I realised about heat I might have persuaded Cheery husband to help me get it outside during the last few days of heatwave, it would have been perfect out on the concrete patio!
It's a bit brutal, but I had a moth outbreak in the attic where I sleep. I resorted to a cylinder vacuum cleaner with a hose on it, and I sucked them up in flight. It took over a week's worth of once-per-evening hassle, but I got there...nothing else hatched, must have been a small outbreak.
Cheery daughter tried to do a good deed refilling the water dispenser in the fridge. Unfortunately she spilt it all in the fridge, crispers and all meaning we had towels on the floor, paper towels in the fridge as well as teatowels and the fridge has now had a very good clean out!! I had intended to do it before Aged Aunt's visit and now I am slightly ahead of the game!!
Thank you for asking! It is slow. A couple of things had to be redone, and getting the trades in to do small jobs has been difficult. I could have done a lot of it myself, but that's difficult when someone has been hired to take on the whole job. The overall quality of work is good, so I have to be careful with the complaints. The cooker and sink are both functioning, and we can now do normal kitchen things when the crew isn't here. One more week should see the worst over and done with. The serious decluttering has yet to begin. One good outcome has been that the old cabinets and drawers have provided a good supply of firewood during a very cold spell.
Sounds great @Stercus Tauri , I hope all continues well and all the very best with the decluttering...
... which continues here at Casa Nen. A huge amount of paper went out to the paper recycling yesterday and it was all taken away, thanks to our local council refuse workers upon whom may blessings fall.
Here in my little study, stuff which had been neatly tucked away into files and boxes is being pulled out and sorted which means that, like most of the other rooms in the house, it is currently a complete mess. I've been feeling very discouraged about it all in the past few days but the only way through is to keep pegging away at it. I am plumbing the depths of the sentimental paperwork, absolutely the hardest thing for me, and I am completely not going to get rid of little notes written in a childish hand saying things like, "To Nenlet1 I love you from Nenlet2". Talking to the Nenlet1 in question (now in her 30s and with a child of her own) yesterday she suggested scrapbooking it all, which is a really good idea but I don't have time for that before the move. So it will all be boxed up and taken with us and scrapbooked at the other end; assuming all happens as it should.
Every so often I remind myself that it is nowhere near as bad as the many car parts that Mr Nen has to sort and the upwards-of-10 boxes of car magazines that are going with us to the new house . Also that whatever happens it is really good that this very long overdue sort and declutter is happening now; were we not planning to move it would all sit here for another decade or so or be left for the Nenlets to deal with.
What I had planned to do this afternoon in the way of sorting - getting some of the stuff in my study packed into boxes - is not what I've ended up doing, but I have dealt with some drawers and emptied them of anything I don't need or want. One of several awkward decisions was about a box of 12 colouring pencils, never used - as I have a box of 36 really nice ones. It's the kind of thing I'd have previously kept "in case" but I'm trying to be more ruthless with things that may be nice but that I've actually never used. Also, I have another set of 12 that my son gave me and I won't be getting rid of them because of the emotional pull.
Mr Nen discovered some more car parts yesterday - in the shed this time. I think even he is starting to feel a bit concerned about how many of them there are.
Well, this should help. I saw a dress that I would really like to have. I do not need a new dress, but I have not bought one in over 4 years. I am making myself the promise that if I do end up buying the dress, I will overhaul the closet and give away all three of my older ones. I do not wear a dress often; I am a slacks-wearing gal most of the time. I am taking a few days to think about the purchase.
@Puzzler, I think these things wax and wane, and you've done a lot already!
@Graven Image, I went to a shop for the first time since covid began to return a dress I bought online. That was progress for me, because normally I avoid things like that. I love you buying one dress but planning to get rid of more. I had some success with a different order and got a dress I love. I try to find some things I can let go of as well.
I am still thinking about the dress, as it is a bit pricy and not a need but a want, but I did a clothes-closet purge. Gave away 2 dresses, a number of sweaters, and a jacket that I keep not wearing because they don't have pockets.
I have a confession to make: I ordered a new red sweater from a favourite online shop called Pure Plus, and it arrived today.
It's absolutely gorgeous (and has pockets!)*, and I have duly binned my old red sweater, which was bought in 2014 and is getting very bobbly, so owed me nothing.
The trouble is, I think it comes in several other colours, and resisting buying some of them is going to be a challenge ...
* TBH, I'm not all that bothered about pockets in sweaters; as long as my trousers have them, I'm happy.
I too like my clothes to have pockets. I have a couple of tunics without pockets and I don't like them as much as I would do if they had somewhere to put a hankie, phone etc etc.
That red jumper sounds lovely @Piglet. I bought a short red cardigan on a whim just before Christmas and I am so pleased that I did.
I am cheating. While I'm away in Wellington my neighbour's, son's partner and my neighbour will be tidying my messy kitchen. When she was visiting to help book my tickets my neighbour mentioned that the younger woman who is a student, needed money to fund her university studies, so it benefits both of us.
I am so looking forward to coming back to a clean kitchen, but a bit worried that I won't recognise it.
I see no problem with cheating!!! I'd do it myself, given half a chance. I see your situation as a win-win, the student gets some additional funds and you get to reduce workload a bit, perfection! Will your neighbours leave a note if they've had to move anything? Or will it be just take stuff out, wipe out and put back?
I love the sound of your cardigan too @Piglet, is it an easy wash one? Back in the early 90's I bought a lovely red one for work, in the men's dept of our local clothes shop. The womenswear was rubbish, but the men's stuff was really good quality and the cardy I got was wool, but suitable to machine wash. Sadly, I think I lost it, or outgrew it, but it was absolute gold!
I'm rather bothered by my messy skirting boards and mentioned it to Mr Boogs. Turns out they are coated in the wrong paint which isn't easy-clean. So he's going to repaint them. 🙂
I don’t get this problem with skirting boards. Mine might get a quick flick with the long handled duster occasionally but that’s all.
Getting rid of a lot of brown furniture has saved me a lot of dusting too! Dust is less visible on white surfaces.
My piano stool has become my go-to place to hide bits and bobs when I have a quick tidy up. I am going through it now, but keep getting sidetracked.
I am so looking forward to coming back to a clean kitchen, but a bit worried that I won't recognise it.
I hope you love your clean kitchen and that it really works for you.
I do find sometimes the problem with tidying is that when I go to look for something I find myself thinking, "I know where I used to keep it..."
Meanwhile the space under my desk, until recently taken up with boxes of Stuff, is completely clear and the drawers are tidy and empty of anything I don't want. Unfortunately, all the Stuff is now in piles on the floor being sorted and the whole room looks really messy. I guess the day will come when I feel I'm getting somewhere with it all but today is not that day.
The sorting I meant to do today (packing up the things in my study that are not books, the little ornaments and cards and some of the files) has not been done, but I have gone through the food cupboard and got rid of the out of date stuff. I didn't think there would be much of it, I thought I was pretty good at not over-buying and rotating things so that they got used. It turns out I am not as good as I thought I was.
Congratulations! With Mr Nen's classic car hobby a clear garage is something we're unlikely to have, ever.
We did a lot of sorting at the weekend and there are several bagfuls of clothes and other items for the charity shops and for recycling. I know I'll feel better about them once they're actually clear of the premises.
A friend gave me an enormous, ugly, plastic framed clock that didn't work. "You're an engineer - you'll know how to fix it, and you can keep it". I fixed it on the kerb early this morning and it was gone along with the bin bags by ten o'clock. Now, if I can do a bit more tidying like that...
We did a drop-off of things at various charity shops this morning (books, clothes and a few kitchen crockery bits that I never use) and this afternoon my husband did a run to the local tip. We still seem to have an inordinate amount of stuff and the house continues to look a mess. We have our son and his husband coming for the weekend and while they're here they'll need to use the spare bed (currently covered in piles of stuff) and it would be nice to be able to eat at the dining room table (ditto).
That is the worst thing about moving @nenya.. We downsized when we moved to our previous place and we seemed to be going to charity shops every day with books, clothes etc. Even when we upsized moving here there were things we didn't need. We lived on a very busy road with a lot of foot-fall so a lot of things ended up at by the front garden wall. I didn't think anyone would want a random selection of balls of wool, but they went within about five minutes. Things always look worse before they look better and I'm sure things will all fall into place very soon.
The putting of things on the garden wall for passers-by to take is a relatively new concept to me and you don't see it happening around here at all.
Things still don't look any better here yet, despite us both being at the sorting for most of the day. This afternoon a friend came to help my husband with sorting the garage and with the friend's encouragement ("You've already got two of those, you don't need another one") they have filled the neighbour's bin (with the neighbour's permission) as ours was already full. It is bin collections tomorrow and I very much hope the recycling people will take the three black bin liners of clothes that we've put out .
Putting things out on the drive for people to take is common here (I live on a council estate). I’ve done it with small items of furniture and children’s outgrown bikes, for instance. We’ve also recently free-cycled old toys using a neighbourhood group.
A busy couple of days marking essays and writing tutorials. But yesterday I also got some writing done so that’s good. Tea was spicy chicken, with homemade coleslaw and a tomato, pepper and avocado salad. Mr Heavenly is out at the pub and I’m having a gin and tonic.
Although I live on a no-through road now people still put things out and they go. My neighbour put out a plant stand yesterday and that disappeared quite quickly.
Glad Mr N has a friend to encourage with to thin out his collections a bit. My husband is the reverse. I'm not sure I've quite forgiven him for thinning down our book collection about twenty years ago and taking my vintage knitting pattern book I inherited from my grandma to the charity shop.
Putting 'stuff' out for people to take can work - but it needs to still be on your property (garden wall, or drive).
If you put it out on the pavement you might be 'done' for fly-tipping, depending on how strongly your local council feels on the matter.
We have the opposite problem near where I live - the local Facebook group occasionally has reports of people's pushchairs, kids' bikes etc. going missing from the drive if they leave them unattended for a moment. The thieves' excuse, if caught, is bound to be 'but we thought it was left there for anyone to take'.
We do also have things obviously left for the taking, or for the scrap metal man who can be 'summoned' via fb and whose horse has been known to enjoy a nibble of our front lawn.
We do also have things obviously left for the taking, or for the scrap metal man who can be 'summoned' via fb and whose horse has been known to enjoy a nibble of our front lawn.
We have a rag and bone man too, he goes round the estate about once a month on a Sunday morning. He rings an old school bell fixed in his cab and shouts “ ‘ron” Alas, not a horse drawn vehicle though.
Pleased to report all the bins and recycling were taken this morning, including the three - pretty heavy - black bin liners of clothes. They included a pair of shoes, purchased on a whim by Mr Nen (because they were cheap) and never worn. I don't think such a thing has ever happened in the whole of our married life . Mr Nen collects shoes and has many; but one fewer pairs now.
Working on the china cabinet today. It is where I keep my dishes, which I use each day, as I am short on kitchen storage. I doubt anything will go, but it needs a good wipedown. Even though the doors are closed and the dishes are always freshly cleaned, there is still a bit of dust in the corners after four years. Perhaps there are a few pieces I have not been using, and can be weeded out.
Leaving things outside your house for anyone to help themselves was definitely a Thing in Newfoundland; one Christmas we picked up what turned out to be a very useful little chest of drawers. All it needed was a few coats of paint and new handles.
We also got rid of a few bits and bobs by the same method.
Comments
Someone gave me one - at least it's a really small one - and I have yet to find a use (beyond starting cold diesel engines, which is perhaps more up your husbands street
I will ponder further!!
We had to resort to chemicals. It took two treatments.
I still miss the suede boots they ate!
@Sicut Cervus my Dad had one of those humidifiers and used it for the same reasons you do. Air does get dry down our way!
@Stercus Tauri how is your kitchen coming?
Cheery daughter tried to do a good deed refilling the water dispenser in the fridge. Unfortunately she spilt it all in the fridge, crispers and all meaning we had towels on the floor, paper towels in the fridge as well as teatowels and the fridge has now had a very good clean out!! I had intended to do it before Aged Aunt's visit and now I am slightly ahead of the game!!
Thank you for asking! It is slow. A couple of things had to be redone, and getting the trades in to do small jobs has been difficult. I could have done a lot of it myself, but that's difficult when someone has been hired to take on the whole job. The overall quality of work is good, so I have to be careful with the complaints. The cooker and sink are both functioning, and we can now do normal kitchen things when the crew isn't here. One more week should see the worst over and done with. The serious decluttering has yet to begin. One good outcome has been that the old cabinets and drawers have provided a good supply of firewood during a very cold spell.
... which continues here at Casa Nen. A huge amount of paper went out to the paper recycling yesterday and it was all taken away, thanks to our local council refuse workers upon whom may blessings fall.
Here in my little study, stuff which had been neatly tucked away into files and boxes is being pulled out and sorted which means that, like most of the other rooms in the house, it is currently a complete mess. I've been feeling very discouraged about it all in the past few days but the only way through is to keep pegging away at it. I am plumbing the depths of the sentimental paperwork, absolutely the hardest thing for me, and I am completely not going to get rid of little notes written in a childish hand saying things like, "To Nenlet1 I love you from Nenlet2". Talking to the Nenlet1 in question (now in her 30s and with a child of her own) yesterday she suggested scrapbooking it all, which is a really good idea but I don't have time for that before the move. So it will all be boxed up and taken with us and scrapbooked at the other end; assuming all happens as it should.
Every so often I remind myself that it is nowhere near as bad as the many car parts that Mr Nen has to sort and the upwards-of-10 boxes of car magazines that are going with us to the new house
I find rewarding myself for small achievements works wonders. 🙂
So drink one today!
Mr Nen discovered some more car parts yesterday - in the shed this time. I think even he is starting to feel a bit concerned about how many of them there are.
@Graven Image, I went to a shop for the first time since covid began to return a dress I bought online. That was progress for me, because normally I avoid things like that. I love you buying one dress but planning to get rid of more. I had some success with a different order and got a dress I love. I try to find some things I can let go of as well.
It's absolutely gorgeous (and has pockets!)*, and I have duly binned my old red sweater, which was bought in 2014 and is getting very bobbly, so owed me nothing.
The trouble is, I think it comes in several other colours, and resisting buying some of them is going to be a challenge ...
* TBH, I'm not all that bothered about pockets in sweaters; as long as my trousers have them, I'm happy.
That red jumper sounds lovely @Piglet. I bought a short red cardigan on a whim just before Christmas and I am so pleased that I did.
I am so looking forward to coming back to a clean kitchen, but a bit worried that I won't recognise it.
Oh hang on - wrong hemisphere ... 🙃
I love the sound of your cardigan too @Piglet, is it an easy wash one? Back in the early 90's I bought a lovely red one for work, in the men's dept of our local clothes shop. The womenswear was rubbish, but the men's stuff was really good quality and the cardy I got was wool, but suitable to machine wash. Sadly, I think I lost it, or outgrew it, but it was absolute gold!
Getting rid of a lot of brown furniture has saved me a lot of dusting too! Dust is less visible on white surfaces.
My piano stool has become my go-to place to hide bits and bobs when I have a quick tidy up. I am going through it now, but keep getting sidetracked.
I do find sometimes the problem with tidying is that when I go to look for something I find myself thinking, "I know where I used to keep it..."
Meanwhile the space under my desk, until recently taken up with boxes of Stuff, is completely clear and the drawers are tidy and empty of anything I don't want. Unfortunately, all the Stuff is now in piles on the floor being sorted and the whole room looks really messy. I guess the day will come when I feel I'm getting somewhere with it all but today is not that day.
I've just sorted the medicine drawer. 🙂
We did a lot of sorting at the weekend and there are several bagfuls of clothes and other items for the charity shops and for recycling. I know I'll feel better about them once they're actually clear of the premises.
Things still don't look any better here yet, despite us both being at the sorting for most of the day. This afternoon a friend came to help my husband with sorting the garage and with the friend's encouragement ("You've already got two of those, you don't need another one") they have filled the neighbour's bin (with the neighbour's permission) as ours was already full. It is bin collections tomorrow and I very much hope the recycling people will take the three black bin liners of clothes that we've put out
A busy couple of days marking essays and writing tutorials. But yesterday I also got some writing done so that’s good. Tea was spicy chicken, with homemade coleslaw and a tomato, pepper and avocado salad. Mr Heavenly is out at the pub and I’m having a gin and tonic.
Glad Mr N has a friend to encourage with to thin out his collections a bit. My husband is the reverse. I'm not sure I've quite forgiven him for thinning down our book collection about twenty years ago and taking my vintage knitting pattern book I inherited from my grandma to the charity shop.
If you put it out on the pavement you might be 'done' for fly-tipping, depending on how strongly your local council feels on the matter.
We do also have things obviously left for the taking, or for the scrap metal man who can be 'summoned' via fb and whose horse has been known to enjoy a nibble of our front lawn.
You've got a real rag-and-bone man? Wow!
We also got rid of a few bits and bobs by the same method.