While the cat's away ...

Ha ha!! I find myself all alone this evening. The boys have gone to the movies, and the girls are out with friends. I am feeling suddenly furtive and am sneakily thinking about what can I get up to while there is no one looking over my shoulder ...

The bookshelves. Oh my goodness. The bookshelves! These have been a constant source of trouble. The magazines have been breeding, I'm very sure. And the books! Well, they are just growing old and mouldy. Some of them are totally useless, and others, while not so useless, are just plain unloved. And there is other stuff, that really shouldn't be in bookshelves at all! Like mice getting into the back of the breadbin, there are things that have taken up residence in the bookshelves that just plain don't belong.

I often do my ironing standing in front of these bookshelves, so I have had time to contemplate their weighty load while pressing away at shirt collars and cuffs. I have been imagining, neat and ordered shelves; rows of books, ordered by genre and type; arranged according to height and colour and thickness. Several strategic empty spaces, with the occasional artfully placed, ecclectic conversation-starting knick-knack thingy.

You know, those pesky plastic supermarket shopping bags have been extremely handy in the last few weeks. They are just wonderful for bagging away the unwanted odds and sods, and they make very neat little packages for the Vinnies bin. I know I should be using my rainbow assortment of environmentally friendly shopping bags, but I only every remember them when I am halfway down the pasta sauce isle and they are back at home on their hook in the garage. So, I am assauging my guilt by recycling said plastic shopping bags into recepticles for my ex-household stuff. I am actually doing this at a great rate of knots, now that I have decided to become a de-clutter bug.

But, I digress:
50 x copies of Australian Country Style - GONE!
Assorted children's reference books, suitable for school projects, but never used - GONE!
A whole bag of totally useless dust catching stuff shoved into shelves because there was nowhere else to put them - GONE!
Ooooh, this is good!

They are in the boot of the car ... I put them there just now, even though it is raining outside. If the prying eyes come home, and see what I've pulled out, they will cry out in favour of saving all these useful things that no one ever looks at from one year to the next. I reckon I am about halfway there now. Just stopped for a cuppa, and to tell you what I am getting up to while the cats are away. Now, about those car magazines ...

Happy New Year from the Housework Nazi

Someone asked me whether I had any New Years resolutions today. I didn't really have to think about my reply, because I already knew that I was not going to bother making any ... save One! I did mention to said person, that long before the end of 2008 I had resolved on working towards a clutter-free, ship-shape and easy to manage household. A place for everything, and everything in it's place!

I have been ploughing this field for some months now. I have worked long and hard; I have toiled, weeded, pulled apart, rearranged, and have fought against each impulse that would have me keep that useful little thing 'just in case'. I now have a lovely tidy 'useful drawer', with all the rubber bands mingling together in their own little compartment. There are picture hooks, and a lady hammer, and those twist-tie things and the clips that come on the bags of bread. I have gone through my linen cupboard like a dose of salts, and have taken out all the odds and sods that made it impossible to keep it tidy. All the towels are nice and neat now, with matching hand-towels and facewashers , and the sheets are stacked in sets, and all the tablecloths have been ironed. I bought my husband a man-clothes-valet thing, so that he doesn't fling his trousers and shirts over the end of the bed anymore, and I have organised a special cleaning trolley that I can wheel about the house as I work.

So, after all this, I have now offloaded many boxes and bags of stuff, pretty ok good stuff mostly, but stuff that just kept getting in the way and wasn't really used, or needed, or wanted any more. Today I stacked the boot of the car with a whole new load of my wonderful pre-loved, no longer wanted stuff. Come tomorrow, off it all goes - out there into the world again to live another day in some other stuff-beleagured household! All I can say is, thank God for Vinnies :)