Wednesday's Progress

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, Happy Thursday to you! I trust all is well in your world.

I continued to be busy all week with the condo water damage issue. I fluctuated between moving out completely or staying put during the completion of the damage assessment. In the end, I think we've decided to fully move out the belongings in the master bedroom where the majority of the damage is located. We decided to stay put while the work is going on. Primarily because it seems that the work itself may not take that long though we don't know that for certain.

Wednesday I started packing up all the clothing, shoes, projects and so on that I may need for the summer months just in case things drag on as they have a habit of doing. One of the factors that made me lean toward staying at home is all the projects I want to make progress on including more decluttering and also craft projects. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress since my theme word for 2024 was 'create' but I haven't had much time to create unless you count being creative with the meal planning and meal ideas.

During this hectic time, I continue to make meals and use up the foods we have had on hand for awhile.  Of course, I've had to supplement with fresh or frozen vegetables as well but I'm trying to keep food purchases to a minimum to minimize food and money wastage. I have a tendency of buying more than I need and I'm really working on changing old habits. The meals in the photos were made Tuesday and Wednesday night. 

Tilapia fish, fried potatoes and mixed salad greens

Stuffed green peppers stuffed with salmon/rice/veggies

Chicken and rice soup

Much progress was made on the paper decluttering though I still have a lot more to do. I can't believe how much paper and other things I still have because I've already shredded so much.  I've decided to stop saving receipts for the remainder of the year in order to reduce paper build up.  I'd been saving all receipts for the past 2 years.  I planned to log them all into an excel spreadsheet  & track my spending in different categories. I just never got around to it and there were so many receipts, especially for groceries.  I'll consider saving and tracking receipts in 2025 once I'm caught up to all the paper decluttering but only if I have time to input the information to a spreadsheet.  I do still keep receipts for anything I buy that I might need to return. I've very much cut down on buying since I'm trying to minimize what I have. My new approach is to buy nothing unless I know I'm going to be using it in short order.  Most of what I have purchased are clothing because of weight loss over the years. I've also purchased a number of work tools to help with small DIYs around the house.

Wednesday's paper trash 

I wondered when I would ever start to notice any progress for all my decluttering efforts. Now that I got rid of a few large pieces like a large screen television and a large stationary bike, I can definitely notice a difference is being made.  Friends were delighted to get the stationary bike because they were recently talking about buying one.  Several friends wanted the television but it wasn't possible for any of them to pick it up in a timely fashion so it went to a local charity.

Last, but not least, I had a meeting with one of my doctors today. He was investigating some spots found on my liver in some other recent tests.  The most recent CT scan I had showed that there was nothing to be concerned about after all. I felt enormously relieved.  I already have so much on my plate with both the indoor and outdoor renovations work that needs to be done. 

Though it may not be ideal to remain at home while renovations are being done, I'm looking at it in a positive light. If I remain at home, I'll be able to see the work that is being done and raise any concerns I might have as they happen.  If there are no concerns, then I'll benefit by feeling good about what is being done.   Another benefit is keeping my eye on patio renovation work and getting the patio set up when the work is completed at the anticipated time of end of June. I'm also hoping to get more decluttering and reorganizing done in the front rooms while work is ongoing.  Of course I don't plan on working every day. I hope to enjoy some time outside in the garden and with other outings.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you can come again soon. xx

Recent Days

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, 

How are you doing?

Life is very hectic right now so I thought I would just show you my current life in pictures.

First up is the patio. It's being completely renovated but the work has been on hold for awhile. Once new pavers arrive for other patios in the building, the work will restart. The pavers will be laid, the cladding and railing on the exterior wall replaced and the garden wall built and filled with soil.  The new estimated completion time is the end of June.  I have no idea what I'm going to plant since I want something that can withstand all seasons with a bit of space left over for annuals. I'd also like something large enough to provide shade but I'll have to wait and see what the new garden guidelines will state.  We've never had garden guidelines before.
 

I made a lot of progress this week on decluttering.

After shredding, these papers go into the big bag in the above photo.

I bought these from SA but never did use them. Sad.

A TV to give away or take to electronics recycling.

 

The bags went to charity, the bike went to a friend

Sunday dinner of baked salmon and roasted vegetables.

Hair tool went to charity

A tasty dinner out, courtesy of a brother

Decluttering.  These went to the trash

Whew! It's a lot of decluttering but it feels good. I just wish I could make quicker progress with the papers. 

I'll be finding out in a day or two whether we have to move out.  I've been working hard to downsize on the assumption that we'll be moved out by the end of May.  At this point I'd rather remain at home because I don't think the work required is as bad as initially thought. But I'll know more soon.

Keep well and thanks for dropping by!

More

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I made some good progress earlier in the week with the decluttering. I got rid of several bags of books, clothing, kitchen items and miscellaneous items (see the items in front of the bookshelves). I also tried to get rid of two quite large items: a stationary bike and a 55 inch flat screen television.  

I had my nephew transport everything except the bike and television to the charity shop. A friend and her husband and children arrived today to pick up the bike.  She also wanted some cookbooks so I was able to give her 5 books.  I didn't think to take a photo of them though I am trying to keep track of everything I offload (except papers) so I can look back on it later.  

I have 2 people interested in the television but they have no way to transport it.  Actually one of the people is in hospital and the other one has just been evicted from her apartment so she has bigger issues to deal with.  I know I can easily get rid of it if I post it on line.  But I don't want strangers coming over and I can't easily pack it downstairs to meet anyone at the building's entrance.  I've asked friends to check around if anyone they know is interested in it.  Otherwise I may just have to take to the electronics recycling depot. That would be a shame since it works but once I started getting things out the door, I want to move quickly to get other things out the door.
 

I've already gone through the bookshelves once or twice and gotten rid of alot of them. Once I've taken care of a lot of smaller items, I intend to return to the bookshelves as there is much more I need to whittle down.

How about you dear reader? Have you ever done a major purge of your things. Did you just get rid of whatever was in your way or did you, like me, take so much time to carefully go through every item first?  There is no right or wrong answer. Just different approaches to the same issue.

Thank you for stopping by. Please visit again soon. xx

Weekend Work

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, 

I hope you are well and enjoying the weekend.

As mentioned in my last post, I was spending time to declutter over the weekend.  I've been doing this off and on for quite some time but there is still quite a lot of 'fine tuning' to be done. I was spurred into action again due to a leak a few floors above me. 

It was 'deja vu' as I'd gone through this several years ago.  Back then we had to move out for several months while restoration took place. This time the damage is more contained and doesn't affect the entire apartment. Nonetheless we'll probably have to move out while the demolition and reconstruction takes place because the damage in one room is quite extensive.

While looking at other people's decluttered items is not so exciting, it sometimes motivates us to do some decluttering of our own.  I love watching others on You Tube declutter their spaces and I'm really trying my best to do a major decluttering job.  I can't believe it's taking me so long but at least I'm making progress.  After I'm done it will expand our options.  Either we can plan a move to a new place or we can remain and do a bit of home updates here and there.  I'm not certain about any move but I want to have things in a state of readiness just in case.  

I'm documenting my decluttering efforts so later I can look back on it all.  What follows doesn't cover everything that has been decluttered recently.  It's a bit of work to take photos of everything and count every item. I try to count the big stuff and not the papers as there are just far too many of them.
 

Apron, mask and various cloths

Lotion, Empty Bottle, Emergency food

Papers

In between decluttering, I found a bit of time to knit with a 'new to me' yarn. It's cotton yarn and it's a little thinner than I'd like. I really should learn to read labels before I purchase something.  
 

Even though it's a bit thin, I think it will still work for a cloth. I like to make and give these as gifts and my friends seem to appreciate them. As you know, wash cloths need frequent replacing so if I gift someone more than once with the cloths, they generally need to replace the former ones I've given them so I'm not adding to their clutter.

After knitting one cloth, it was back to decluttering efforts.  In case, I have to relocate temporarily, I'm trying to get rid of as much as possible so junk doesn't go to storage only to have to be disposed of later.

Let's hope I can get a lot done this week.

Take care.

It Snowed, Again!

 Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are doing well.  It snowed again and has been quite cold since Thursday or so. We had a big dump of snow on Saturday night so I've kept indoors and worked away on decluttering.

I made excellent progress over the past few days and got to sort out a lot of smaller nooks and crannies.

All month long I've been participating in something called a daily declutter challenge.  The challenge is to let go of at least one item each day so the decluttering habit is formed and it doesn't take hours to accomplish.  I have a lot of small items to get rid of because I'm down to the fine-tuning of the major decluttering project I've been working on for awhile. In the fine-tuning stage, it takes me a lot longer to go through every area of clutter and make the decisions as to what to do with things. I tend to collect a lot of paper items and a lot of little things that don't seem to 'fit' into any category of items, a hodge podge, if you will.

I've been surprised to find so much junk in all the places that I decluttered. I suppose it's understandable since some of these small areas haven't seen the light of day for decades.  Literally.  Anyway the month will end in a few days and I'm trying to get as much done as possible. The below items are much of what I've offloaded since Friday.

I've been decluttering something every day this month but I've also been crocheting so I can have a break from the task.  Thursday night I ran out of yarn for the blanket I'm making and I'll need time to go to the craft store to buy at least one more ball to finish the project.

I haven't had time to delve into the books I picked up recently at the library or to finish listening to the audible Spare.

In March, I look forward to getting into these books and planning the community garden for this year.

What plans do you have for the coming month?