For the last 8+ months, I’ve really struggled with feeling ‘closed in’ by stuff. I have tried organising myself, and tidying up, but even after my efforts, the house still looks untidy and like everything isn’t in its right place.

I mean, it could be because we have quite a bit of ‘stuff’ (despite my efforts to reduce the amount of stuff) and only a small house with very little built-in storage – which then requires the need to buy free-standing storage, which in turn takes up floor space, eventuating in rooms looking even more ‘busy’ or cluttered than they did before.

It’s literally driving me crazy – I come home and I feel instantly depressed by the amount of crap surrounding me.

I’ve been through all my clothes about 5 times in the last 6 or so months to throw out what I don’t need, but I’m seriously down to just the stuff I wear all the time now. We only have a small wardrobe (about 3 foot wide, and we share that) and a tallboy chest of drawers (two drawers each). That’s it for clothes storage.

I’m in the process of clearing out our spare room, which is again full of crap, but there’s stuff in there I just can’t bring myself to throw out, even though I know I haven’t even touched it, let alone used it, for the last 12 months. Stuff that has sentimental value, or “I will use it one day” value. So that’s all sitting on the spare room bed at the moment, waiting for me to look at it again.

My next huge issue is our study/office. We have literally 5 book shelves in here, only two of them contain any books. One houses a printer (two shelved bookcase), the other holds my computer games and a couple of baskets of more stuff I can’t bring myself to throw out (four shelve, narrow bookcase), and the other one (the largest) holds the majority of our DVDs. Hubby has been an angel in going through all the DVDs and cleaning out all the ‘illegitimate’ ones (all the copies) and putting them in a CD wallet, but there’s still a mass of them and even though they’re stacked neatly, it still looks messy. I’ve been looking for alternative accommodation for them, namely a chest of drawers or something that will house all of them out of sight.

This is all before I even mention the kitchen, dining room and lounge room.

I’m really ripping my hair out here. It’s driving me completely mental, depressed and in tears nearly every day over this shit. Tomorrow I’m going to go put ‘No Junk Mail’ stickers on the mailbox, so we can at least limit that coming into the house, but what about the rest?

Told myself I wouldn’t worry so much about money this year – I’m worrying about it more than ever.

I, personally, love to be organised – I’m always organised at work and I try to be at home. However, because we only have a small house and so much stuff, the house always seems cluttered regardless of how much ‘tidying up’ I do. I’m trying to take it one step at a time and declutter one area one day, another the next, etc. but by the time I finish the last area, the first one is a mess again.

Our kitchen, frankly, pisses me off because although we have underbench cupboards and drawers that are full, we still have so much crap on the countertops – like the toaster, chopping boards, the kettle and tea, coffee, etc. I’ve wondered if I should get separate little containers for the pantry and keep all of this stuff in there, but it’s so convenient having it on the counter.

In fact, typing out this blog entry has helped me think of ways to declutter the kitchen- the teas and such that we don’t use regularly can go away, while the coffee and sugar that we used on a daily basis can stay on the counter in square canisters that can be shoved right into the corner. Me thinks I will be buying some containers tomorrow! But what about the toaster? We can’t really shove it away in a cupboard because we use it every day and it would be a hassle to get it out all the time. What about chopping boards? Again, we use them daily, along with the kettle too.

My greatest problem is our bedroom – its small, so only a small amount of furniture will fit in and therefore limits storage space. Also, it’s the last place I am of a day and it’s always at a time where I can’t be fucked with putting stuff away, folding clothes, etc. Just can’t be fucked. So the bedroom floor is consistently a mess. I have tried clearing out huge amounts of clothes (and am currently sitting next to two bags of clothes ready to head to St Vincent de Paul) but there still seems to be too much. I’ve asked Michael to remind me that every time I buy a new item of clothing, I have to throw a piece out (in that sense, I’m replacing clothes rather than adding to my wardrobe). So if I buy a shirt, I have to throw one out. If I buy a pair of jeans, get rid of the old ones (I only really ever wear jeans till they have holes in them anyway).

How do you keep yourself organised?

P.S. – I turned 23 on Monday. How much more responsible and mature does 23 sound compared to 22? Heaps, I reckon.

Today’s item is to take a photo of myself and post a description of how my day was.

My day started at about 5:00am when the dog woke up, but she was fine once I fed her and let her out for a pee. I’m really tired today as we were out late at a friend’s house for dinner, so I slept in till about 7:30 before getting up, having some breakfast and getting ready to go out.
I went and had a massage at 9:00am, to get rid of some tension and pain in my neck & shoulders, which was really relaxing – something I really needed. I went to the supermarket after that to grab a few things, then to get some breakfast. Took that home, ate with Michael and I’ve pretty much been sitting at my computer the rest of the day.
Michael is going out tonight with Dominic (husband of one of my work colleagues) so I’m heading up to their house, taking some dinner with me as she’s home with a nearly 4-week old baby, and we’re going to sit and watch Meet the Little Fockers.
I guess after that I’ll be coming home and going to bed!

Not a really eventful day, actually

So for my birthday, which is on the 14th February, I’m asking family that if they want to give gifts, that money toward paying it off or iTunes gift cards are all I want

So I haven’t blogged in a while. I’m finding that I’m too busy doing other stuff to sit down and think about blog entries (although I had an idea for one in the shower this morning hmm). I find it hard enough to motivate myself to get stuff done around the house which, in all honesty, is more important than writing a blog entry. I want to blog, I just can’t think of anything to write about!

What do you do when you know you want to type a post but can’t think of anything?

We knew that the guest room’s carpet had to be torn up – previous tenants/owners obviously had pets and had just let them piss anywhere, so the room just reeked.

So up came the carpet, and whilst I had a grubby floor, I painted the room:

Michael and my mum spent the day sanding the floor back, and after that I varnished it. Two coats of everything – paint and varnish – and the room is complete

I made the cover for the back of the bedframe – Michael didn’t want me to sand and paint the bed, since he bought it when he was 18 with his own money, and it holds sentimental value as a first big purchase – so I made the cover to improve the look of the bed, since everything was so fresh and clean, and the bed is a dark stained wood.

Also, this will be hung up on the wall above the bed:

So, hope you like it!

Work has just been kicking my ass, and it’s getting to the time of year where I’m starting to burn out completely, Plus, with the new puppy in the house, my world revolves around her now. Around 4:30am, I wake up, take Sadie outside before she starts whining (if I let her out after she starts the whining, she’ll think I’m responding to her – not good) and then bring her back in to the bathroom to go back to sleep. Again at about 6:00am, take her out again, put her back in. 6:45am is wake-up time, so we bring her out to the loungeroom and feed her (we have to tether her to the coffee table – she’s got a little too close for comfort to the cats and we’re just keeping her tethered till they really get used to her being around). At 8:40am, I take her outside and put her in an outdoor enclosure with a bucket of water, then go to work.

This is all before 9am!

At 12:00, I come home, let her out, have lunch and feed her, then put her back in the outdoor enclosure around 12:45. At 5:00pm, Michael’s home so he lets her out and feeds her, then I get home around 5:30pm. For the evening, it’s a constant running out with her to let her go potty, then back in and tether to the coffeetable. 9:30pm is bedtime, so we set her back up in the bathroom for the night (obviously letting her out one last time and making sure she does a poo beforehand!) and we normally get to bed around 10:30pm.

Rinse, repeat.

I am so drained – I’d forgotten how insane it is to have a puppy in the house. She’s worth it though – she’s a beautiful dog and a quick learner, even though she still gets up to mischief every now and then. The cats are slowly getting used to her, but are being careful in getting too close (at the moment Delilah is on Sadie’s bed while Sadie’s chewing on a bone next to the bed – I know if Sadie gets up, Delilah will growl at her even though she’s the one who’s got too close!).

She motivates us to walk and exercise outside, which is great now that I have my licence (wait, I haven’t mentioned that yet, have I?! More on that later then…) and am not walking to work any more. Obviously rainy days make it tricky, but with summer coming up it’ll be a lot nicer and we can walk more and further.

I can tell this will be a very rewarding experience, as much as it can be frustrating for us right now. I love her, I think she’s awesome!

I don’t care about having fun, getting work around the house done, etc. – nothing else matters as long as I’m getting enough sleep. I’m constantly watching the clock, and as soon as 9:30 pops around, I’m thinking about getting ready to go to sleep. “Oh, it’s getting late”.

I want to focus less on sleep, because I wake up at 7:30 most mornings and to get my 8 hours, I really only need to be asleep by 11:30. I want to focus on having fun, going out, having a good time in my life. I don’t even practice my spirituality any more, which is a huge deal for me because it’s such a huge part of who I am. I don’t go out at all any more because I’m so focused on what time I need to be in bed by. I want to do the old stuff, and stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning (and not because I can’t sleep!). I miss having a social life (not that I had much of one to start with), and I want to go out and get on the dancefloor – although my confidence lacks in this area – and all in all, I want my LIFE back.

Do any of you have the same problem? Any of you focus on getting enough sleep?

Before (obviously not all of the drawers/cupboards but it gives you an idea!):

After:

I think they look wonderful, and I reckon they update the kitchen by about 10 years!

By doing this today, it made me realised how doing or changing just the smallest things can make a large impact, so I did a search on little things that have made differences in people’s lives or events. And in doing so, I’ve found it’s the smaller things – and the culmination of small things – that do in fact have the largest impacts on our lives. An appreciation for the smaller things in life is crucial to our personal happiness. We can’t always expect the big things to happen to us.

A smile from a stranger on the street can change your attitude from irritable or upset to happy and content.

Listening to your favourite song on the way to work can put you in a better mood before you get there.

Remembering to breathe. Five long, deep breaths can ground, centre, destress and refocus your mind.

A small change to your morning routine. If you pull your pants on by putting your right leg in first, try putting your left leg in first!

We all know the wonders of an extra 10 minutes of sleep!

Stretching. Take a couple of minutes every few hours (particularly if you work on a computer a lot) to get up out of your chair and stretch your muscles. It gets the blood flowing again and reinvigorates you.

Say, “I love you” to someone close. They will feel appreciated, and you will feel instantly gratified in your ability to bring happiness to another person’s day (or week, or month, or year!)

I’ll always remember an email written in to the host of the Deo’s Shadow podcast about his/her magickal experiences, and this person stated that he/she was “so busy looking for the big lightning bolt in the sky that [he/she] didn’t feel the shiver up [his/her] spine when [he/she] practiced magick”. This is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re not always going to see the big lightning bolt. Look to achieve or feel something smaller, and it will progress to the larger goal.

I don’t mean to complain – I love my life right now; I have a great job, a wonderful home, a loving husband and all those things that make life awesome – but I still feel like I’m lacking something.  I don’t like routine, and thus my job tends to get me down.  Not because of the work, but because of the routine I have to go through every day: get up, have breakfast, have a shower, brush teeth, do hair, put on makeup, get ass out the door, then go to work, lunch at 12:00, back to work, go home, eat dinner, browse the net, go to bed.  Rinse and repeat.

I think I’ll feel better about everything once I get my provisional licence (Ps)– I will be able to drive to work and not have to rush my mornings (another thing I hate is rushing and being put on a time limit).  I’m halfway to getting my Ps now – over halfway, in fact – and my dad mentioned to my mum that I’m “driving bloody good”, so to get Dad’s tick of approval means a lot, and gives me that much more confidence. I have to do 50 hours supervised driving, and I’ve got 23hrs 45mins left now.  If I do three hours driving a week, I should be ready by mid-October.  And considering we’re nearly in September already now, that’s not too far to go.

I do worry that I’m going to fail the test, but it’s not so much the failure of the test as losing the money I would have spent to take the test – it’s almost $76 to book and take the test, and if they find something wrong with your vehicle, you automatically fail before you even drive!  Then, you lose that money and have to wait 28 days before you can go again.  So that’s my main concern in this whole ordeal.  Otherwise, I’m pretty confident.  Do need to work on parking though, particularly reverse parking.  I think the odds are in my favour, because I’m older than most people going for their Ps (22 rather than 17 or 18), and chances are I’ll be taking the test in my work clothes, which means I’ll look a little more professional than most.  And while that shouldn’t matter, I think it will play a part in making me appear a responsible, sensible adult (which I like to think I am!).

I’m really looking forward to the freedom driving will give us.  I mean, not having to rely on someone to take us to and from the grocery store will be awesome!

Anyway, there’s my ramble for today, to keep you up-to-date.