A great sense of satisfaction and smugness....

Yes, yes that's right.  I do have a great sense of satisfaction and smugness.  But with good reason I think!

I have finished decluttering.... wait for it.... One Room!!!

Now, it may not sound like much, but it has shown me exactly what I can achieve when I put my mind to it and roll up my sleeves.  The room in question was the sitting room and I can categorically say that it looks fabulous.

It took me about three and half hours to do and despite having done a Look and Chuck a few days earlier, I still managed to fill a bin bag! I also gave the room a thorough cleaning, including the skirting boards, windows and moved all of the furniture out to vacuum underneath.

One of the big problems in the sitting room were the nooks and crannies that could get filled with junk and be relatively unseen.  Out of sight, out of mind.  One of these places was down the side of the sofa.  Here I found my wedding album, Trivial Pursuits, a basket containing knitting, assorted batteries and a Wii remote, numerous out of date papers and a selection of pens.

As they were all piled up, none of these items were at all accessible and the pile had just been added to, so really I had no clue what was there.  Having cleared this space out completely now, both Husband and I have agreed that it will be a dumping ground no longer! The knitting now has a home courtesy of a basket I received a Christmas Hamper in, the wedding album, Trivial Pursuits and Wii gear has similarly found a new place to live.

Having made a significant amount of extra space in the sitting room, I decided to have a scout around the house to see if there was anything to fill a newly created void in an alcove.  About two years ago, we had bought a second hand display cabinet.  It have been shoved into a corner in the dining room and I had never got round to doing anything with it.

In fact I had grown to be annoyed by its very presence.

It didn't look right, it covered a double plug socket but wouldn't fit anywhere else, it needed relining. I hadn't so much as unwrapped the glass shelves.

I measured the alcove. 31''.  I measured the display cabinet.  31''.  I decided to just get on with it.

I knew I had some wallpaper that I had bought on impulse in the loft.  I knew I had some glue sticks left over from some project or other.  I had been putting off relining the cabinet thinking that I needed wallpaper paste, sharper scissors, at least a full day etc etc.  See, I told you I am the Queen of Procrastination!

Anyway, a full glue stick and 25 minutes (yes, 25 minutes) later.  This was the result.

So not only do I have a thoroughly declutted and beautifully clean sitting room, I also have a fab new piece of furniture that I can use to put in objects that I love.  No doubt these are still buried somewhere else in the house, but I will get to them eventually!

So, I really have made a start, and yes I am a bit smug about it.  But I have to be careful not to rest on my laurels and think that a Mary Poppins effect will take over the rest of the house.  But seriously, I feel so motivated about every room at home looking this good, I can't wait to get going.

Oh, and I found another £1.83.

The Declutter Diarist

New Beginnings

I have two days left of the way I live my life at the moment.

Sounds pretty big.  And maybe it will be, but basically I am talking about getting my act together.

If you were to ask people who know me, they would probably say that I am fairly well organised and tend to get things done.  Two problems here - 'fairly' and 'tend'.  I create a better illusion than the actual reality.  I am far from being able to put my hands on something when I want it, I am not very good at finishing projects and have areas in my house and office that would horrify you.  But what's worse is that I have learnt to live like this.

I have wondering for a long time what it would be like if I could find what I wanted when I wanted it, if I was on top of my emails and didn't have half finished projects lying around.  I think that it would be lovely.

The biggest barrier to achieving this? Me.

There seems to be so much to do, that I don't know where to start.  Its off-putting, it is easier to ignore everything that I think I have to do, rather than just getting on and doing it.  But this is also part of the problem, I pile the pressure on with a long to do list - severely demotivating.

For example, my mum came to stay recently and a couple of months before her arrival I decided that it would be great to have the house 'done'.  In my mind this included repainting three rooms and 'deep cleaning' the house.  Needless to say, I didn't achieve all of this.  I did paint two rooms (Husband was pivotal in this) but found myself shoving stuff into the third room in a desperate attempt to tidy hours before mum arrived.

You see, I have kidded myself that I work best under pressure.  I have applied this theory since writing essays for university 12 years ago.  It isn't true.  If it was true I would never think after I had completed something "I wonder what I could have achieved if I had given myself more time?"

I am the Procrastination Queen.  The online world is a constant distraction, I will go out of my way to help someone if it means I don't have to iron.  But I will iron if it means I don't have to write an email.  I have an absurd talent for not doing exactly what needs doing.  This journey is going to be about more than sorting out drawers and cupboards, my attitude is going to get decluttered too.

So, this is another attempt (there have been several others) to get into gear.  Now, it maybe that it doesn't work out, that committing to blog about my progress adds a new and previously absent layer of pressure.

But I guess there is only one way to find out.  Wish me luck!

The Declutter Diarist.