I've been reading through a lot of blogs lately, and drooling over the beautiful houses that these women have!
There are tons of brilliant ideas and I'm feeling so inspired! When we move to my mum's house (hopefully soon), I know that it will be our "Forever" home. I wouldn't want it any other way - it's the house I grew up in, it's in the town that I love, my kids adore living here and it's right next door to my husband's parents! How perfect is that?
It will need lots of work done and it will take a long time and a lot of money to make the house exactly the way I want it. In fact, I'm not even sure how I want it yet!
In any house I've lived in before, I've never had that "Forever" feeling. We've decorated hastily and done the minimum we can get away with to have a home we feel content in until it's time to sell up and move on again.
In my mum's house, I will need to learn to slow down and be patient. I have the rest of my life to live there and make it perfect for all of us. It will take time and hard work, no settling for the cheaper option or the path of least resistance. In my forever home, I need it to be exactly what makes us delighted, excited and inspired.
I'm going to take it one room at a time, in fact, i'm going to get a folder and section it off by rooms, and gather ideas so that when the time comes to work on that room, I'll have some idea where i'm going with it. There are loads of ideas out there!
Sunday 13 June 2010
Saturday 12 June 2010
Saturday baking!
I like making sweet treats with my kids at the weekend whenever possible!
Today we are making the simplest of all kiddie treats - the world famous rice crispy cakes! I often do these with just chocolate and a little margarine, sometimes some golden syrup for extra glossy, gooey stickiness.
Today, however, for a nostalgic change, we're using mars bars. The recipe couldn't be simpler...
Mars Bar Crispy Treats
3oz Rice Crispies
3oz Margarine
3 Mars Bars
Melt the margarine and mars bars together, stir in rice crispies until fully coated and spoon into cupcake cases. Chill before eating, if you can wait that long!
No need for fanciness in this house...the simplest recipes are the best!
Today we are making the simplest of all kiddie treats - the world famous rice crispy cakes! I often do these with just chocolate and a little margarine, sometimes some golden syrup for extra glossy, gooey stickiness.
Today, however, for a nostalgic change, we're using mars bars. The recipe couldn't be simpler...
Mars Bar Crispy Treats
3oz Rice Crispies
3oz Margarine
3 Mars Bars
Melt the margarine and mars bars together, stir in rice crispies until fully coated and spoon into cupcake cases. Chill before eating, if you can wait that long!
No need for fanciness in this house...the simplest recipes are the best!
Friday 11 June 2010
Tidy Tips - the ten minute tidy!
I thought today I'd share a tip that's helped me keep my house fairly straightened lately. Sometimes when every room of your house is a tip, it can seem really overwhelming, you can spend ages tidying one room only to turn round and find every other room is in a terrible state!
What I like to do is take it in ten minute chunks. The way I see it, it's only ten minutes, you can do anything for ten minutes, right?
So, here's how I do the ten minute tidy...
1) Set a timer for 10 minutes (I use the one on my phone)
2) If it's a bedroom, make the bed and open the curtains. Then start at one corner or the room and work your way round, gathering up anything that doesn't belong in the room and dumping it at the door of the room it does belong in.
3) When you get back to the corner you started in, gather up any dirty dishes and put them in the kitchen.
4) Take a rubbish bag and chuck in anything that needs throwing out.
5) Do another corner to corner sweep of the room, putting everything where it belongs. Take a cloth or baby wipe with you and dust as you go.
6) Straighten up and covers or cushions, spray some air freshener and sweep or hoover the floor. You're done!
If the timer goes off before you're finished, stop and move on to the next room. It's better to have a house full of semi tidy rooms than one really tidy room and a house full of messy ones! You'll find that as time goes on, if you do this every day the rooms will get better and better until you don't even need ten minutes per room anymore. Yesterday I did 4 rooms before my timer went off!
I do this in the morning after breakfast, and in the evening after dinner and before bed. I'm trying to get into the habit of tidying as I go, so the house never gets really terribly messy again.
Do you have any housekeeping wisdom to share?
What I like to do is take it in ten minute chunks. The way I see it, it's only ten minutes, you can do anything for ten minutes, right?
So, here's how I do the ten minute tidy...
1) Set a timer for 10 minutes (I use the one on my phone)
2) If it's a bedroom, make the bed and open the curtains. Then start at one corner or the room and work your way round, gathering up anything that doesn't belong in the room and dumping it at the door of the room it does belong in.
3) When you get back to the corner you started in, gather up any dirty dishes and put them in the kitchen.
4) Take a rubbish bag and chuck in anything that needs throwing out.
5) Do another corner to corner sweep of the room, putting everything where it belongs. Take a cloth or baby wipe with you and dust as you go.
6) Straighten up and covers or cushions, spray some air freshener and sweep or hoover the floor. You're done!
If the timer goes off before you're finished, stop and move on to the next room. It's better to have a house full of semi tidy rooms than one really tidy room and a house full of messy ones! You'll find that as time goes on, if you do this every day the rooms will get better and better until you don't even need ten minutes per room anymore. Yesterday I did 4 rooms before my timer went off!
I do this in the morning after breakfast, and in the evening after dinner and before bed. I'm trying to get into the habit of tidying as I go, so the house never gets really terribly messy again.
Do you have any housekeeping wisdom to share?
Sunday 6 June 2010
Children DO NOT need a lot of toys!
OMG, I am exhausted!
We've been decluttering all weekend - Daisy's room has been emptied of all but the clothes she wears and the few toys she plays with.
If there's one thing I've learned the hard way in my 7 years of parenting, it's that kids don't need lots of toys. My two tend to prefer playing with "non-toy" items...cardboard boxes, elastic bands, paper clips, etc. They use their imaginations a lot more with these things and seem to get so much more out of doing so.
Unfortunately, it's taken me 7 years and a LOT of wasted money to realise this! Of course, every birthday and christmas they are completely overwhelmed by toys, both from us and from relatives. Why do we feel the need to give so many things to our kids? They seem to get so much that it loses all meaning and becomes just a contest of who had the bigest pile of gifts. As each parcel is opened, the contents are barely looked at in the excitement of looking for the next one. Lots of money is wasted, and lots of toys lie forgotten in cupboards until the next big clear out. Totally unneccessary.
Charlie is 7, and mainly likes playing video games. The only toys he still likes are magnetix and lego, so apart from his DS and games, those are the only toys he has in his room! It looks so much tidier now that I've dropped the guilt about how bare it would look with no "stuff"!
Daisy is only 3, and plays with a lot more. She likes her dollies and ponies, and her play kitchen and supermarket. Oh, and her dressing up stuff! I've tried to make sure that those are the only toys she has though, her little room was absolutely full before and now she has a lot more space to play with the stuff she enjoys using.
Of course, they both like reading and crafts, so we have books and boxes of craft stuff, plus a couple of family board games. I think they have all they need now and more. Now I just need to persuade the grandparents not to go overboard on the toys next christmas....
We've been decluttering all weekend - Daisy's room has been emptied of all but the clothes she wears and the few toys she plays with.
If there's one thing I've learned the hard way in my 7 years of parenting, it's that kids don't need lots of toys. My two tend to prefer playing with "non-toy" items...cardboard boxes, elastic bands, paper clips, etc. They use their imaginations a lot more with these things and seem to get so much more out of doing so.
Unfortunately, it's taken me 7 years and a LOT of wasted money to realise this! Of course, every birthday and christmas they are completely overwhelmed by toys, both from us and from relatives. Why do we feel the need to give so many things to our kids? They seem to get so much that it loses all meaning and becomes just a contest of who had the bigest pile of gifts. As each parcel is opened, the contents are barely looked at in the excitement of looking for the next one. Lots of money is wasted, and lots of toys lie forgotten in cupboards until the next big clear out. Totally unneccessary.
Charlie is 7, and mainly likes playing video games. The only toys he still likes are magnetix and lego, so apart from his DS and games, those are the only toys he has in his room! It looks so much tidier now that I've dropped the guilt about how bare it would look with no "stuff"!
Daisy is only 3, and plays with a lot more. She likes her dollies and ponies, and her play kitchen and supermarket. Oh, and her dressing up stuff! I've tried to make sure that those are the only toys she has though, her little room was absolutely full before and now she has a lot more space to play with the stuff she enjoys using.
Of course, they both like reading and crafts, so we have books and boxes of craft stuff, plus a couple of family board games. I think they have all they need now and more. Now I just need to persuade the grandparents not to go overboard on the toys next christmas....
Thursday 3 June 2010
Day 1 - 3 bags down!
I ain't hanging around!
Today, I made an appointment for someone to come and start the house selling process. They are coming in one week. ONE WEEK!!!!!
Of course, to add to the stress of this, I'm starting my new job on monday, so for three whole days next week, I'll be at work. That means I have to make the absolute most of the time I have at home over the next 7 days.
This afternoon, I made a start on my daughter's bedroom by paring down her clothes. I read a brilliant blog post about how, if you want to keep clothes tidy, you should avoid drawers.
Having drawers means that clothes inevitably get stuffed in and become wrinkled and messy, doubling your workload. Ideally, everything yould be hung up, with the exception of underwear, which could either be in drawers or over door pockets.
Of course, we all have so many clothes that it would be impossible to hang up every shirt, tshirt, dress, skirt and pair of jeans!
Then I realised - if I'm keeping well on top of the laundry, really, we don't need more than 7 days' worth of clothes each. Really.
Now, for me, that's an extreme idea. I have no less than 37 dresses. I own 5 pairs of jeans, I have no idea how many coats I posess, and don't even get me started on shoes!
Having said that though, if I really think about it, what do I wear every day? For the most part, if I'm working, I wear a uniform. If I'm at home, I'm usually playing with the kids or walking the dogs, so it tends to be jeans, tshirts, hoodies - you know, comfy stuff.
I wear dresses when I go out, but that only happens maybe once a month, usually much less than that!
So no, I don't need 37 dresses. I think I need to choose 4 or 5 dresses, and get rid of the rest.
I'm going to go through all our clothes, and aim for 7 days' worth each, with possibly a couple of special occasion outfits.
On the subject of clothes, I've managed to simplify my laundry routine, which is working brilliantly! I used to wash and dry my clothes, then take them from the dryer, fold them and pile them on the floor next to the dryer.
More often than not, the kids would run past and knock the piles over, or the dogs would pick up random garments and drop them around the house. The piles would multiply through the week, until sunday, when I would get super stressed about the huge amount of stuff I needed to sort and put away. Usually, most of the stuff would need ironed too, argh!
Now, as soon as the stuff comes out of the dryer, I fold it and sort it on the spot. Folded clothes are piled in terms of where they belong, and the piles are immediately taken there and put away. Seemples! It takes maybe 5 minutes longer than making one pile, and saves me hours of stress on sundays. Love it!
Today, I made an appointment for someone to come and start the house selling process. They are coming in one week. ONE WEEK!!!!!
Of course, to add to the stress of this, I'm starting my new job on monday, so for three whole days next week, I'll be at work. That means I have to make the absolute most of the time I have at home over the next 7 days.
This afternoon, I made a start on my daughter's bedroom by paring down her clothes. I read a brilliant blog post about how, if you want to keep clothes tidy, you should avoid drawers.
Having drawers means that clothes inevitably get stuffed in and become wrinkled and messy, doubling your workload. Ideally, everything yould be hung up, with the exception of underwear, which could either be in drawers or over door pockets.
Of course, we all have so many clothes that it would be impossible to hang up every shirt, tshirt, dress, skirt and pair of jeans!
Then I realised - if I'm keeping well on top of the laundry, really, we don't need more than 7 days' worth of clothes each. Really.
Now, for me, that's an extreme idea. I have no less than 37 dresses. I own 5 pairs of jeans, I have no idea how many coats I posess, and don't even get me started on shoes!
Having said that though, if I really think about it, what do I wear every day? For the most part, if I'm working, I wear a uniform. If I'm at home, I'm usually playing with the kids or walking the dogs, so it tends to be jeans, tshirts, hoodies - you know, comfy stuff.
I wear dresses when I go out, but that only happens maybe once a month, usually much less than that!
So no, I don't need 37 dresses. I think I need to choose 4 or 5 dresses, and get rid of the rest.
I'm going to go through all our clothes, and aim for 7 days' worth each, with possibly a couple of special occasion outfits.
On the subject of clothes, I've managed to simplify my laundry routine, which is working brilliantly! I used to wash and dry my clothes, then take them from the dryer, fold them and pile them on the floor next to the dryer.
More often than not, the kids would run past and knock the piles over, or the dogs would pick up random garments and drop them around the house. The piles would multiply through the week, until sunday, when I would get super stressed about the huge amount of stuff I needed to sort and put away. Usually, most of the stuff would need ironed too, argh!
Now, as soon as the stuff comes out of the dryer, I fold it and sort it on the spot. Folded clothes are piled in terms of where they belong, and the piles are immediately taken there and put away. Seemples! It takes maybe 5 minutes longer than making one pile, and saves me hours of stress on sundays. Love it!
Wednesday 2 June 2010
A new beginning...
I had a blog before, based on saving money, but I was pretty disorganised about keeping up with it, and a lot has changed since I last wrote in it, so I thought it was time for a fresh start.
My life is pretty complicated just now. At the beginning of this year, my lovely dad went into hospital, and my life became a crazy, stress filled time of juggling hospital visits with working part time, taking care of my 2 kids (aged 7 and 3), trying to keep my house in order, supporting my mum and dealing with a spiralling debt crisis.
It made me ill, and I felt constantly torn between what I was doing, what I should have been doing, and what I wanted to be doing.
I swore that as soon as I could think straight, I would find a way to simplify my life so I wasn't constantly on edge, and could find time to actually enjoy nuggets of my day. After all, life is short and unpredictable, and must be enjoyed and appreciated.
Sadly, my dad passed away 6 weeks ago, which has been a horrible time, but I'm glad that he is at peace. Of course, I still support my mum a lot but she is doing really well.
I've taken a new job with fixed hours, working as an auxilliary in a hospice, which makes life easier to plan and means I can factor in more quality time with my husband and kids.
As for the debt crisis, we are about to sell our house and move in with my mum. Hopefully this means we can clear our feet and start afresh. We might even be able to save a little!
Plus, my mum gets to be with her favourite people every day - win/win!
Of course, in the meantime, the money situation is pretty dire, but the sonner we can get the house on the market, the better.
Which brings me on to the house...
This is probably the biggest cause of my stress. I used to think that we didn't have enough room. It was the house's fault, it was just too small! Not enough storage, yada yada yada...
No. It's not the house's fault. It's OUR fault. We have too much stuff. Way too much!
The cupboards and drawers are full of clothes we never wear. The bedrooms are full of toys they never play with. The loft and garage are full of stuff that might come in handy one day, might be slimmed into, might be worth something, might be fixed, argh!
I need to simplify. That is my goal.
I am sick and tired of spending entire weekends frantically tidying, cleaning, ironing and wishing I could do something fun instead. I want to enjoy life!
I plan to take one room at a time and ruthlessly pare down, weed out, minimise and clean. Then I plan to never let my house get so filled up with meaningless stuff ever again!
Come and join me on my journey from junk junkie to minimalist mama!
My life is pretty complicated just now. At the beginning of this year, my lovely dad went into hospital, and my life became a crazy, stress filled time of juggling hospital visits with working part time, taking care of my 2 kids (aged 7 and 3), trying to keep my house in order, supporting my mum and dealing with a spiralling debt crisis.
It made me ill, and I felt constantly torn between what I was doing, what I should have been doing, and what I wanted to be doing.
I swore that as soon as I could think straight, I would find a way to simplify my life so I wasn't constantly on edge, and could find time to actually enjoy nuggets of my day. After all, life is short and unpredictable, and must be enjoyed and appreciated.
Sadly, my dad passed away 6 weeks ago, which has been a horrible time, but I'm glad that he is at peace. Of course, I still support my mum a lot but she is doing really well.
I've taken a new job with fixed hours, working as an auxilliary in a hospice, which makes life easier to plan and means I can factor in more quality time with my husband and kids.
As for the debt crisis, we are about to sell our house and move in with my mum. Hopefully this means we can clear our feet and start afresh. We might even be able to save a little!
Plus, my mum gets to be with her favourite people every day - win/win!
Of course, in the meantime, the money situation is pretty dire, but the sonner we can get the house on the market, the better.
Which brings me on to the house...
This is probably the biggest cause of my stress. I used to think that we didn't have enough room. It was the house's fault, it was just too small! Not enough storage, yada yada yada...
No. It's not the house's fault. It's OUR fault. We have too much stuff. Way too much!
The cupboards and drawers are full of clothes we never wear. The bedrooms are full of toys they never play with. The loft and garage are full of stuff that might come in handy one day, might be slimmed into, might be worth something, might be fixed, argh!
I need to simplify. That is my goal.
I am sick and tired of spending entire weekends frantically tidying, cleaning, ironing and wishing I could do something fun instead. I want to enjoy life!
I plan to take one room at a time and ruthlessly pare down, weed out, minimise and clean. Then I plan to never let my house get so filled up with meaningless stuff ever again!
Come and join me on my journey from junk junkie to minimalist mama!
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