Horader to order challenge 2

OK so it is confession time, C was not as enthusiastic about this 'Hoarder to order' idea as I was, it might have been that I hit him with it the minute I woke up Saturday morning, when he was still in a state of slumber! (he thought I was shouting at him, but it was just my enthusiasm, honest!)

The carrier bag task caused a little bit of an argument! After changing the nets we both fought over who could put the old ones in their carrier bag! C won but has yet to add anything else!

It was while I was looking for sellotape to wrap a birthday present I thought I would sort through the drawer on my dresser: I found a shortbread mould, (I had been looking for it some months ago! What ever possessed me to put in that drawer?) and a diary for 2005 still pristine! My daughter argued that I could not put it in my carrier bag as even a charity shop would not be able to sell it! I think it counts but maybe I should do two bags - one for the dump or I would have to drop it at the door of the 'lucky' charity shop and run! If you would like the diary,( it might actually be OK next year as it was only a day out for this year) I would be more than happy to send it to you. I also found two other books, (from psychologies about re-organising your life, but even though they had been in the drawer for a couple of years I am sure I am going to have time to read them!)

C did get quite angry when I tried to tell him about the task two , but that was probably because he was trying to load the car with ballast at the time. So, what is task two? Well, it is take a ten minute challenge, re-organise your notice board. As C was still busy with the ballast, I thought I could tackle the task for both of us, (after all he still has the rest of his carrier bag to fill).

If you really what to know about someone, don't bother with their bookshelves, blog or private journal, just take a look at their notice board, it will tell you all you ever want to know about their actual life style and their aspirations! (if you are feeling brave take a look at yours!)

I found this task a little sad, as it seemed to be full of good intentions, such as a gym membership leaflet, a invitation to an art gallery, shamanic healing
( Who on earth found that one?) and a leaflet for a local craft event. This all sounds very cultured, however, there is also two local take away menu's for an Indian and a Kebab house, (well that's dispelled the culture vulture image!) we haven't had a kebab since C read in a woman's magazine at work (there is nothing else to read at lunchtime apparently) there are over 3,000 calories in a single kebab! Now that sounds very impressive, except he only found that out last week!

I am happy to report I now have a little pile of paper, including receipts, dental appointments, a free herb with your spring bulbs offer and a January to April live bands programme! (we did not see a single band!)

Now here is the challenge, the oldest thing on my notice board was a dentist appointment for April 2008! See if you can beat that!

Jumbled to junk-free in 100 steps

It was at around five this morning, I decided that something needed to be done!

I couldn't sleep ideas were swirling round my head because I had been looking at Flickr, and other crafty websites just before bed!

I felt a bit of a failure, as I seem to lose interest in projects very quickly with very little ability to see a project through to completion. I find myself maybe half way through a project when suddenly I will be filled with an idea or I will spot some fabulous fabric or wool and will be filled with enthusiasm to start that. My shed is crammed full of such projects, my lounge was a mass of wool, books, magazines and other paraphernalia that I was embarrassed when N popped round for a coffee. The dining room looked like a junk shop, piled high with a general array of items, and I can't remember the last time we actually sat round the table to eat! Yet it is so wonderful when we do.

I am like a magpie, I collect lots of pretty things from shops and charity shops, yet they are all jumbled together that I am unable to enjoy my lovely finds. Upstairs is even worse, and I ban any visitors from stepping one foot on the stairs. My clothes are mainly heaped and I really struggle some mornings to find items which I know I have but I can't locate!

C says he comes home and is surrounded by jobs and to do items that it is hard to tell the difference from home and work!

What a very sad state to live in! We have a spacious four bedroom home, that feels cramped and quite frankly a hovel most of the time. Spending so much time at home I am unable to escape and I actually started to see it for reality.

Fortunately, because I am a hoarder, the answer was laying on my bookshelf! It is called hoarder to order by Sue Kay, part of the Get a Life Series from Hodder and Arnold. So here it goes!

challenge 1: fill one carrier bag with stuff and take it to a charity shop!

(luckily I am ahead on this one, as I did sort through my clothes to pack away my summer stuff. I bought some boots and comfy clothes at Matalan, so I filled the bag up with clothes. Sadly, clothes that no longer fit!)

It was great to see a starting point so we sat and compiled an additional list of jobs to do this week. I suggested we work our way round the rooms in the house starting with the lounge, as it was the easiest to sort out!

The first thing on our list is a good coffee table with STORAGE so we can put away some of the stuff we don't want to display, such as wii controllers etc.

We have pictures on the walls that we seem to have grown out of, yet I have paintings galore in my shed. So I have hung my poppy picture on the wall, and intend to create another canvass of the same size for the other wall.

I have made a contract that I will keep only ONE project in the lounge, all other craft stuff must stay in the studio.

I also finished the beaded trim on the new nets for the front window. (I am not a fan of nets, but as we have a busy footpath outside our house, I prefer nets to being looked at like an object in a zoo!) So the windows were cleaned and the new nets put up. Snother tick off the list!

In the end we had around 18 objects on our list, and by the end of the day we had completed 6 of them. The list is on a white board, and we are creating a word document with a list of completed projects next to it. As it grows we will print it out and put it next to the white board so we will know how far we have come!

So, the gauntlet has been thrown down, 100 steps! I am going to post here, so that I feel I have some sort of incentive! So here goes! I have decided that we shall treat ourselves to a massage each if we get to 30!