Decluttering Our Home – The Blessed Girl with an Extra Storage Space

I thank God for all the blessing I receive and this one included.

There is an extra storage cabinet that’s built in to the wall of my unit. We’re talking about floor to ceiling, 5 tiered cabinet, 150cm length 50cm depth. Just what I need!

Now, this storage has been my ultimate messy corner. So, I’ve decided to take control of it from now on.

After taking out everything in it and laying them on the floor (to my cat’s amazement – he’s clearly not impressed by my hoarding behavior), I grouped the items together and here’s what I came up with:

1. I have too many manchesters – so I kept only 4 sets of bed sheets, pillow cases, and quilt covers
2. I hoard towels – now I kept only 6 towels (my husband and I change towels every week)
3. I have no system whatsoever for my electrical related tools - we bought one of those tool boxes.
4. I clearly haven’t been cleaning this section for some time; we found one box full of unused cables, PC installation CDs, old phone sockets, and more. All of these gone now.
5. I have too much random stuff, such as key rings, stationery, old keys, pieces of paper, cosmetic bags, etc. Seriously, I don’t know how I acquired these things… 

After a full day of work, my storage cabinet is looking great. I managed to empty 2 tiers. One of them is currently used to store large kitchen equipments (mixers, huge cake containers, boxes of serving plates, etc) and I have kept 1 tier empty for now, which is amazing. I’ve also managed to put space bags of winter clothes on the top tier of the storage.

Decluttering Our Home – The Girl with a Full Wardrobe

So the New Year had come, it’s time again to review the state of our home.

I try to do this cleanup every 3 months, and do a major one at the beginning of the year. From looking at the front of my neighbor’s houses, I have a feeling I’m not the only one. Luckily, the state of mine wasn’t really bad.

I do have a New Year’s resolution to slim down my wardrobe. So, that’s the first thing that I do. It seemed like an easy win at that time. But it’s not! I thought the more stuff you have, the more stuff you can throw out. I was so wrong…

I decided to come up with list of items and numbers, just to give an example: 10 casual tops, 10 formal tops, 15 formal dresses, 1 pair of shoes (LOL! Just joking!), make that 5 pair of heels, and 5 pair of flats.

It was easier said than done, but after a grueling 3 weeks, I managed to reduce the number of clothes and accessories by 75%. And my wardrobe never looked better. Now I just have to keep it this way for the rest of my life!!

It would be fun to know if anyone has done this before. Will be awesome to share tips and tricks, or even words of wisdom on this matter J

My final number of items: (based on my weekly laundry routine – I’m guessing the number may be higher if you do your laundry fortnightly)

Work:

10 Work Dresses

12 Work Tops – I use 3 specialty shirt hangers from LifeSpace 

4 Work Skirts – I use 1 multi skirt hanger from LifeSpace 

3 Work Pants – I use 1 multi pants hanger from LifeSpace

5 Sets of Suits

Non-work:

3 Pairs of Jeans

5 Pairs of Shorts

10 Sets of clothes that I wear at home

4 T-Shirts (I feel I’m getting too old for t-shirts)

10 Formal Dresses

10 Casual Dresses

12 Casual Tops – again I use the multi shirt hangers from LifeSpace

4 Sets of Exercise Clothes

2 Hiking Pants

Outerwear:

5 Jackets

2 Coats

3 Sport Jackets

5 Casual Jackets

4 Vests

Shoes: (The hardest of them all)

3 Closed Toes Heels

3 Open Toes Heels

2 Flats

2 Walking Shoes

3 Thongs

2 Wedges Sandals

Bags:

1 Overnight Bag

5 Medium/Large Totes

7 Small Bags

I feel like the numbers are still a bit high, but I have trouble parting with some of them. We’ll see how we go in the next quarterly cleanup.

Ten Reasons Why Knitting is Good For You

Over the years I spent knitting, I realized there are lots of wins surrounding this hobby. I’m going to list my top ten reasons why knitting is good for you.

 

1. You get the satisfaction of creating something out of nothing – at the beginning you have a pile of yarn, two sticks, and will power. The end result is endless.
2. Handmade gifts are the best gifts – perfect to give a friend who has everything, handmade gifts make lasting impression to recipients.
3. Gifts or Fashion on a Budget – Not only you can use high quality material, they’re on a budget too. There are endless options of affordable and great quality yarns.
4. You can make extra money by selling your knitted creations.
5. Nothing beats the feeling when you’re wearing that one of a kind Norwegian knitted sweaters.
6. You get to hang out with the best kind of people – we all know that knitters and crocheters are the nicest kind of human beings. We rarely are mean to others and we’re animal lovers in general.
7. It’s an amazing fun way to do charity.
8. It’s like meditation – take off the day’s burden and come home to a quite knitting session.
9. It keeps your hands busy – this means no munching on snacks while watching TV. (SUPER WIN!!)
10. It’s brain exercise! – it’s amazing how this apparently calming activity turned out to be a great exercise for your brain. Researches claim it’s one of those activities that can fight Alzheimer.

 

Have I convinced you to take on knitting?

Lacey Baby Beanie

I really need to use up my Panda Magnum yarn so I quickly knitted these 2 baby beanies.

The pattern is very interesting; it’s using a new technique I’ve never used before.

First, I had to knit the lace part and then the ribs band separately.

Here comes the interesting part, I knitted them together (join knit) and continue on the beanie crown.

Available for purchase in my MadeIt store.

I also knitted another one using Patons Totem yarn in shade of soft pink.

(Completed on 15^th and 17^th Jan 2013)

Flowers Everywhere

I think I'm addicted to crocheting flowers :-)
I used the remain of yellow and red yarn and made these adorable accessories.

Headband:

Wrist Corsage:

Available in my MadeIt store.

(Completed 10th Jan 2013)

So many things, so little time... The never ending battle of time ☺

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I’m sure a lot of people out there experiencing the same thing on a day to day basis. There are a few things that help me overcome this feeling of running out of time:

1. Don’t Panic! I know, I know, never tell a woman not to panic. But seriously, don’t panic. It will only make things worse. If you have a long to do list, take a deep breath and review your list.
2. Choose wisely. While reviewing your list, group tasks into 3 separate buckets, (1) tasks that take the least amount of time and effort, (2) tasks that take the most amount of time and effort, (3) tasks that are great urgency. It’s always best to prioritise and multitask between (1) and (3).
3. Plan, plan, plan! It goes without saying, always plan. Make a schedule. Allocate time to work on tasks in this list. Always add 25% to the time you allocated for a task. This will give you a sort of time buffer, in case you need more time to accomplish the task. Or, if you complete the task in time, you can reward yourself some time to have a cup of tea.
4. Never say Later. In other words, don’t procrastinate. This is the arch enemy of to do lists, procrastination. If it’s in your to do list, do it. Close your eyes and imagine yourself working towards completion of this task. Imagine the satisfaction of crossing that item off your list. If the house is a mess, clean it. If the laundry is piling, wash it and iron it right after they dry. If the sink is full of dirty dishes, wash them. The more you procrastinate the more items you’ll add in your to do list.
5. When the cake doesn’t rise... If things don’t go as planned, don’t beat yourself up. Nothing is perfect in this world, take a deep breath, count your blessings, and give yourself a second chance.

Little Jamie Beanie Luxury NZ Merino Yarn

I bought this luxurymerino yarn while honeymooning in NZ last month.

The material is superb!! Colour is just amazing!

I can’t believe they have been discontinued. L

I felt adventurous and decided to experiment with this pattern and turned out really great.

Available for purchase in my MadeIt store.

A little bit funky don't you think?

 

(Completed 1^st Jan 2013 – Yes, I was knitting on New Year’s day)

Little Peggy Baby Gift Set

This delicate wool yarn is so beautiful in colour. I can't resist knitting this set of beanie and booties for newborn baby.

They look simply adorable...

Available in my MadeIt store.

(Completed 3rd Jan)

Nancy Summer Boobtube

I bought this boobtube pattern a few summers ago and finally lucky enough to found the perfect yarn for it. This cotton yarn has great vibrant colour and the material is a little stretchy, which makes it perfect for this pattern.
Available in my MadeIt store.

(Completed 9th Dec and 23rd Dec)