14 days, 56 bags

Life in the One Plus One Equals Six house has been difficult in recent months, this has impacted on our day to day life. Recently I lost my grandmother which came as a shock, I'd always thought she'd be around and because of this I hadn't talked with her for a number of years. I had the opportunity to travel back home to New Zealand with my sister to say goodbye to her and to pay my respects. I'm so glad I did because she was a remarkable woman and during my time there I got to hear family and friends talk about her with such love.

When I returned home I decided it was time to get my life in order and to turn this house into a home. During the last eighteen months I've participated half heartedly in various decluttering tasks so that I could clear out all the excess items that we no longer needed to be carrying around with us. On 6th January I signed up with my sister to participate in a 52 week declutter challenge. Lets be honest I only did one of the challenges, every week I read what my sister had done while sitting down looking at all the stuff that was building up around me. It wasn't until I read a post by Corrie from Retro Mummy about how she was collecting 40 bags in 40 days to prepare for her families upcoming move that I got the motivation that I needed.

When we sold our house three years ago I was pregnant and not in the mood to pack up the house let alone declutter. So I packed everything we owned into boxes and we stored them away. Fast forward three years and we still have all the things from the previous house PLUS the things we've accumulated since moving in two years ago. When I started my 14 day challenge I knew that I'd need to create three different piles as the bags were going to different places. Pile 1 was rubbish which went to the dump, Pile 2 was for the local thrift shop and Pile 3 was for the 'reuse shop' at our local dump.

After 14 days 24 bags went to the dump, 26 bags were given to the 'Save the Children' thrift store and a total of 6 bags went to the Reuse Shop at the dump. The house is lighter and less cluttered but I still have a few more areas to finish off so I'm sure I could add to these numbers.

I'm pleased to say that with removing all these bags out of the house we've been able to create more space within the house. In the coming weeks I'm going to share with you some before and after pictures of the kids rooms and hopefully I'll be able to start decorating the kids bedrooms rooms.

So far I'm pleased with the effort that we put into decluttering the house. The children are also pleased with their rooms and they're putting in the effort of keeping it clean. So far the children have made their beds each day and the girls are putting all their clothes away each night. I'd call this a success and I wish I'd pulled my finger out and decluttered the house earlier.

Megan

DIY Heaven

I've been thinking about creating a chalkboard menu planner for a few months now and after visiting Pinterest I knew it was something I wanted to in stall in our kitchen. Originally I fell in love with these two chalkboards and they were the inspiration behind wanting to have a chalkboard in the kitchen.

both projects can be found here and here

Originally my plan was to purchase 7 MDF clipboards, plaint them up with blackboard paint, label them with days of the week and then hang them on the wall beside the pantry. Once hung I'd be able to write down what we'd be eating each week. After searching on-line I discovered that I couldn't get a clipboard under $3 a piece so I went around town trying to find a cheap clipboard. I found some good ones at Officeworks but at $3.48 each it was going to cost me just over $24 and that was before I purchased anything else to finish off the project.

I really liked the clip on these boards but I didn't like them enough to pay what they were asking. So after weeks of looking and finding clipboards that were more expensive I'd started to give up on my dream. Then last weekend we went off to Bunnings to look for a garden fence as we need to place a few on the sides of the house to keep the children in the backyard. About an hour later I walked out of Bunnings with a few vegetable seedlings, some decorative trim, liquid nails and a 1200 by 900 piece of MDF. I'd gotten the idea of creating my own framed blackboard and that's all it took.

 

Later that afternoon I sent Mr Opoes off to his fathers place so that he could cut the trim with 45° angles. The only power tool we currently own is an electric drill so I was happy that my father in-law was able to help us out with this project. I'm now looking forward to getting this project underway this weekend as I'd love to have it hanging on my wall by the end of the month. My to-do list is growing everyday as I'm getting some really interesting ideas BUT they might have to wait a while as I have to save the money first to fund the project.

 

So what are your plans for the weekend? I'm hoping to get a few projects started, do a bit of cooking and to spend time playing with the children. Fingers crossed I get something crossed off my list this weekend :)

 

Megan

Pantry Organisation

When we decided to build our home I was really excited that I'd be able to make changes throughout the original house plan thus making it OUR design and our family home. One of the areas I spent a lot time on was the kitchen and the adjoining butlers pantry. Our previous house had a five shelf pantry that was about the same height as a refrigerator and I was forever getting frustrated as I never seemed to have enough room to store things other than food. So I really wanted a pantry space in this house that would allow me to store food, containers, special items and things that I don't want my nearly two year old to get to.

 

During one of our many visits to the house during construction my brother's girlfriend asked me what the small room at the other end of the kitchen was. I told her that it was a linen cupboard that I could use to store things that didn't fit in other area's of the house, she suggested that I use it as another pantry as that would allow me to store more food and possibly reduce the number of times I had to shop during the year. The reason for having this space was because I've always believed Australian homes don't have enough storage within the house for families. Nowadays builders seem to be providing us with even less storage options than what they provided twenty-five years ago when my parents were building their home.

 

After listening to her idea, Mr Opoes and I went back to our rental house and spoke about what she had suggested. Having decided to use it as a linen cupboard was OK but technically it was in the wrong position and as we already have a large area in the laundry to store our linen it just made sense. If I'd been honest with her I would have told her that I'd always had a problem with the cupboard been off the kitchen and it wasn't possible to change the position of door due to the nearby rooms. So with a few months left of the build I got to thinking which space would be to store my food and which would be used to store my Tupperware, special items, containers etc.

 

Recently I watch Quinlan playing with all my plastic containers and that's when I got to thinking that I needed to create a storage solution to look after the growing collection of plastics and Tupperware that I've accumulated over the years. So with this in mind I got to thinking about what I could create and where I'd like to position my plastic and Tupperware collection. I purchased a few weaved baskets from my local Kmart store and a can of PlastiKote spray paint from the hardware store.

I wanted a hot pink colour and I fell in love with the colour of the lid so I was really surprised to find out that the colour I'd chosen was called Heather Violet but I must admit it's a really nice colour if done in moderation.

So this is what I came up with. I undercoated a small section of each basket, left it to dry for the required time and then I sprayed it pink. I had to spray it twice with the pink so that I could get into all the uneven spaces that each basket has. I then left it to dry for 48 hours just to make sure it was really, really dry. Lastly I stuck four one inch felt pads on the bottom of the basket so that it wouldn't mark the bottom of my pantry shelves. I haven't completely finished the baskets yet as I'm still waiting for Mr Opoes to drill holes into my chalkboard labels so that I can use the large tin of chalkboard paint I have.
 

I'm going to say that these new storage containers will save my plastics from disappearing, I'll be able to match them up when I use them and they'll be up high enough that my four lovely children won't be reaching up to steal them time and time again. It'll also help heaps next year when I have three children attending various educational locations so that means I should have more room for lunch boxes and drink bottles. So do you have a special storage trick that you use to keep all your plastic container under control. I'd love to hear about it as I'm desperate to get our house de-cluttered and organised before the year's finished.

 

Megan

Our To Do List....

For the last 12 months this little family of six has been using two clothes horses to dry all of our clothing and manchester. So when it comes to drying out towels and bed sheets the available space has been limited so I’ve been forced to use doors, dining chairs and even the highchair to dry things. So Mr Opoes and I were talking a few weeks ago about buying a new clothesline which was one thing we deleted from our house contract due to the fact that it was going to cost us $205 for the clothesline and installation.  That price isn’t too bad but it wasn’t for the size we wanted so we took it out.

So on this particular night we got on the Internet to start looking for the best deal we could find and for the biggest clothesline we could get. Easy. Wrong. We found clotheslines up for sale on eBay but unfortunately they were either the wrong colour, size or they were just too far away. So we then started looking at the local stores that stocked the particular size we were after. We had agreed on a Hills clothesline as this was the same one we’d had and loved at our previous house. The best price we found was $189.00 at one of the large departments store and we knew that they never reduced their prices because they had a bigger buying power than the small guys.

Like many things on our TO DO LIST they may get talked about but there is never any resolution as to when we will do something about it, if we can really afford to do it or if it’s really a necessity now to have that particular task completed now. One thing I did know was that it was becoming a necessity to get a clothesline outside, we needed this job done yesterday.

On the way to church a few days later Mr Opoes had grabbed the local newspaper to read in the car. He came across an advertisement for the local Hills distributor who was having a closing down sale and they had reduced their prices on everything in store. Unfortunately the sale had already been going for a week when we came across the advertisement and the store was closed on Sunday’s. As you can imagine we forgot all about it after that as we were a hundred percent sure that they would have sold out of everything by that time. So imagine my surprise when two weeks later Mr Opoes reads that the store is still having their closing down sale and they still have heaps of items for sale.

I quickly tell Mr Opoes to load the kids into the car, I send them off to find us a cream coloured clothesline that has at least 21 metres of line. They are gone for nearly three hours and I get to thinking that the shop has sold out of them and Mr Opoes has taken the child's to the park. Oh well we already know that we'll have saved $16 and we'll have to install it ourselves otherwise the clothesline that Coral Homes would have provided us with would have been a cheaper alternative.

Next thing I know Caelan comes running into the house yelling to me that daddy has done a great job and he saved us a lot of money. In that moment I could see that Caelan was so proud of his father that even if he'd managed to save $20 my son thought that his father was a hero. Mr Opoes arrives soon after and once all the yelling and joyous shouting stops he tells me how he went.

Mr Opoes had managed to get the last 21 metre, cream clothesline that they had left. Apparently when he arrived thirty minutes after the store had opened they had already sold four clotheslines so we were both really happy. Now Mr Opoes had also organised for his father to come and help us install the clothesline so that we wouldn't have to wait for a tradesman to become available. So we were doing really well and Mr Opoes had done a great job.

After feeding lunch Mr Opoes told me that he'd got a really great price on the clothesline and with him and his dad installing it we had saved $105. I was so impressed, I would have been happy to have saved $40 so now we have more money to put towards the landscaping that's going to coat a small fortune.

So yesterday grandma and grandpa come around for five hours while Mr Opoes, grandpa and I (I only did a little bit to help) but it all together. One thing that Mr Opoes realised when he opened the box was that they clothesline didn't come with instructions but the Internet helped with that issue. It was good because we don't like to have grandpa and all his heavy tools arriving at the house with nothing for them to do. I don't have many pictures to share as I didn't think of taking any pictures until the last few steps.

Wall bracket connected to the wall.

Both arms and brackets in place on the wall.

Mr Opoes connecting the front arm with his father (Grandpa).

Nearly there just pushing the last bit into place.

Its now after 6pm and the light has gone, the outside lights are on
and the mosquito's are out but we are 90% finished.

We also haven't threaded the line through the holes in the metal frame so I'll leave that until Mr Opoes can come home early one day and we'll work on that together. I won't take too many photo's of that process as it'll be boring. I do a before and after which I'll share with you later in the week when it's all finished. Mr Opoes and I realised last night after dinner that getting the clothesline to this stage would not have be possible without Grandpa's help and skills. So thank you grandpa for putting in our clothesline we will get lots of use out of the clotheshorseline for years to come.

Megan