Habitica Changes

Habitica is proving to be a very effective tool for me. I can add, or change, habits, dailies, and to-dos very simply. There are a few item I have moved around. There is a danger of this becoming a huge, huge list, and my aim is to have lots of little jobs I can tick off easily, just to rack up points. This approach would not do me any favours.

My goal is to use Habitica to establish habits, and create a series of reminders for the things I need help remembering to do. I no longer need (at least I don't think I need) prompts to keep my side table clear, and to do a load of laundry. These have been replaced with some other things instead, like a daily for sweeping the kitchen floor, and weeklies for washing the floor and emptying waste paper baskets.

I'll see how it goes, and make modifications as needed.

Tidy Table

I have a tendency to 'nest'. Over time stuff gathers around my chair or desk until I can't find things, or it infuriates me.

Habitica has enabled me to keep track, and remind myself to tidy my workspace, and it is working well. However, there's still quiet a few items I want close by. I had placed a foot stool under my side table, and had placed the knitting case, crochet case, needle case, needle threader, thread, tape measure, USB cord, and hand cream on the foot stool. It looked a mess!

One lovely dark brown, wooden, tray later, and everything has a place. It now looks contained, considered, and … is 'curated' too strong a word. Let's ditch 'curated', and just say I am happy to have the tools I need close by, and stored in a very tidy fashion.

Various minimalists and interior designers have been talking about how useful trays are. They define a space, and give the message "This a collection, not a random assortment of junk." And, it has worked. The space is nicely defined. Items aren't going to slide off the foot stool, and everything has it's place. I like it!

Today's To Do

Yesterday's smaller tasks made it so much easier to get things done. I shall do the same again today.

✓ make bed
✓ cycle for 5 minutes (ooops, managed 10 minutes)
✓ wash laundry
✓ dry laundry
o put laundry away
o plant strawberries
o buy Earl Grey tea
o declutter, clean and tidy the baking cupboard

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The strawberry plants will need to stay in place until tomorrow. They were watered first thing, and whole area is rather wet, and I'm dressed in white and cream!

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

It's time for spring cleaning!

I thought it was going to be easy being at home, and having the time to get round to all sorts of things I have been putting off. The reality has not played out this way. So far this month, there's been a few days spent in bed, or lounging around, dealing with a migraine. Yes, there has been crafting, but nowhere near as much as I could have managed, and a whole lot less, almost no spring cleaning. All of the previous posts about spring cleaning were meant to be prompts to remind me of my tasks for the day. Almost none of them were done. It's time for a fresh start!

I am determined to do something about this. My suspicion is the tasks I had set myself were too big, and I just couldn't cope with something of that size. Instead, smaller tasks will be devised.

Today's spring cleaning task is to clean the oven and hob.

Non-spring cleaning tasks include:
o make bed
o cycle for 5 minutes
o dry laundry (left over from yesterday)
o wash laundry
o dry laundry

o put away laundry

o transplant green beans

Spring cleaning, Day 8

Countertops and sinks

We don't have countertops in the bathroom and shower room. Instead, I'll give the sink, and the areas around the sinks a good clean.

Spring cleaning, Day 7

Clean drains.

We have a few drains in the kitchen, two in the shower room, and two in the bathroom. All could benefit from a little glug of lemon bleach being added.

Spring Cleaning, Day 6

Clean pots, pans and bakeware.

Often we concentrate on cleaning the insides, the cooking surfaces, and just wipe down the externals. Take the time to give all your pots, pans and bakeware a good clean.

Spring Cleaning, Day 5

Defrost the freezer, clean the inside and outside, and then get rid of any unwanted food.

Spring Cleaning, Day 4

Clean the inside and outside of the fridge. Ditch any food that's been in there too long.

Spring cleaning, Day 3

Clean small kitchen appliances - for me, this is means cleaning a kettle, a coffee machine, toaster and food mixer/processor. ... Ooooh, there's also a radio in the kitchen that could do with a bit of love and attention.

Spring Cleaning, Day 2

Clean oven and hob

Spring Cleaning

My sole goal for April is to spring clean the house. I'll be using the plan laid out at stain-removal-101.com This a website run by the same person who has the 365 Declutter group on facebook. 

Mondays and Tuesdays are normally my busiest days. I had planned to tailor the tasks to fit around tgis, but what with self-isolation, I now find myself unexpectedly free. 

Day 1 - clean kitchen cabinets, inside and out.

A Doing Day

For the first time in a great long time, I have had a doing day. 

Things done today include four loads of laundry, baking a carrot cake, helping the Geek to declutter, watching the American television's Dirk Gently, finishing the pink hat, and doing quite a lot of knitting on the Beloved's hat.  His hat is grey chunky alpaca. It's a hairy beast, and the front of my top and skirt are now also hairy! It's just as well I love the guy.

I am feeling content and accomplished. Not a bad state of being on a Friday afternoon.

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The Beloved and I went out on a date this evening, and I finished his hat for him to wear on the way home.

Six Things To Do Before Bed

Whilst pootling about on Pinterest I cam across a link to "Six Things To Do Before Bed". I was annoyed by all the advertising, but thought the six things were rather useful. In my annoyance, I don't think to save it. 

I've remembered to put on a load of washing, wash the dishes, wiped down the counters, and deal with the post. My bed was already made. And, I've no idea what the last thing thing was. ... Oh! Clean an area of the house. I remembered them all.

Making my bed is part of my morning routine, so it doesn't really belong in the list. I'm going to leave off 'clean an area of the house' until March, just to ease myself into this. Work lunches and clothes sound like more fundemental things to get right.

1. wash clothes 

2. wash dishes

3. wipe down kitchen counters

4. deal with post

5. check on lunches for work

6. check bag and lay out clothes for tomorrow

Decluttering in August

Only one of the Declutter 365 tasks for August fitted with my needs (declutter guest room). Therefore, I headed back to the start, and began tackling the kitchen once again. It's been really good to see how many areas are working well, and bring me joy. And of course, it's good to revisit what's been done previously and give it a little more love.

The tasks completed in August are:
1. Declutter your kitchen sink and organize the sink area
2. Clear off kitchen counters
3. Declutter and organise freezer 

4. Declutter and organise fridge

5. Declutter or exchange excess coins from change jars

6. Declutter and organise herbs and spices

7. Declutter and organise cutlery drawer

8. Declutter and organize ziplock bags, foil, and plastic wrap

9. Declutter small kitchen appliances

10. Declutter and organise potholders and kitchen towels

11. Declutter shelf above radiator

12. Declutter food storage containers

13. Declutter and organize bakeware

14. Declutter and organise canned food
15. Declutter other shelf-stable food

16. Declutter front and top of refrigerator and freezer

Thank Goodness

I am feeling significantly better today, and it's a day off! There is so little I must do (washing and feeding people) and even then, if I don't do it someone else will. But, I'm up for these tasks and more.

I'm off to put on a load of washing. Yesterday, socks were washed for the Beloved, but somehow only one pair was washed along with a number of single socks. Today, those singles will be reunited with loved ones, and the Beloved will have a full sock drawer again.

A Full Day!

There's quite a lot to fit into today. It's half past nine, and so far, dinner has been started, laundry has been hung on the line, and second load is in the washing machine, breakfast has been made for the dog, and lunch for The Beloved...

The dining room has been reconfigured for sewing and quilting. The plan is to make six pinwheels for the Quilters Guild raffle quilt. I'll also practise quilting, and then round off the crafting with a light spot of knitting.

Today's To Do

There's stuff to be done this week and I'm the one to do it. Here's my To Do list.

To Do

make brownies

make chocolate collars for Friday

study Italian
photograph hats
upload hats onto blog and Ravelry

Ta Da!
walk dog
remove chicken from freezer
put away dishes
make cauliflower cheese
knit a hat
sweep sitting room floor
de-hair sofas
dust sitting room
tidy dining room
dust dining room
sweep dining room floor
set table
make lemon cake
sweep kitchen floor sweep hall
remove crafting things from sitting room, apart from current project

No Decoration

So many plans, so many sneezes. It really sucks when holiday plans are made, and nasty little viruses come along and scupper them. One of the plans was to re-decorate the vestibule. Sadly, it hasn't happened. However, the Beloved is almost over his cold, and he has had time to decompress and rest. I'd rather have a happy, well husband than a newly decorated vestibule. 

Green Swaps

A while back, I decided to make a 'green swap' each month, and see how we liked it.  I tried bees wax wraps, and didn't get on with them terribly well. I am so not a fan of the smell of honey or bees wax, and the wraps simply didn't smell good to me. 

The Beloved made a compost bin for me in the summer. This has lead to a significant reduction in our household waste. It's now full, and he made another one. Whilst the contents of the first bin break down, I'll be adding to the second bin. 

Also in the summer, the Elder Offspring sent me a shampoo bar from Lush. I made the switch almost immediately. Currently we are using 'Jason and the Argon Oil' bars. When my supplies of conditioner started dwindling, a local shop started a re-fill service. We now have conditioner from them. The Beloved also uses their bodywash. I use some homemade soaps in a shower puff, and like that better. The soaps have also replaced the liquid soaps by the sinks.

Before Christmas, I increased my supply of fabric bags: this cut down hugely on wrapping paper. 

January was for 'no single-use plastic bottles'. It was a difficult challenge, but I managed it. Although, I could be seen in the supermarket gently flicking bottles to check if they were plastic. Two multiple-use bottles were bought to use with Top Banana's re-fill service.  The only BBQ sauce I could find in glass contained Jimmy Bean whisky. The sauce is just about okay, but when it has been used up, I will buy Heinz BBQ sauce in plastic. The taste is so superior. Thankfully, I don't use sauce frequently at all. It might amount to 6 bottles a year, and all of them will be recycled. The others are still using single-use plastic bottles at time, but there has been a significant reduction in them.

February's swap is  soap nuts for laundry powder. This is going really well. I've been really pleased.

The green swap for March is sitting in the pantry, white vinegar with citrus oil. The peel from citrus fruits was placed in a clip-top jar, and then covered with white vinegar. It's then left in the dark for 4-6 weeks, and then vinegar strained into a spray bottle. It's a food grade product (vinegar, orange and lemon), and can be safely used around the home for all sorts of cleaning. I'll see how it goes when I strain the vinegar on the 1st of March.

The idea was one green swap per month. This is to allow me the chance to evaluate the swap, and see if we want to keep it. It also means the swap gets a chance to become the new normal. So far, it's working well.