Challenge number 2 is paper clutter.  I started yesterday, and have a small box to action (which I should be doing now I suppose…)  I still have a few other paper clutter spots to get to, but not  too much.

I have been sorting through the tubs of kids clothes.  Successfully!  I have one small bag to go to school, and one small bag to go to kinder (second hand unifroms).  I have 4 1/2 large bags to go to my sister!  I only have one or two more tubs to go through now, feels good

I’m working on my body clutter too, I joined the gym back in January, I haven’t managed to get there as often as I would like (need to work on that one).  As of this morning I have been to two boxing classes, oh what fun!  I am loving them, hard work, resulting in very sore muscles for days after, but so good   I have a few more classes I want to get to (Body Balance at least weekly, I want to try out RPM) and I need to start using the weight machines. 

Oh, is that the time?  Better get organised for school pick up!

BLAH!!  Something happened to my post, it’ll now have to wait until tomorrow, it was all about http://simplemom.net/introducing-project-simplify/ this.

Until tomorrow.

My decluttering challenge has stalled.  My monthly challenges have stalled.  Hopeless!

I’m looking forward to some warmer weather, some sunshine.  It’s been such a dreary winter this year (awesome for our water storages, but I’m over it now!)  My vitamin D levels are nearly non-existent (which helps explain my exhaustion and mood).  The kids are all cranky, it’s been a long, busy term (holidays at the end of this week – woo-hoo!!).

Now, speaking of my exhaustion, think I might take myself to bed.

I did my usual, started off in a flurry, and then petered out…  I am still managing to do something in the study each day, just not like in the first few days!  Today I have really only done a little maintenance in here, and deleted 212 emails.  That’s all.  Sigh.  I need to get back into it!  Tomorrow is a new day right?!

So far in here I have;

• shredded HEAPS of paper
• sorted out my 2 shelves into piles to sort through properly
• ‘filed’ bits and pieces into a folder
• tidied up the ‘School’ folder
• tidied up the ‘Christmas’ folder
• tidied up what will be my ‘home management’ folder
• decluttered the desk & table (and done ok with maintaining them that way)
• organised a shelf for my eldest daughters books
• organised a craft book shelf
• taken a HUGE folder plus more of old PFA treasurer paperwork back to school
• emptied the drawers the kids had been using (need to find them a new home now)
• posted a form to rollover some lost super
• ordered last years kinder photos

I think that’s about it, but that’s not so bad for 7 days either!

But then I got sick, just a frustrating little head cold, but it zapped my energy, and now I am struggling.  I am feeling very much like I am fighting a battle that can not be won in this house.  I know I can win it, but right now it doesn’t feel possible.  Sigh.

I will blog more over the weekend, and have been meaning to blog prior to now, but my mood has prevented it   Right now I need to have some lunch and get ready for work.

I had work today, and haven’t had a chance to stop and sit until 8pm.  I sat for a quick catch up on a few emails (and Facebook *blush*) then I spent 15 minutes clearing the desk and table in our study.  It’s amazing the difference it has made to the room!  I took some before and after photos, will post them tomorrow, for now I need to head to bed.

I was hoping to find the time to post an inspirational 1st of June post, but alas, my energy has run out, so for tomorrow it will have to wait!

I hope you all found some time to spend working out your goals, and maybe even made some step (be that small or large) towards achieving your goals

I am sure most of you are like me, and want for your home office/study/whatever you call it to be a model of efficiency.  To be clear of all types of clutter, to be a peaceful, enjoyable place in the home.  For many, (myself included!), it can be the place that attracts paper like a magnet attracts, well, anything magnetic!  It can also be the place where things are “hidden” out of view of expected guests, the place to quickly shove everything and then shut the door.

During the month of June I am going to be working on our home office, we call it the study or computer room   We have a lot of surface area in here, a huge desk plus a table.  We have plenty of shelving, but it’s not utilised well.  I will post mini challenges along the way, I will post photos along the way, and I will welcome any tips from any of you out there that work for you (because they may just work really well for anyone of us out here!)

Just some quick tips to start us off;

• Create a paperwork zone, designating a place for each type of paper that comes into the room.
• Keep horizontal surfaces clear (no piles, hmmm, that’s going to be a challenge in itself for me!)
• Go digital, pay bills online, organise computer files/tidy up your computer.
• Keep track of bills and receipts (no better time to do this than the end of the financial year here in Australia).
• Maintain a good filing system.

The first thing I am going to ask you all to do is to write a list of goals for yourself to achieve over the following month.  For me I plan on;

• Getting the horizontal surfaces clear and keep them that way
• Organising the bookshelves properly
• Get the kids table organised, set up a user friendly area for them
• Sort through all the piles of notes I have
• Set up a system for photos we want printed
• Get some photos into frames
• Get other photos into albums (including our wedding photos from 2003…)
• DECLUTTER!

I want this room to work for us, it’s a great space, there’s no reason for it to not work for us.

Goodluck, I am looking forward to seeing how we all go!

As of now I am back on the 365 challenge wagon, I’m confident I can still reach my item count even with a few months of no counting!

To help me get my own house under control, organised, decluttered, I am going to start on month long focus areas.  I found one guide (American) online somewhere, and am going to tweak it a little to work here in Australia.  I have been throwing around a few ideas for June, and after mentioning it to an online forum I am a member of, I have decided to start with our study.  We’ve been working on it over the last few weeks, but it still needs quite a bit of work.

Stay tuned for the challenge!

I have spent some really nice time with the kids today, doing mundane, every day things, but it’s been nice.  The walk to school this afternoon was in misty rain, then the girls went to a friends house to play so I didn’t have to go to school after all, and some days having done so in the rain would have irritated me.  But once home again, it hadn’t.  The little two stayed nice and dry in the pram under the storm cover.  And because it was so misty, I barely got wet anyway. 

I’ve had a nice week.  Nothing special has happened, I haven’t achieved everything I wanted to, but I just feel so, good.  Content.  I’ve been waking early, my alarm has been set for 6:30am (which for a lot of people probably isn’t that early at all, but for me it is, for me I usually struggle to get out of bed by 7:45am on school days).  I am planning on setting the alarm for 10 minutes earlier all next week, and the next, gradually creating a wake up time of maybe 5:30am.  I say maybe, because maybe 5:30 is going to be too early all the time, but when I work a day shift I need to be up at 5:30am (which is a rare event, but still!) so 5:30am sounds good.

Today I have decluttered another 8+ items from the house.  The + is a nappy box of toys and bits and pieces, I haven’t counted each individual item in it yet.

Yesterday I created a “hair station” in the kitchen.  I always tie the girls hair in the kitchen.  Their hair ties and brush live in the bathroom.  They are brought out to do the hair, then more often than not, are left sitting on the kitchen bench.  The spray bottle lives on the bench too.  Now they all live in a little basket on the shelves next to the pantry (photos to come later )

I also organised a very disorganised shelf in the study.  I will have to blog those photos too.

Oh, and today I decluttered my bedroom a bit too, it looks so next and tidy in there now!  (nothing quite like a made bed is there?)

Life is good.