Weeks 22-23 review, plan for week 24

[rmc28]

Week 22

• I upgraded 2 of 3 sets of curtains, and ordered another set for offspring's room at their request. (3rd original set has to wait on spouse's project to move enough that I have access to the window ...)
• I found somewhere to temporarily stash the excess cushions out of the way
• I strimmed the garden!
• I tidied up the garden and started preparing it for mulch
• I ordered the mulch from a Trusted Local Company online
• I took a call from Trusted Local Company about the logistics of delivery, and accepted that the specific playground-grade stuff I want will be delayed a few weeks
• I got advice on weedkiller from my mum and it arrived, and I put it away safely
• I carefully drained the three water butts set up by Former Housemate, that we have decided to get rid of because I Do Not Garden, disconnected them, and brought them round to the front of the house
• I emailed Former Housemate to see if they were interested in the water butts before I bothered with Freecycle (they did)
• I blocked up a hole in the garden fence to discourage cats using the garden as a thoroughfare (and getting into confrontations with our cat)
• I cleaned up some of the garage (to make room for safely storing the weedkiller)
• I found a toddler balance bike and a scooter while tidying, listed them both on Freecycle, and successfully gave away the bike

Week 23

• Former Housemate and partner came and took away the water butts
• I tried again to freecycle the scooter (still no success - perhaps my keywords are wrong)
• I took a lot of dresses off my hanging rail that no longer fit and are unlikely to ever fit me again, and bagged them for donation
• I went through a lot of clothes that I'd put aside in the past for not fitting at the time, which fell into four categories:
  1. things that fit now and I'm likely to wear
  2. (the majority) things that are unlikely either to ever fit me again, or be worn by me again
  3. (a small number) things that do not currently fit but are likely to again and I will wear once they do
  4. (a very small number) things that have sentimental value even if they no longer fit / are my style
• Everything in categories 1 & 2 really needs a wash before anyone wears them, so I filled up the laundry baskets. I carefully shook out and packed back away all of categories 3 & 4
• I found a stash of nursing bras that I had clearly intended to ebay, and researched where I could donate them locally instead. (The answer appears to be Schwop Drop bins in M&S, or failing that there may be a bra bin in John Lewis.)

Plan for week 24

I am on leave from work all next week, but from Tuesday afternoon onward I'm going to be primarily occupied with CoNZealand. However there should be time to:

• Launder all the clothes!
• Put away the clothes I'm keeping, bag up the others for donation
• Use the weedkiller, on a calm day with no rain, wearing suitable protective clothing
• Upgrade offspring's curtains
• Attempt to freecycle the old curtains
• Attempt a reconnaissance of bra drops in M&S and/or John Lewis at an off-peak shopping time

(I did consider whether to ebay the more valuable clothes, but I have a lot less spare time than I do spare money at the moment. Donation seems a better option now that charity shops are cautiously beginning to reopen. I'm aiming to take one bag a week to my local shop, so as not to overwhelm them.)