weekend check-in

[rmc28]

Hello hello, how are we doing?

Last weekend I did the first-pass of the last remaining boxes of my mother's things, allowing me to return six empty storage boxes to my stepfather on the Monday. Lots of the contents went straight to the bin/paper recycling, but now I have to deal with what's left. And I'm still trying to get things to leave the house. This weekend is more challenging for getting anything done: spouse is away for a week at a conference, so I'm doing all the childcare and housework on top of my job, plus I have an aunt visiting town for a course. So I'm going to scrabble together a to-do list here and hope to get through it.

• Bag of books to the Little Free Library (can hopefully do this on my way to meet aunt this morning)
• Bag of things to the charity shop (this afternoon when I get back from town, unless they're already full by then)
• Parcel up the baby things to my sister-out-law for her niece, and send (this afternoon when I get back, because then I can get it collected hopefully tomorrow)
• Parcel up the box of papers for my youngest brother, and send (as above)
• Photograph the things for probable-giveaway, and circulate to brothers to see if they want anything before listing it (today, and ask them to tell me by next weekend at latest)
• If the box of things to giveaway at the end of the road has still not gone at the end of today, give up and put in the bin tonight (it's had 3 days, in very good weather, with a lot of passing foot traffic, if it's not gone now it won't)

Stretch goal: we've had a Christmas tree up for nearly 18 months, it was kind of a joke all last year that I was too busy to take it down but the joke isn't funny any more. I'm actually embarrassed about it. Maybe if I'm on a productive roll this afternoon I'll finally take it down. (And I will not be the one putting it back up in December this year - if the others in the house want it, they can do it.)

Comments

[tanaqui]

Well done for making some uncluttering progress on a busy weekend!

I had an AWESOME week.

In the garage:
* I FINALLY made it to the tip with a load of stuff I'd put ready a few months ago. That made up about half of what was in there, so I hope I can get rid of the rest of it with another trip in a few weeks.
* I broke down the tattiest of the cardboard boxes I'd used to take things to the tip. As they're too dirty to put in the cardboard recycling, half of them are now in my rubbish bin and half are waiting to go in to the collection after that.
* I tidied the garage, including cleaning up pots, troughs, plant saucers and other miscellaneous garden items, so they're all ready for when I start planting.

I don't think I've been able to see this much garage floor since just after I moved in!

In the house:
* I got rid of another bag of books (as well as some household recycling) — I have two bags/trips left
* I moved some electrical/electronics stuff out to the garage to go out on the next tip visit.
* I gave back half of the pots of plants I was overwintering for my sister (and using to take cuttings) and put the rest outside. I could then re-organise and tidy inside. It's all now much less "plants everywhere" and there's some room to breathe.

In the garden:
* I finished removing the trunk of small hawthorn tree that had seeded itself and the got a bit out of hand before I realised it was there. The stump has been drilled and dosed with heavy-duty weedkiller, so I hope it won't shoot again (and the other shrubs around it can fill in the space).
* I got rid of a bag of garden rubbish and am working on weeding and pruning to make more.

Plans for this week are mostly more weeding/pruning and doing yet more digital decluttering.

[rmc28]

That is some AMAZING progress. Hurrah for being able to see the garage floor! And more space in the house! And tackling the garden!