Bath baby

I’ve mentioned before that I’m something of a bath baby. I didn’t used to be – it’s something that has happened over the last few years. I know showers are actually more economical but, these days, there’s nothing more appealing than a soak in the tub. I’ve been given some gifts recently and now have a whole section of my bathroom shelf dedicated to maternity skin care…

It’s been lovely because I doubt I would have bothered to go out and buy myself this sort of thing – my pennies and pounds have enough demands on them at the moment. The only thing I did buy myself was some Bio oil. Typically though, I couldn’t stand the smell so I’ve only used it once. However, my smell sensitivity seems to be ebbing away now so I might give it another go when the lovely Mama Bee oil runs out. I really must remember how nice it was to receive these things so that, next time I hear some pregnancy news, I can provide a similar treat!

Speaking of gifts, I bought quite a few things to go in my gift boxes today. Technically I didn’t have any budget put aside for this but a local shop had an amazing sale and some special offers on and I just couldn’t resist stocking up while I had the chance. I’ve been tucking things away for a couple of months and now have only two people left to buy birthday presents for this year. Dare I say it, I’ve also bought four Christmas presents. While I do generally like to buy ahead if I can, I’m making an even bigger effort this year as I’ll be losing my full time income in a few months. I find that if I try to save up for Christmas I end up raiding the fund (I don’t know why – it’s the one form of saving I just can’t seem to do) whereas if I buy something then it is bought, end of story. Also we had a visit from the Book People at work and I bought a box of 30 greetings cards as my supplies were getting low. It cost £9 so just 30p per card. All of these things should make life a bit easier when I’m caught up in a whirlwind of nappies and sleepless nights and might not have the time/energy/money to go to the shops!

2 weeks to do…

I’ve decided to give myself a series of deadlines for our ongoing home improvements, the length of time varying depending on what part we’re focusing on. Our landing is next on the hit list. It is an odd kind of area; there are doorways to the kitchen, living room, loo and cupboard as well as a flight of stairs coming up from the entrance hall and another flight of stairs going up to the bedrooms/bathroom. Incidentally, we live in an odd kind of place. Even the estate agents can’t agree on what it is exactly. The closest description is a maisonette. It is basically the result of a madman carving up a very large, very old house into flats and a couple of odd bits like ours. The landing is an awkward sort of area and is one of our main dumping grounds for the things that we just don’t know what else to do with. It has very little natural light, a lot of entrances and exits and attracts mess and dust like a magnet. While it isn’t a room (by any stretch of the imagination) it is an area in it’s own right and needs a bit of TLC. I figure that two weeks is a reasonable amount of time to spend on it as that gives room for a day on/day off sort of approach to getting it straight. Here’s the plan:

• Paint walls and ceiling white
• Paint all woodwork (skirting boards & multiple door frames) white
• Paint small shelf (also white – are you sensing a theme?)
• Take down all old photos/pictures
• Fill in holes
• Put up new key rack
• Put up new/re-allocated photos/prints/possibly a mirror
• Clear away all clutter
• Take broken lamp/old tins of paint/general rubbish to the dump
• Mend and paint small, battered table
• Give floorboards a good scrub down

It’s a case of time and effort rather than a lot of money. The only things we’ll need to buy are white emulsion and woodwork paint, maybe a pot of filler and perhaps a new paint brush and roller. I bought a key rack a couple of weeks ago for £16.95 plus P&P which I’m looking forward to putting up. The rest of the things that I’ll be accessorising the area with will probably come from shuffling things around from elsewhere in the house. I’ve got a drawer where I’ve been hoarding photo frames so, once everything else is done, I can look at the bare walls and see what might work. If we get time/really enthusiastic, I’d also like to add to the list:

• Paint skirting board and banisters on second flight of stairs
• Paint shelves in alcove on stairs

I’m prepared to be flexible about this though. I know from experience that trying to do too many things at once tends to lead to failure! Doing all of this is much easier when you can book a week, or even a few days, off work. However, Husband and I are hoarding our holiday days at the moment so we’re trying to get all of this done on top of full-time jobs and day to day life stuff. This is one of the reasons I have to keep changing my approach. In January, having a list of odds and ends to accomplish through the month was the easiest way to get some things done. Last pay day it was best to pay out for a series of repairs, rather than spending the money on new things for the house or putting it into savings. Now I’ve done a serious bout of decluttering it seems best to focus on a single area. While it is an awkward space to work in it is also quite easy as there isn’t much in the way of furniture and accessories to move out while things are done so it shouldn’t be too disruptive. I’m hoping I’ll be able to post a finished pciture in 2 weeks time!

Wardrobe inspiration

The other week I mentioned my wardrobe quest - basically an attempt to make a bit more of my existing clothes and accessories by making more of an effort to actually wear them all! I’ve since bought a few maternity items (and stored away yet more clothes that I won’t be able to wear for some time) so I’ve been playing with different combinations. I’ve got a lot of basic staples, mainly plain tops and cardigans, which can be mixed and matched, and provide a nice blank canvass for my large collection of accessories. This weekend wasn’t, perhaps, the most exciting start but ‘ere ’tis…

Annoyingly this photo makes the T-shirt look a bit wishy-washy – the green has actually got a bit more punch to it. It was one of a pack of three maternity tops from Next, which worked out to be just £4 each. The scarf I bought, also from Next, sometime last year I think and the black cardi is from the H&M maternity range. I have a couple of other black cardi’s in different styles that this would also work well with. I wore this with a black bangle and some little black studs which I suppose I ought to have included in the photo!

I’m not alone in trying to make a bit more of my wardrobe – is it the time of year? Maybe it’s something specific to the thriftier folk among us. After all, if you’re trying to spend/accumulate less in general it makes sense to get the most out of what you’ve already got. Other bloggers currently on wardrobe missions include Holly who is doing a rather fabulous dress/skirt challenge for February and Kat who is putting together a new outfit a week centred around an item she doesn’t usually wear. A couple of other bloggers have also mentioned similar intentions so I’m hoping to see more of this kind of thing – it’s inspiring to hear about other people’s ideas and ways of getting inspired!

Saving and sneezing

We’ve had a variety of change jars and pots on the go for about a year. The largest jar has been full for a while and so a couple of other pots have been recruited along the way for odd pennies and coins. Last night I decided to count them up and discovered that we had £4 in coppers which I have bagged up, ready to be changed at the bank next time I go. We also had a couple of pounds worth of 10p’s which I changed into pound coins from my purse. I decided to start two new change jars – one for clothes/accessories and one for holidays. It’s not a particularly serious endeavour. When the time comes for buying new things or taking a holiday I’ll budget for them properly. However, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a place to put change each time we have enough to convert into pound coins. Also, it might motivate me to try and keep the odd couple of pounds back from my ‘pocket’ money and the food budget when I’m using cash instead of my debit card!

I’m teetering on the brink of coming down with a cold. I’m actually amazed that I have got away with it for as long as I have. For the first winter ever I have escaped the ceasless rounds of colds, sore throats and coughs that have plagued my office. I can’t say why really. In the past I have taken multi-vitamins through the winter months to try and give my immune system a boost but to no avail. The only thing I can think of that has been any different is my pregnancy craving for orange juice. Pregnancy aside, I don’t drink fruit juice very often. My dentist warned me, years ago, that the high sugar/acid content meant it can be very bad for your teeth. I have had enough problems with my teeth without asking for extra trouble so I tend to avoid it as much as I avoid fizzy drinks. However, early on in my pregnancy I started really craving it, right around the time everyone started catching colds and I was the only one that escaped unscathed. Even Husband has had two colds this winter and I didn’t catch anything. Every time I saw someone sneezing I bought a carton of orange juice, drank the whole thing and got away with it. I really can’t say if there is a connection but I am told that your immune system is more fragile than usual during pregnancy so you are actually more prone to catching things – and yet I have caught nothing. Until now anyway. The latest cold has arrived at work and I had a sore throat yesterday, sneezed a few times, had burning eyes and so on. It doesn’t seem to have broken yet so I’m hoping it could still go either way. I did the weekly shop yesterday and bought, in addition to some more orange juice, piles of extra fruit – hence the picture of my lunch above. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get away with it one more time!

A good start to the weekend

We’ve got a few of those outstanding things sorted out at last. A definitive price for all of the plumbing work done meant we could get that paid, ditto from the garage (to be paid off sometime over the weekend) and a statement from Next which I paid over the phone. I also got the refund on my boots through a couple of days ago AND we got the insurance document through for Husband’s new car so we could tax it and get it on the road. This means that we can finally return the car we’ve borrowed from our very kind friends. What a relief to finally get this stuff done! The only thing I didn’t manage to do out of my most recent pay was to buy a lamp. This is fine as it was the least urgent – I’m quite happy to leave that for a bit longer. I’ll be getting paid again in a couple of weeks time and have just enough to get through comfortably until then. I am really looking forward to getting back to saving again and glad I’ll be able to do it without all of these things nagging away in the back of my mind. Roll on the weekend!

Getting ready for baby

Ever since my bump really started showing, more people have been asking if I have bought anything for the baby. The simple answer is, not a thing. Until the spare room has been made into a nursery I don’t have anywhere to put anything. The plan is to not start on the nursery until the rest of the house is finished, for the simple reason that I know we won’t get it all finished otherwise! The only pregnancy/baby related things I have bought have been maternity clothes and three books. However, we do seem to be gathering a small pile of baby things as very lovely people have been giving us pressies. So far our baby girl has:

• Two soft toys
• A hat with matching mittens
• A set of bibs
• A dress/top combo and matching tights
• A stripy all in one
• Two cardigans
• A blanket
• A travel cot (used once)

So yet more focus is required because what I really want to be doing is transforming that spare room into a nursery so I can start getting ready properly!

Drawers, trousers & home improvement 19

I got some freebies yesterday. A colleague accidentally ordered two pairs of trousers in the wrong size last year and never got around to sending them back. One is the next size up from my usual but they fit nicely over the bump. The other pair are not only the wrong size but are maternity trousers at that. They are comically large and fall down if I let go of the waistband. I’m keeping them though – I might well grow into them! Thus I manage to avoid buying maternity trousers for a bit longer…

As our spare room is going to change from a home office to a nursery we’ve got to get rid of a two drawer filing cabinet, my knackered old bureau and the futon. I’ll either be taking it all to a local place that sells second hand furniture (and donates a portion of the profit to charity) or up to the local dump which has a small warehouse for furniture where other folk can pick things up. I’m not even going to attempt to sell any of it – my time is stretched thinly enough as it is! Anyway, the bureau and filing cabinet have provided a lot of storage over the years (sadly we don’t have room for them elsewhere in the house) so I’ve been chipping away at their contents so they are ready to go in a couple of months.

I emptied one drawer of the filing cabinet last month during the paperwork clearout but the other drawer was full off what can only be described as random crap. I’ve now managed to finish clearing this out and have put together another bag of things to go to the charity shop. Speaking of which, I’m sure that the nice ladies in there are beginning to think I am quite mad. I seem to arrive there at lunchtime at least twice a week with bags full of stuff. I go in so often I have a gift aid card so they can get a bit more out my, now very regular, donations! The bureau has two small cupboards at the bottom. I’ve temporarily put some remaining files on a bookshelf so I can get it cleared out and have put together yet another bag of freshly emptied files which I will be distributing amongst my colleagues at work (does anyone else work in an office where there never seems to be enough folders/stationery?!).

Also the plumber has been. Very, very luckily for us my parents had a spare set of bathroom taps (another long story) for both the bath and sink which are much nicer than the bog-standard ones we had before. This meant we just had to pay for them to be fitted so it wasn’t too expensive in the end. Thus Home Improvement number 19 can be added to the list!

So today’s ‘done’ list includes:

• A completely cleared out filing cabinet
• Two bureau cupboards cleared out
• Another bag of things to donate to the charity shop
• Another bag of folders/stationery supplies to take to work
• Sparkly new taps fitted in the bathroom

The messy drawer

I am sure someone else here in blogland has mentioned this recently but I did laugh at a bit in a recent Gavin and Stacey (which I love by the way) where Gavin’s Mum asks if something is in the messy drawer. We all have at least one, don’t we? A bit like Monica Gellar with her secret messy cupboard that she kept carefully locked. We have a few chests of drawers around the house (and one or two cupboards). Personally I need a messy drawer or shelf in each one of them. A ratio of three tidy drawers to one messy one is okay in my book – some things are just to random to have an allocated space!

Our sideboard has three drawers and I’ve just cleared mine out. Husband has ownership of the other two so he can do with those as he likes. Funnily enough, while he doesn’t ‘do’ decluttering he can get quite into clearing out drawers – he seems to have a big frenzy about once a year. As for the cupboard space underneath…that’s another story. I thought I’d be able to clear it out in one go but it was too big a task for one woman. I settled for filling a carrier bag full of things that can be thrown out and leaving the rest for another day. Bit by bit and all that.

We’re back to the bathroom/things breaking drama. The hot tap on the bath (supposedly fixed last week) is not working properly again which is even more of a nightmare than before because the shower broke at the weekend – argh! Apparently the bath needs new taps. Cue multiple phone calls and rearranging of things. The plumber is booked to come back tomorrow. Replacing the shower is going to have to wait for a bit – there’s too much else to sort out first.

We have a funny little corner with a shelf, some very out of date photos and bits and bobs above which hangs our keys. I’ve got plans for freshening this area up a bit though I’ll have to wait until we’re ready to do some painting before I get going on it. However, I did manage to find a rather gorgeous key rack online for under £20 which I have ordered.

So today I have managed to:

• Clear out and tidy up my messy drawer in the sideboard
• Clear a carrier bags worth of rubbish from the sideboard cupboard
• Put together another bagful of things to take to the charity shop (some old board games we’re never likely to use plus a couple of books)
• Book the plumber (again)
• Order a key rack

Not bad going…

A pinch and a punch

A new month – yippee! It always feels like a fresh, clean slate. My post yesterday, about motivation, kind of worked. I managed to get quite a bit of decluttering done. One of the things I have to do is clear out the spare room which has been (and still currently is) the only place I can really sit down and do paperwork, go online and, er, write lists. The desk and drawers are going to have to go soon so one of the things I have got to finish is sorting out new places to store everything.

I’m quite good at throwing certain things away. I struggle however, with anything that has sentimental value such as cards, letters and old diaries. It can be hard to let go of this kind of thing but the fact is I just don’t have the space for all of it. I was given a very pretty storage box recently and so I’ve decided to keep all of those letters and notes in there. When it gets too full to add anything else then I’ll go through it again and see if I can part with any of its contents. After a bit of procrastinating I also decided to part company with my selection of partially filled diaries. I’ve kept a selection of cards and letters that really mean the most to me and the rest have gone.

It took quite a while to sort through it all and I’m sure I’ll come across more as I work my way through the house. The main purpose was to get most of it done and arrange somewhere to keep these things so I can put them away as I find them. I’ve still got the rest of the desk/drawer stuff to be getting on with but at least I’ve sorted out that one part!

Motivation

Where does it come from? Where does it go?!

I’m great at finding motivation for a few weeks at a time – then it seems to drift off somewhere. I’ve spent the last hour wandering from room to room trying to fix on something to ‘get done’ (in an after-school/weekend project style) and failing. I’m aware I probably give the impression of being very motivated and organised. Don’t be fooled. I make lists not because I am organised but because I am not. Remember my shopping trip to IKEA last September? A lot of that stuff is still in bags in my hallway, waiting for…?

Everything else seems to have gone on hold while we try to sort out our home. There’s nothing like a due date growing ever closer to make you stop putting your head in the sand! Except…I’ve hit a wall again. Aside from this morning, the after-school project of finding something constructive to do for up to an hour a day seems to work quite well for now though I’ll doubtlessly get bored of it after a while and need to come up with a new idea. Trying to get to that 50th Home Improvement is also proving to be oddly satisfying – something I am sure only works because of this blog. If I were just writing it down in a notepad I doubt it would have the same effect. And yet, alas, I seem to have lost my way a bit. Have I forgotten what I am trying to do it all for? In an attempt to organise my thoughts/get my arse back in gear…

Why I need to finish clearing/redecorating the house

1. We are putting the house on the market in one year and it needs to look as good as possible to have a shot at actually selling it
2. Our baby is due in early summer and we want the house ‘ready’ so we can spend our time with her instead of with a paintbrush
3. A lot of Mission: Shoestring has been about trying to have a more simple lifestyle and home (less stuff, less clutter, less time spent on various forms of housework)

It really is a case of putting in a lot of time and effort in the short term to get everything else in the long term. There are many, many other things I’d rather be doing with my time. I can’t tell you how many! However, I know what I want: a properly functioning home that looks ready for sale so, in not too many months time, I can stop thinking about it and focus on my baby girl. It’s simple really isn’t it? Now I’ve just got to find that motivation again. Maybe it’s under the sofa with all those dust bunnies…

PS I don’t want to give the impression that I am doing everything by myself. I tend to do all of the organising, decluttering and so on. Husband does the stuff I have no clue about – basically anything invloving heavy lifting or a tool box. Also my parents have given us a lot of help with mending things, making curtains and so on. It’s just that I am the planner, thus if I don’t make a plan and get the ball rolling..!