Conquered the Clutterbug Nests!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and have had a good weekend. I had a busy weekend and am happy to report that I have finally conquered the 2 worst areas in my home for clutter - my garden and my garage!

My garden...well...its meh. After years of trying to like gardening and trying to learn more about how to garden and grow things, I have decided to accept that I just.don't.like.it. Not sure why - you'd think that with my love of outdoors, gardening would be something I'd easily take to.

But nah. So my garden gets overgrown, messy and weedy regularly. And when things become messy...that's when the clutterbug makes its nest (well, it does in my case anyway). Mess always seems to breed more mess.

So I happen to mention in passing to my neighbours that I am having trouble keeping my garden under control and wished that I had a low maintenance garden. I had 2 particular type of plants in my garden that are high maintenance (a very thorny hedge made out of miniature carpet roses and 2 trees that have poisonous berries, which I can't remember the name of) . These plants are just outside my fence line. I mentioned to them that I am saving up to get a gardener to get rid of these plants.

Then yesterday morning, I woke up and lo and behold my high maintenance plants were GONE! The garden fairies (aka my neighbours) had cut down the trees and hedge for me while I worked late on Friday night! How cool was that?!!

Their act inspired me to then clean up the rest of my garden. I trimmed all the plants right back, got rid of other (much smaller) high maintenance plants and ripped up the weeds. My garden fairies helped me finish the job of cleaning up and generally decluttering my garden.

Then I borrowed my dad's van (thank you Mum! I promise I won't tell Dad - lol) and took all the garden waste to the green tip. I ended up going there 3 times because I figured I might as well take the garden waste of my neighbours as well.

Funny thing about cleaning up what had seemed like a HUGE job, it also inspires me to clean up more. Just as how mess breeds mess, in my case, neatness breeds decluttering.

So I decided to tackle the other place where the clutterbug has made its nest....my garage. Long term readers of this blog would remember my rant over the state of this house when I moved in. You will note in that (November 2010) post how I said

My house is now clean and the inside is unpacked and organised. (Just the garage to unpack and organise!)

Um...well...the garage kinda got unpacked but never organised. And once it got messy (due to unpacked but also unorganised state)...well it got even messier. Until one day it just looked like a messier version than this:

The state of my garage at 9am this morning - note that I had already started clearing this out at 8am!

Yep, I had just enough space to put my car in. Ugh. But by tackling it bit by bit, this is my garage now!

My garage by 5pm today

I should mention that my neighbours (not the garden fairy neighbours - these are other neighbours) and my parents helped me clean this up by giving me the shelves at the top of the garage.

I ended up taking not-quite a van load to the hard rubbish tip. Amazing how much I have collected in the garage in 1 year!

So here I am now, relaxing and feeling wonderful that I finally conquered the two clutterbug nests in my house! I'm also feeling especially grateful that I have such great neighbours

P.S. I would've take pics of the garden too but currently its boring and empty. Once I've found low maintenance plants (your advice most welcome!) to stick in there, I'll take pics and post here!

I wish you all a good week ahead.

Do you know what is good for you?

Hello everyone,

Today, I blogged in SGF about my "feel good" philosophy (something I've written here before). Its gotten me thinking...why is it that so many of us *don't* feel good? Is it social conditioning? Is it the advertising we are consistently bombarded with? Is it consumerism with its pressures to lead unhealthy lifestyles?

When I think about such things I often fall into the trap of thinking that recognising what is good for us is hard. That we (as a society) have lost our way so much that we don't even know what would make us feel good and the best we can hope for are flashes of excitement and entertainment.

Then in the midst of my over-analysis and self-obsession, I am reminded of the times when I do recognise what is good for me. It usually happens when I see, read or hear something and right away know that it is the absolute truth. Its the "aha" moments. Its the moments that make you smile inwardly and there is no doubt about the authenticity of that moment.

And the thing about those moments, it doesn't feel like its learning something new. Rather those moments feel like the shining of a light on knowledge that I already had but had forgotten.

So, "do I know what is good for me?" Yes, I do. Because that knowledge is inside me. I just have to consciously shine the light on that knowledge so I can acknowledge it.

Sunset on my way home the other day, photo taken by my son.

I wish you all well.

Decluttering Fail and a Rant

Hi everyone!

Well, as you can see, I didn't post days 2 and 3 because...well, I didn't really finish my declutter. I finished all the bedrooms and most of of the living areas BUT I didn't tackle 3 of my hot spots (laundry cupboards, craft cupboard and cupboard under stairs).... On the plus side, my house is looking decluttered....just don't open the cupboards!

The living room right now

The other reason why I am calling my latest decluttering challenge a failure is that I haven't actually gotten rid of the stuff that's to go to charity because none of the op shops are taking donations at the moment! The new year must've caused a decluttering bug in my city because every charity shop has been overwhelmed with stuff...

...actually the volunteers at the op shops are not only busy sorting out genuine donations, they are also having to deal with this:

South ONC *- Photo originally from here

North ONC - Photo originally from here

Over the Christmas period, the op shops close (its Christmas people!) and unfortunately, many people either can not wait till they re-opened again before giving their stuff....I also suspect that many people used that opportunity to illegally dump stuff that are normally rejected by these shops.**

-Regardless, littering and dumping is JUST NOT RIGHT PEOPLES!! -sigh-

Okay, my rant is over. So all the stuff I had planned on giving to charity is currently in my garage...which is a nightmare because I haven't even started decluttering there! Ah well. Maybe now is the time for me to declutter my garage and then hold a "free garage sale" so I can get rid of stuff.

Ah well, here's to a new year! I hope you've had a good start to the year.

* ONC = Our Nation's Capital.

** Just in case you didn't know, op shops do not accept old CRT TVs, many baby furniture/accessories (as many old items do not meet new safety standards for babies), and most mattresses.

Day 1: Declutter by 2012 Challenge

So today, I woke up full of good intentions of decluttering all of our bedrooms. I started off quite well. I had packed my daughter's clothes and shoes that no longer fit her into a paper bag ready to give away to friends.

I went through my books and got rid of 18 books ready to on-sell or give away.

I went through my wardrobe and packed up a large number of clothes to give away (1 large garbage bag).

Then off to the op shop I went to hand in all of the things that I wanted to give away.....

...and came back with 1 dress and 2 books for me; and 2 pairs of shorts for my daughter.

*sigh* Ah well. At least, I didn't come back with more stuff than I had given away.

....Then after that...well I got distracted. See, the day looked like this:

This is the second Christmas in a row when the grass is still green!

It was a beautiful day at ONC*!

So we ended up visiting friends instead and doing this:

Yep, its now been over a year since all water restrictions have stopped. And for the first time, my children celebrated the Christmas period the way I remembered celebrating it in my childhood - with good friends, a sprinkler and of course a water fight!

A wonderful day...and yes, sometimes, socialising *is* more important than my little challenges!

(But I promise, I'll get back to it tomorrow!)

*ONC = Our Nation's Capital

PS: Oh but I did manage to list some of my items on Ebay! Now I know I had my decluttering rules in my previous post which included my selling rules, but my children are also now old enough to make the call on how *they* declutter. They have decided that some of their items should be sold rather than given away.

PPS: In the spirit of shameless promotion of our Ebay items click here to see the stuff the children and I are selling.

Clutter....(yep its that time again!)

Hello everyone!

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas! I spent the day catching up with family and friends. It was busy but also stress-free. Can't get any better than that!

Speaking of stress, lately, I've noticed that my house is once again getting a bit cluttered. I don't know about you but clutter is something that I have to remain constantly on top of. When I let things get too cluttered, then I find that I get stressed more easily. To me, nothing is more peaceful or relaxing as coming home to a tidy and clutter-free home.

Amazingly, despite not really buying a lot of stuff, eventually my house becomes cluttered with stuff I don't really need or use any more. The last time I de-cluttered was about a year ago.

My clutter-free home this time last year

So the last week or so (and in between Christmas celebrations), I've been going through each room and sorting out the stuff. Here are my rules for decluttering and sorting:

1. If the stuff has not been used in the last 3 months and I can not name a specific date or event in the next year when I will use it again, then it is gone.

2. If the stuff is "good" but not high value or highly sought-after, then it is offered to friends and what doesn't get taken goes to charity or freecycle.

3. If the stuff is "good" but is of high value or highly sought-after, then it goes on the for-sale pile.

4. If the stuff needs repair but I haven't made the time to fix it in the last 6 months, then it goes in the bin (I've learnt that even freecyclers don't like most items that are in need of repair!).

So far, I have gone through my daughter's room and have about 2 large washing baskets of stuff that I need to get rid of. My aim is that by January 1 2012, I will have completely decluttered my house.

So over the next 3 days, you may be finding me on here quite a bit blogging how I'm going. (Blogging has always kept me accountable). Wish me luck!

Merry Charisma Wrist Everyone!

Courage

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking a lot about resilience in children for awhile now and thought I'd share this video of a courageous young boy who has showed incredible resilience and courage in the face of a very dark and prolonged period in his life:

Since sharing his video with his Facebook friends and his family, Jonah has posted this update to his video:

My friends were moved by the video and thought I did something important. I was encouraged to upload it to my Facebook page so more people could see it. Maybe it could help someone else going through the same thing. So I linked it Dec. 1st. My Parents saw it for the first time Dec, 2nd.
Then..... all this happened.
I never expected in a million years that it would have such a wonderful impact on so many people. I am truly humbled and truly thankful for all the love, encouragement and support from people all over the world. It's been incredibly overwhelming. I don't know what to say. Thank you so, so much!
Lastly, yes you have seen me happy in a couple short videos replies I posted; I would think that would be a good thing , and yes I do have friends, my High School friends, and I have made friends because when I came out they realized that they had hurt me and that they fealt sorry. The video is real, and true.
In the last few months everything eventually came out in the open, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders; I'm happy, I'm excepted for who I am, I'm more confident and feel stronger every day.
Thank you all, Love and peace to all who are hurting.
Jonah Mowry

Thank you Jonah and love and peace to you too. I hope that your dark days are truly over.

Building Resilience in Children

Hello everyone!

Oh my goodness, has 2 months really gone since I last posted on this blog? And oh my goodness...is it really only 4 weeks till the end of the year? As I get older time really does fly faster and faster....

Ah well. I thought I'd finish what I started to write about in my last post here about Michael Carr-Greg's talk on Building Resilience in Children.

Firstly, I believe that resilience is the ability to accept that chaos and unfairness exists and still be positive anyway. So what are the characteristics of resilient children?

5 Characteristics of Resilient Children

A longitudinal study by Emmy Werner of children in highly abusive environments found that the resilient children in those environments had the following characteristics:

1. They each had a charismatic adult in their lives who made them feel safe, valued and listened to.

2. They were all competent socially and emotionally - ie they were good at naming and recognising others' feelings, good at managing their anger and good at resolving conflicts.

3. They each had a sense of meaning, purpose and belonging. They all realised that they are part of something bigger than themselves. For some this was religion. For others it was a deep passion in a sport, a community or a cause.

4. They engaged often in positive self-talk.

5. They all found an island of competence. They found something that they were good at and pre-occupied their days (outside of school or their normal environment).

Michael Carr-Gregg emphasised the need to find opportunities to give children the 5 characteristics mentioned above - surround them adults who care about them and make them feel safe, valued and listened to; teach them positive self-talk; and have them join extra-curricular activities that will pre-occupy them; encourage concrete activities that would give them an awareness of belonging in a world that is larger than themselves and their peers.

My children's donation and letters to Olivia

So where am I going with this and how is all of this relevant to this blog?

As my children grow older and become more immersed into this highly consumerist society of ours, I am becoming more and more aware that they *will* be exposed to harmful messages.

I have talked in this blog before that a "good" consumer is an anxious consumer. Part of an effective advertising campaign is to create a feeling that one needs particular goods or services in order to be "happy". And those campaigns are increasingly being targeted at our children.

Daily, my family and I are bombarded by media and advertising campaigns promoting unhealthy body images, unhealthy sexual behaviours and over consumption of goods.

While I can limit my children's exposure to these harmful messages, I know that there are those in our society that could (and would) judge and bully those who do not embrace these unhealthy practices or who do not fit into these "norms."

I'm starting to realise that building resilience in my children also plays an important part in helping my children become consumption-literate.

Anyway, its late and I hope that this post has been helpful to you. I would love to hear your thoughts on teaching children consumption-literacy!

Yet another reason why children should help out at home

Hello everyone!

Today, I was lucky enough to attend a talk by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg on How to Build Resilience in Adolescents. Did you know that many medical professionals now consider adolescence starts at around 10 years of age? These days, the average age of children going into the physical transformations of puberty is 10.2 years!! Back in 1901, the average age for entering puberty was 16.

Its scary that all those changes - hormonal and physical - are happening at such a young age.

While I can go on about theories as to why its happening so early, that's really not what the talk was about - and not what this blog post is about.

During the talk, Michael pointed out 3 key things that really stuck with me. Resilience in children is built when children:

1. feel safe;

2. feel valued; and

3. feel listened to.

During dinner, I tell my children (aged 7 and 8) this. (My children and I often talk about our day during dinner). And my son pipes up:

S (age 7): So did you adults talk about what you guys can do to make those 3 things happen?

Me: No, it was mostly just talking generally.

S: Well, I can tell you real things that can make it happen. The first is you have to play games with us. Like playing scrabble and riding our bikes together. And the second is that you have to keep making us do fun jobs around the house.

Me: Fun jobs?

S: Yeah, like how you make me grind the coffee beans and rinse the dishes and put them away.

J (age 8): Yeah, like how I have to do the vacuuming and save our plastic bags so you can rewash them and save money. You know, all the things that we do to be a real important part of this family!

So there you go - my kids tips on how to feel listened to and valued. (I guess its a credit to me that they took being safe for granted and just shrugged it off as something normal in their world).

My daughter colour-coordinating her outfit with the vacuum cleaner to make the job more "fun".

I would love to go on a bit more about other points in Michael's talk but its late and I'm afraid it may have to wait another time! (There are times when I wish the days can be just a little bit longer - 24 hours is just not enough!)

I wish you all a good week ahead.

Newspaper bin liner - alternative to plastic bags

Hello everyone!

Last week, I posted in Simple Green Frugal Co-op (other blog I write in) about what I'll be doing when I run out of plastic shopping bags to use as bin liners. As many of you know, from 1 November 2011, shops will no longer be able to give you a plastic shopping bags for the goods you buy from them.

This doesn't pose a dilemma for most people I know. Almost everyone I know uses reusable bags for the shops. However, almost everyone I know still does the occasional shop without them so we can stock up on the shopping bags to use as bin liners.

Anyway, my plan was to just use the plastic from existing bags (eg. bread bags) for wet scraps that can't go into the compost bin and to use newspaper for the rest. This is a simple plan and I know its one that I can stick to.

Having said that its also great to have other options. In my SFG post, a lady passed on the idea of using newspaper folded origami style for the bin liner. I think this is great and would work very well for my young children who may not be able to follow my original plan.

So here's a video that shows how to fold newspaper into a bin liner:

Anyway, I hope you found this post helpful. Till next time!

Simple = Slow?? I dont' think so!

Hello everyone!

It has been awhile since last few blog posts! I've come to accept that my life is now being conducted at a very busy pace. My average day starts at 6:30am, preparing for the day for myself and my children, taking them to school, going to work, rushing back to pick them up from after-school care, dinner, homework, add in one of their activities there, then bed for the kids, then housework for me before bed at around 10:30pm-11pm. I think my average day is very much the average day of any sole parent with two primary school-aged kids.

It might sound counter to the simple life that I often talk about here, but to be honest, I feel that I am, more than ever, living a simpler life.

In between the busy-ness of my routine, I do have time to connect with my friends and family.

I have time to try something different.

"Storm over lake" me experimenting with metallic acylic paint, sand and shimmer.

I have time to cook and bake (most of the time).

Cake for my son's birthday

And I have time to exercise and be outside.

I even have time to sew (occasionally)!!

Wrap-around reversible skirt for my daughter

Living frugally and having little debt means that I am able to pay my all my bills, to indulge in little luxuries (we currently love going to Goodberries for ice cream once a fortnight) and take my children skiing.

In short, we are wealthy, healthy and more importantly, happy. Life can't get any better than that.

On another note, Kristi is the recipient of the $50 Bunnings voucher giveaway that I had below! Congrats Kristi! Please contact me at my email (address on the right bar) when you can!

I wish you all well.

"Tomorrow" A $50 Bunnings Voucher Giveaway

Hello everyone!

As promised in my post below, here is the competition! I have one $50 Bunnings Gift Voucher here thanks to Planet Ark and Toyota for National Tree Day which is tomorrow.

To win the competition, simply take a photo of an outdoor activity you and your family will do tomorrow and blog about it in your blog tomorrow, then come back here and comment. Make sure you link back to this post and also National Tree day in your blog!

The winning blog post, will be featured here as well as get a $50 gift voucher to spend at Bunnings.

I will also be blogging about an outdoor activity my children and I will be doing tomorrow.

I am looking forward to reading and seeing photos of what you will be doing tomorrow!

I hope you are all well.

On my mind: trees

Hello everyone,

This post is part of Rhonda's "On my mind" series and is inspired by the National Tree Day campaign.

Trees outside my backyard. Photo taken this morning. It was so cold! In the summer, I often string up the hammock between these trees and enjoy the view in the shade.

A few days ago, Jarrod from Green Bean contacted me to let me know of National Tree Day campaign. Now to be honest, I have never heard of the campaign before. But then, like many things in life, upon hearing it, suddenly I am seeing it everywhere. My children came home from school on Wednesday letting me know that today, is School's Tree Day. Schools Tree Day part of the National Tree Day campaign, organised by Planet Ark in partnership with Toyota and its Dealer network. Today, up to 250,000 Australian school children will take part in learning more about their environment.

In my children's school, they are planting 7 more trees. I'm glad they are doing that. In the past, I have to say I have been disappointed with decisions to cut down trees (as opposed to replanting) in my children's school property to make way for more buildings.

In March 2011, Planet Ark commissioned an independent study to investigate childhood interaction with nature and how this interaction is changing. The research was conducted by Pollinate, a specialist communications research company, and was sponsored by Toyota Australia.

The results of this research show that the landscape of childhood has changed. In a single generation there has been a profound shift from outdoor to indoor play. This comes at no surprise to me. Almost all of my children's learning takes place indoors. Even their environment learning centre is a building (with a small yard for planting vegetables)!! Someday, I would like my children to go to school where trees, outdoor play and outdoor learning are an integral part of their school environment.

National Tree Day is actually on this Sunday, 31 July 2011. (Click on link for more details.) I am planning on planting a tree in the nature reserve area just outside my backyard. My lovely neighbours have already checked it out with the local government and apparently, tree/shrub planting on the nature reserve along Lake Tuggeranong is allowed. How cool is that?!

To commemorate this event, I am planning on a little competition for readers of this blog. I will post details about it tomorrow (Saturday, 30 July 2011)!

On my mind: Why do they do this? *cries*

Hello everyone,

Today's post is part of Rhonda's Friday on My Mind series.

Now normally, I like to write positively, or if not postively, then at least constructively. The way I see it, this blog are like snap shots of my thoughts and I'd hate to look back and see only the negative thoughts.

But today, I thought I'd capture something that bothers me A LOT. Regular readers here know that I live near a lake. And I love it. I love the lifestyle of this place. I love my view and I love coming home and seeing the water and feeling the peacefulness just wash over me.

While my side of the lake is beautiful, only a few kilometres away, this is what's on the other side of my lake:

Yep they're trolleys that have been pushed into the lake. I went for my morning cycle around the lake and took a photo of them. :(

Now the shopping centre is about 2 blocks away from the lake. So people would've had to take the trolley out of the shopping centre, walk it two blocks, THEN somehow push it over the wire barrier and in to the lake. :(

Why?

Why would you go and wilfully pollute something so beautiful? Its not even laziness (where people can't be bothered to put rubbish into the bin). This is wilful pollution.

This lake is home to many types of fish and water birds (I've seen about 6 different species), including these black swans:

(These swans came up to me as soon as I stopped my bike. :) )

This lake gives pleasure to all those who walk, cycle, row, paddle, swim and, or sail in it. All along the lake are parks and free barbecues. There are so many places in the world where facilities like this would NOT be free to just anyone. This lake is a gift.

So why pollute it?

Every now and then, the government comes along and remove all the trolleys out of the lake. This comes at a cost... and its a cost to all of us tax payers.

I wish I can do something to stop this, but I don't even know where to start.

Guess what this is?

Hello everyone!

What a week I've had! I managed to get a week off for the winter school holidays and I've been having a ball with my children, ice skating, exploring the local parks and even had a bonfire to toast marshmallows.

Today, I spent much of the day painting with my daughter. Both my children are quite creative - my son with music and my daughter with paints and drawing.

The last week of the school was NAIDOC Week. My daughter learned about Indigenous culture, dreamtime stories and also did some dot painting. Her painting inspired me to do something similar at home.

Inspired by Indigenous art, this painting is of something that is very close to my heart. Each element was chosen carefully to depict something that means much to my children and me.

Can anyone guess what it is?

(Hint: It is a physical place. Second hint: Southern ONC natives will have a distinct advantage over guessing this.)

Sigh the picture really doesn't do justice to the colours in this painting.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend.