Packing and Cleaning

I have another full box to go to Goodwill. And our microwave died so it's going to the Goodwill recycling bin.  Did you know they take all those electronics you aren't supposed to put in the dumpster?  If it has a cord, they will take it.  Call to make sure. I'm not sure every single branch does it.  But lucky for me the one across the street from me does.

A friend has offered to let us stack boxes at his house until we find a place to rent. That will be a blessing because there is no way to clean up the old place with all these boxes here.  We waste all our time re-stacking boxes. I have painful deja vu about trusting a friend to do this in the past. She was dishonest and tried to keep my piano as a payment when I went to get my stuff back. I am trying to swallow those feelings of fear and hope this doesn't come back to bite me. But I have to do something to get off top dead center and move this project along.

We drove an hour and a half out to the desert yesterday to look for a rental. No luck so far. So now it's home again and back to cleaning again.

Can We Just Move Already?

I't's official, I'm packing to move.  Let the games begin.  I hope I can find a way to eliminate the stress and just get the job done without all the emotional turmoil. Odds are my next place will be even smaller if that is possible. So I'm kinda freaking out here.

Uh Oh Here We Go Again

I was just notified this apt. complex goes up for sale again next week, which means walk-thrus by strangers. Ugh. So if ever I needed to unclutter it's now.  Unfortunately we are also having a heatwave.  Which means cleaning mostly at night. So much to do, so little time. We are looking for another place to live, but in the meantime, what do I do with all this stuff? Storage is out. We already have one storage unit that has cost us thousands of dollars over the years. $100 a month x 12 months is $1200. $1200 x 10 years is $12,000. The stuff in there isn't worth $12,000. I wish I had that money in my bank account.

DIY Laundry Detergent

Today on Pinterest I ran across a recipe for DIY Laundry Detergent. I must try this. We always save the cat litter buckets so I'm sure I could mix some of this up in one of those or in a giant bowl and then I could make laundry detergent once a year and save not just money, but I won't be buying all those plastic and cardboard containers that laundry soap comes in. If I can talk my boyfriend into doing it this way, I'll let you know how it goes.

Sorting Things

I was just about to vacuum the hallway today when the vacuum fell apart in my hands.  I truly believe we need a new one but my boyfriend thinks it just needs the screws replaced, so we spent $10 online ordering screws and belts. I think the screw holes are stripped, which is why the screws fell out to begin with, but I'll try his way first. The vacuum is at least 10 years old and I think it is just worn out.

At least I got the dishwasher loaded. And I just sorted a bunch of stuff out of a laundry basket. The fabric went into a fabric box and the patterns went into a pattern box. I found 2 crochet hooks, some confetti, and some flat stones. The stones will go in the mosaic project bin since I'm into mosaics right now. I know it sounds obvious, but half the battle is grouping similar things together. There was half a ream of paper in there, so that went into the paper bin under my desk. I'll use the three hole punch on it and transfer it into my next junk journal to be used as drawing paper or scrap paper. I fell better now that that's done. And none too soon since my bed is now cleared off and it's almost midnight.

Mosaic Bird House work in progress.

Secret Pegboard

Now that I'm studying how to be more organized, it's amazing how I'm noticing things I never noticed before.  Someone gave us a  tool chest with 5 or 6 drawers. It's sitting in our dining room. I pass it 50 times a day.  Suddenly I noticed it has holes in the side just like a pegboard. So I bought some pegboard hooks and put a few on there, and sure enough, that's what it is. Since we got the thing used, I never knew that. Before 24 hours had gone by, my boyfriend already started hanging things on it. Cool.

Wreath Hangers on Pegboard

When a craft store had a 90% off sale I snapped up a bunch of wreath hangers. I used one, and the rest have just been taking up space. But recently I made that pegboard in the garage and it goes up quite high and I was wondering how to put hooks way up there.  So I'm cleaning the dining room, find the box full of wreath hangers and that little light bulb went off.  In a few minutes, I had hooked six of them over the top of the board and the broad hooks will be great for things like extension cords. One of the hooks was different though. It's for hanging over a door and having a wreath on both sides.  I'll have to find a special use for that one.