De clutter and organizing part II

 I read somewhere that one should buy items that bring "joy" Example, I often find myself taking the same clothes out of the wardrobe to wear, similar story for my one year old daughter. I also find that there are only certain things we need more often than others. So why is every drawer and every wardrobe filled - I ask myself. 

I simply started tackling my wardrobe one shelf at a time. Anything more than that I couldn't handle due to time constraints and a toddler who needs my attention. 

A) Here's what I did with clothes(dresses/saree blouses/jeans etc)

1. Looked at shelves of clothes and sorted them to 'will wear', won't wear/doesn't fit 

2. Sorted them into piles, that I knew whom to give away to. Some were to my domestic help and I also made a separate pile for giving to Hijras/transgender/transvestites who usually beg around traffic signals. 

3) some dresses with too much embellishments especially since I don't want to hurt the baby as I carry her and won't be wearing some of this stuff for a while. Why store it ?

4) My night dresses were donated to a convalescence home where they need soft nightdresses.

B) Made a collection of cosmetics like foundation, eye makeup, etc that were within their expiry dates but I just knew were a bad or impulse purchase in the first place and put them in the pile to gift to the Hijras/transgenders near our home 

C) Beauty items like extra hair blowdryers/straighteners were given to a small local beautyparlour. 

D) My husband and I sorted our footwear to be given away to people who can still use them. I have stopped wearing heels(as carry my toddler) and haven't worn heels ever since I got pregnant. So there's that. 

E) extra watches and sunglasses were gifted as I cannot use sunglasses unless they are prescription ones. Accessories that were kept just for sentimental value for so many years, some of which could have been used by some trendy teen sooner than later as vintage chic :)

F) I get my baby's clothes sorted and give them to two sets of people who have babies a few months younger than mine, I also try to minimize the number of toys she has. I regift them to people who can use it. 

G) We bought two new pillows and gave away 6 old ones. Again sorted among my domestic help who were more than happy to take it home. 

That's when I realized how much stuff was just lying around, right from reasons like "in case we have guests" " in case we need it sometime in the future " " I case this and in case that" seriously a bad habit. 

I have a new love and that is to have at least one empty shelf in every wardrobe. Or one empty drawer out of two. And I still have a long way to go to live minimalistically . First step is to stop buying things I don't need. Sigh, getting there...

Spring Cleaning, declutter and organise

Evet so often does one get inspired by online blogs and comments and images on how to de clutter,  organise and clean up areas and so on.  One of the things i read recently was that you cannot organise clutter.  Clutter has to be sorted and done away with.  Ruthlessly.  

I have a15 month old baby and she is highly likely to explore and open drawers and reach out to shelves and take stuff at her hand level.  We had to deliberately clear out a few shelves of books and curios etc that she can reach. 

A flip side to her exploration is that she is fascinated by spectacles.  We have quite a few broken by her even when we wete wearing it.  So what we had were a few empty spectacles cases.  These came handy when  packing baby's medicine  drops,  ointments,  even hairclips especially when traveling. 

And now the drawers under the entertainment unit.  We had so many cd cases  dvd,  vcds even and a whole lot of music that the husband and I had collected over the years.  So it was a Sunday well spent.  As  we finally took a call that we'll keep our Blu-ray collection minimal. 

The rest were sorted into cd pouches so that minimised the clutter.  We did away with some cds,   dvds  etc and the plastic cases that they come in. 

There is then the case  of mobile phone cardboard boxes.  Most are sturdy and can be reused.  Like we used my Gionee  mobile box for storing playing cards.  And we can find them when we look for it.  All in one place.  Rummy nights are here.  

A special thanks to my husband and my niece for helping me in this task where we also sorted my little ones nursery rhyme videos.  Yay. 

Baby's here. Time to change some decor

Our home is contantly evolving. While we have been advised by well meaning visitors to our home that it needs to be " baby proofed"for when a baby arrives, we have often thought about how this needs to be done.

While we got some online options for baby proofing some drawers, some cabinets,  clearing some shelf spaces etc that our baby could reach, there is still a nagging issue of the stairs. 

Our home has industrial style/ loft like stairwell. We love how open it is as it allows light and air and keeps the whole look very bright. These were certainly a hazard, considering the gaps and the space. Our little toddler has started moving around. Walking, falling, walking,  and yes climbing up stairs. We constantly watch her while she does it under supervision. . But one this was clear the baby proofing had to be done on the stairwell. 

We looked at options like translucent acrylic, to glass to just ropes,or cloth and so on..something which was semi permanent I.e. Something we can change when our daughter is older

We used the help of architect Komal Kapoor who noticed  that we use so many straw mats throughout the home, especially due to its  cooling yet insulating properties. Our window blinds, siting areas, floor areas, table runners, tea coasters all have some element of straw mats.

Komal suggested that we continue the theme to use the baby doors, and the gaps between stairs, also the area in the railing of the stairs at the landing. The result ? Well we love it. 

Curios, show pieces, knick knacks, metal idols.

Most homes have some kind of a collection of curios and collectibles. I have a vice for brassware. In particular, lamps, idols, bookends, vintage brassware and the like. It's quite a task to keep them shiny and new. Sometimes I prefer the oxidised old look, other times, they do look great with some wash and shine.

I use a mixture of tamarind and salt, Pithambari and maybe Sabena as a coarse washing powder to scrub the idols. While I am trying to keep a schedule to do these tasks, so far I have been successful with once a month as a time line, before my collectibles need a wash again. 

Today was one such day. The gods have showered and are adorned with fresh jasmine from our garden. 

Windchimes

Are  you as crazy about wind chimes as I am. I love how one can not only feel a breeze but also hear it. I love all kinds of wind chimes having even made some myself, out of glass bottles.

I love the wooden ones, the metal ones, and the terracotta ones too...

Tasks around the house. Scheduled, planned and completed

I have recently been following http://www.flylady.net/ on Facebook and am quite inspired by the concept of breaking mundane tasks/chores down. I love the way she advises to set the alarm for 15 minutes and so some chore/task related to the home. Her term "home blessing hour" is actually how I feel every time I do some organising/de cluttering/cleaning tasks. 

In fact I break down house work and have a schedule of  daily tasks, or weekly tasks ( refrigerator organising/changing bedsheets, bathroom mats,etc) monthly(quilts/Duvet/Cushion cover) or quarterly tasks(curtains being changed and washed or get a professional service like CleanFanatic to shampoo clean Sofas, Beds etc


One of my daily tasks before retiring includes microwaving dishwashing scrubs and kitchen sponges and wipes. While the sponges are soaked in soap and water also helps to clean the rotating glass disk and insides of the microwave. All set and ready for another day. 

Today I was especially happy to see the flutter of curtains after a good machine wash and the aroma of after wash conditioner ..hmmm