Independent Living - First Steps in Stopping Your House Eating Your Energy - Quick Wins

When I look at the mountain of stuff it all seems insurmountable. And confusing. Where to start? Which bit to chip away at first? Will just a little bit make a difference? Then I feel overwhelmed, anxious that I'll just make more mess, anxious that I'll run out of energy. And then I stagger away for a rest and nothing happens.

Today I decided that the first step is the hardest. I have an outbox see HERE, I have a bin, and by tipping a load of ironing onto the table in the  junk room I have a recycling box too.

So what's stopping me? I need a Quick Win - something manageable in one go. And because my carer has gone for the day, something I can handle for myself.

If you are feeling the same, is there something near at hand like a drawer or a tray or a bag with stuff in? That you could tackle? To get your feet wet? Apartment Therapy's January Cure suggests just picking ONE drawer something that can be dealt with then & there HERE

This is how I've got on with my first Quick Win....


I picked this. A lid from a box of printer paper full of miscellaneous stuff. Diaries from 2011 and earlier, a receipt from 2012 for iced buns (oops! why was that kept!) and other stuff that I've left so long, it's effectively recyclable paper.

A small box of random 'clutter' to be dealt with, just picked up as it was from the Junk Room

I would put stuff I wanted to keep on the left. On the right, I put stuff I wasn't sure on first look, and then there was the bin and recycling box by the bed.

Bin and recyling box after the First Run (more was added later)

First run and I ended up with a small pile of 'keeps' on the left, and a bigger pile of 'not sure' on the right, with a respectable amount in the bin and recycling box.

Second run was looking at the 'not sure' pile more critically.  I realised that the 'not sure' were things I wanted to look at or take to bits. So I got some scissors.

I took apart a diary from 2011 that has double sided pictures. I'm on the 25% group's card sending list, and I reckon if I use a hole punch and some pretty string, I can include them with a card each time. Something that's going to be easy for me to do in the next few days or when I feel like being creative.

I took apart a calendar with puffin photos from 2012. If I get my double sided sticky tape and card blanks I can make cards, to send to people. Again easily doable soon. And crucially, again I already have everything I need and a clear idea of what needs to be done.

So neither of those 'craft projects' needs to go in my Outbox for further consideration.

So this is the final pile of keeps.

The eventual 'keeps'

What's in there? Some blank postcards, (again for sending), a passport photo (binning the out of time passport), some gift bags (could have done with these at Christmas! To save doing wrapping!), a couple of sewing booklets, picture of a godchild, and initially some back issues of ME Essentials.

But now I think about it, I'm going to read the ME Essentials and see if there's anything I really want to keep, otherwise I'll recycle the magazines. And now I'm thinking about it, I might have that passport photo elsewhere, in which case I'll ditch that too once I find the stash of photos to be sorted.

Anything still in the 'not sure' pile? Yes, metal binding and acetate diary covers, printing cartridge packaging and a security marking kit.

The fact that these bits needed thinking about just shows how difficult I find it to make decisions about what is 'valuable' and 'useful' and what isn't

But really? What am I going to do with the metal? I like the weight and shape of it. But I have no use for it.  I've not used the marking kit in 6 years.  I can get printer ink online and there's nothing special about that brand. BIN! Except the pens in the kit are still good, so that goes in the charity shop bag.

I keep one acetate cover cos it'll be useful for card making.  The other went in the bin.

Later on, after a rest, I made these - 13 cards from the calendar pictures. I already had the card blanks and double sided tape, so just lined them up with the pictures, stuck them together then sat on the floor with a craft knife and cutting mat to trim them to the card blank edges.

The 13 made up greetings cards from the calendar pictures.

This is doubly marvellous, not only does it use up more of my craft stash, but honestly, it's not easy getting your mitts on greetings cards you like when you're housebound and having to be a bit careful with your money! I'm thrilled with them, they're actually good enough to be birthday or other occasion cards too.



Later still when dad came around I got him to get me some pretty string down from the top shelf of my stash, and when I next feel like doing some craft, I'll put strings on the double sided diary pictures (and will add a pic of those in due course, just to prove I have finished both craft projects within a week.

The nearly empty box lid is back in the 'junk room' aka second bedroom/ craft stash - so that next time someone comes around they can help me put the gift bags in the 'presents box' and the other bits and bobs in their respective homes.

Ta Da! All strung up and ready to send!

How long did that take? Well, several days in the end even though I was having one of my better days when I started it. So not the quickest win ever, but, I do feel very pleased that I tackled the box lid and have some rather nice crafting activities that I've actually completed as a 'reward'. Even better, NOTHING ended up in the Outbox. Just the Outbox existing made me feel more relaxed and less 'connected' to the stuff, and made it easier to make decisions, because they didn't feel so critical and terminal.