Decluttering, Gratitude and Cards

 Quick Lyme update: Things were really going well lately and I'm trying to get off the medication. However, on Sunday there was a reminder by getting the tummy to rebel and chase me to my knees just as we were ready to leave the house! Spent some time there; not even water would stay down. Body went into shock, chills and shivers and the whole lot, so back to huddle under the soft blanket second-born son gave me for Christmas. We were planning all sorts of fun things for Sunday, which of course didn't happen. Bleh!

Tonight Jess and I will be doing a presentation in Vaughan to a group of women. Usually after such an event, we walk away with contacts, future helpers and others to carry out the message and the information to warn their own loved ones about this disease.

Decluttering

How are you doing with decluttering and maybe trying the 40 Bag Challenge as posted before? I've done several sections in the home; maybe recycled or threw out about 7 or 8 bags out so far, plus various items like a wheeled chair, set of 12 cups and saucers, and so on. Oh and my cleaning cabinet looks a whole lot better after sorting all those bottles and containers, combining some that were the same, or disposing of some that were not used completely. I much prefer to use natural cleaners and fresheners and have found several hints all over the web!

A lemon and rock salt freshener has been put to use already and seems to take on the cat litter boxes with gusto. I've used an empty cat food container, washed off the label and stuck on a note about what it now contains plus the date. A tissue or two keeps the lemon upright in the container. The freshener is supposed to be effective for about two months. Of course it is affordable enough to make more, even if it only lasts a month or so!

The original idea comes from Abundance on a Dime: Six Natural & Cheap Ways to Freshen Up Your Home

As for cleaning up and throwing out, this is what the cleaning cabinet now looks like after a whole bunch of things went out of there! 
Several empty spray bottles will find a new home with someone else and first-born son is still using Febreze for his car, after the previous owner's dogs had a stinky mishap on the carpeting .... The empty plastic container in the foreground contains cleaning rags which were created by pulling an old sheet into squares. Wonderful for all sorts of jobs and just to toss into the washing machine!

Cards

One of the things that I've been trying to do better, is to send out cards to friends. Christmas cards go out every year, but I meant other cards - thank you or gratitude cards, birthday cards, sympathy cards, friendship cards --- Work always seemed to get in the way and I'd be too tired to go to the store or forget to create and mail one in time. Then, in September 2012, I discovered an online gem! I've been using them since then. Yes, it can be a pyramid scheme but I'm not interested in that - only in the ease of creating and sending out cards. Even at midnight if I remember that so-and-so would need a card, I can pull up the laptop, create the card, tell when it should be sent, and be done with it. Voila!

The cards are great quality and everyone who received one, commented on the fact that it was personalized with their name printed right inside. I guess I've sent out over 150 folded cards and postcards since September, to locations all over the world. It is so easy and I think it is cheaper than driving to a store, picking out a card and sending it off. Using your own pictures or graphics make the card a little more expensive, but still not that much, and it is so much fun! Creating campaigns to group friends or family together, make it a cinch to add another recipient to an already created card. And no, I don't get anything for passing on this information!

How does it work (cards)?

World Wide Lyme Disease awareness, May 2013

We're still busy with the plans for WorldWideLyme (Canada) protest in May.  The specific plans will be announced according to availability of volunteers and the like, but you can look on Facebook (even if you're not a member) to see which countries are already part of the movement. Here is the original page: WorldWideLymeProtest  

If you would like to do something in your area, or be part of a group planning some awareness event, please post to the Facegroup page if you're a member, or a comment at the bottom of this post in the "Comments" link, please! 

Be well, be happy, be strong. 

Sorting and 40 bag challenge

Already a week into 2013 and it seems I'm still trying to catch my breath and trying to catch up with emails, tasks, chores and promises! I'm sure there are some forgotten ... please remind me if you're waiting for something from me!

If you have read around this blog a few times, you will be aware that I've been struggling with Lyme Disease for over 5 years now. Three years went undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, then the doctor who was treating me had to stop after he was being reported for "treating a disease which doesn't exist in Canada". I was infected in Ontario, Canada, for heavens' sakes! Treatment has been long and intense and I would really, really like to get rid of some of all these pills. Soon ---- hopefully!

During the 5 years of various visits to doctors, hospitals, specialists, emergency rooms and trying to face the fact that I was going to die without knowing what was going on, the house went to pot. There was just never any energy to do more than what was absolutely needed. Closets and cupboards became dumping grounds or catch-alls; items became misplaced in different areas after being put somewhere for temporary storage and others were heaping up because they were not sorted before packed away.

So, sometime in December I stumbled upon the "40 bags in 40 days" challenge. Links will be below if you want to know more. It seems to have been more of a challenge around Lent, but any time is good to start decluttering! I started in December. Slowly, and not keeping to any specific schedule. I put a goal for myself to be done by end February 2013, with at least major sorting and throwing out.

The idea is simple:

1. Decide what size of bag you want to use as a measure of your cleaning out; big or small. 
2. Mentally or physically choose the trouble spots in your office or home. 
3. Write down your list to keep track of your plans.
4. Get rid of 40 bags of "stuff" from these spots. {clutter, junk, excess, and anything else that is no longer used or needed.}
5. Regularly visit the clean spots; I find it gives me such a boost to clean the next part. 

The pantry all tidied up

Items like old TVs and printers (look for electronic recyclers in your area; you can drop off for free) count as a bag or more, for sure!
Your local pet shelter will appreciate old linens or towels, and that can count for another bag or two.
How about old magazines dropped off at a hospital or children's home for cutting out pictures?

Clean out the spaces before repacking. I dislike chemicals and have been using the steam cleaner so much for all sorts of jobs! Baking soda is a wonderful scrubber, and lemon is a degreaser. Just stumbled upon another hint today somewhere, to use the empty shell of half a lemon to fill with rock salt and leave to smell nice in certain spots like kitty litter box area. And to use baking soda mixed with salt to scrub a kitchen sink.

What happens with the stuff you clear out from the various spaces? In order of importance (to me): Recycle - Compost - Freecycle - Sell - Trash
I'm big on recycling for paper, cardboard, containers, glass and the like. Fortunately our area also does curb pickup for organic recycling, which is wonderful when you clean out stale something-or-other or a piece of fruit that might have started growing hair. I line my organics bin with newspaper layers and roll up packages in more newspaper to put inside the bigger green bin. That way, the newspapers that are delivered, get used and money is saved by not buying compostable bags.

Yesterday we found a whole bunch of forgotten half-baggies with a few chocolate chips, or salad dressing mixes that have expired, and other things. They were all opened and disposed off in the organics bin.

My absolute favourite way of getting rid of stuff, however, is Freecycle. This is a world-wide, grassroots movement where you arrange to give something away when you don't need it, to someone who might have a use for it. People generally collect the items you offer for free, anything from books to clothes to kitchenware and furniture. Here is their site; find your town or city, or start one! http://www.freecycle.org/

Now -- it is easier to do a challenge like this if you have people to chat with, to support, to share progress, to encourage and to keep going.
Who wants to join in? Please post a comment! 
I suppose five or six people would be a nice group. And yes, I've started already, but you'll quickly catch up if you plan to do some every day! One woman said she made herself go through the house every day to get rid of 10 things - anything, from any space. However we get it done, lets just do it.

Some sites offer lists you can download and fill in with your own items. Others share pictures of their handwritten lists. I've got my growing list on Google Docs.

Also check out some of these blog posts for inspiration about the challenge:

• Abundance on a Dime
• Sugartot Mom - includes printable sheets
• Spoiled but not rotten
• The Terpblog 

Right, this post took such a while to write in between other things! Now to post to Freecycle: A dinnerware set, various empty decorative tins, half a baggie of coloured gravel for a fish tank. Two bags of clothes were already posted and gone. Two suitcases are gone. An office chair will be gone tonight. A TV was removed in December and a garden gazebo sold for a very small price yesterday. There's still a heap to get through, though!