little white truths

You may remember that I posted on my 2018 life resolutions back in January this year (see here), and I thought it would be interesting to come back and look at those so we can see how I'm going.

I also thought I may have forgotten some so doing this post will remind me, and then I can return to it in a few months and see where we're at then.

And yes, it's about accountability. If I'm posting on this, then I'm accountable.

Let's have a look.

Reduce household clutter by 20 per cent

This was the first resolution I made and I think I've done reasonably well with it so far. While I wouldn't say that I've reduced clutter by 20 per cent across the board, I've certainly achieved something like that in many areas.

Last time I mentioned targeting things like clothes, books, packaging, toys, nail files and dead candle jars. All of those things have been looked at and many items have been donated or tossed. I've also sent packaging to my daughter's new kindergarten, since they've asked for boxes etc to be used in arts and crafts.

At the moment we're cleaning each room in the house in readiness for the 40th we're holding for Mex in two weeks, and as I'm doing this, I'm also sending more stuff from the house and packing things away in the attic (eg clothing that my kids have grown out of that I'll eventually pass on). 

So I'd say that I've done well with this goal, but I would like to keep working towards it so I can say that absolutely everything in the house has been looked at. Slow and steady wins the race.

Eat through the pantry and freezer

This is an ongoing battle but we're getting there. One of the things I've done recently is look at the amount we're spending each month on different things, and I've discovered that our worst category is groceries.

Apparently the average Australian family spends around $650 per month on groceries, and somehow we've been spending closer to $900. I'm not entirely sure how that's happened, but I've learned that those who spend more on groceries tend to shop more than once a week (that's us), and they also buy things because they're on special and not because they need them (also us).

Now Mex does more of the grocery shopping these days because he walks past two supermarkets on his way home from work, so it's a lot easier for him to buy things than it is for me to brave the supermarket with the double pram - but the thing is, I've noticed that he tends to buy extras that we don't really need. So we've had some words and we're aiming to reduce the grocery bill from now on.

Anyhoo. We have been eating through the pantry and freezer lately, and the freezer especially is looking a lot better than it did. I would like to keep going with this and my aim is to have most areas bare before the party so there's room for the things we'll be using on the day. After that we'll try to keep a tighter lid on food storage than we have previously.

Worth noting now is that I've met my goal of making sure we eat whatever's here before it expires, and I've been checking use-by dates over the past couple of months to ensure that things get eaten in order. I'd like to keep that going from now on.

Deal with the packaging

I'm a complete packaging hoarder and always have been. If I receive presents in boxes or soaps in pretty tins, I keep them. Some items are on display on my makeup shelves (so we can say they're being 'used') but others are away in the cupboard so I can reuse them for others' gifts.

'Cupboards', I should say. Plural. That's how many boxes I've amassed over the years: they're everywhere. Some of them are too nice to throw out (eg empty subscription boxes, Mecca's yearly festive packaging), but others I've just kept because I don't want to waste them.

I mentioned in my first post that I planned to send as much packaging as possible to my daughter's new kindergarten, and I'm pleased to say I've done that. Those boxes are now being used for arts and crafts etc.

Still, there's more to be done. I need to go through the bag of smaller packaging I've saved (eg boxes that contained face creams) and work out what I want to keep for display purposes, and what can also be sent off to kinder.

We're getting there, but the job isn't finished yet.

Sell or donate the old

I mentioned earlier that Mex is the eBay vendor in this house and he occasionally sells things we're not using or don't need. As I'm going through the house and invariably discovering things that I'd forgotten we owned, I'm sending more things his way to hopefully offload to better homes. So yes we've been selling, but we need to keep doing it.

Same goes with the donating. Last month we sent off a bundle of things to the op shop that had come from all corners of the house, but as I'm going through everything with a fine-toothed comb, I'm of course discovering more that needs to go. Yes some of it is mine, but most of it comes in the form of toys that my kids never used or wouldn't use now because they're older and have no interest in them.

I'm sensing a theme here. Everything so far on this list has been addressed, but there's still more to be done so we're not finished yet. At least we can say that I've done the 'surface' pass and we're now getting into the corners and to the bottom of the drawers.