Day 11: Handbag Organizer

Being women, we tend to have more than necessary number of hand bags. This isn't a post on how to reduce the number or talk about the sins of acquiring handbags, but a better way organize the contents of a bag.

When I change handbags , I always miss out on that one important thing I needed which got lost in another handbag. I once even left my wallet in another handbag, and did my entire shopping and at the check out, to only realize I didn't have my wallet on me.

So, I found myself a handbag organizer and have the following in this:
1. Wallet
2. Sunglasses
3. Mobile
4. Church Directory
5. Coupons & Gift cheques
6. Essential medicines
7. Hand moisturizer
8. Essential on the go makeup
9. All those extra cards that I do not want in my wallet(zoo pass, whole family insurance cards, store cards)
10. Need I say more?

All I need to do is take this organizer out and transfer it to my bag of choice for the day!
Problem solved !
Reduce stress , (at least a notch down), when you have everything you need in your handbag at all times.

Day 10: Missed day 5-9 due to life

A weekend with my birthday party at the Laser Quest and dinner afterwards with a bunch of great friends meant no uncluttering jobs. Relaxing and enjoying is indeed part of uncluttering, I guess.

Somewhere in the past week,I bought a wonderful machine The Dymo Letratag. A label making machine.For years I have been labeling my spice bottle, files and file trays with paper, pen and tape over them. And they ultimately come out in a short time span. It wasn't too expensive, around 30 Euros at a stationary store and I grabbed the chance to waste less time making labels.
Here are a few labels I made for my spice rack.

Day 5: Hallway change in process

Yesterday was a "FULL" day. Had our regular Mums and Tots Bible study at home and as soon as they left, drove to the other end of Eindhoven and dropped Elijah at the daycare. Drove to the other side of Eindhoven and went to work. Only 2 hours of work but still was busy with plenty of work. Drove again all the way picked Elijah up, came closer to home and there you have it.. Elijah puked a little bit. So after changing his clothes and cleaning him up, drove to pick up Benjamin. Picked him up and on our way to the swimming pool, for his first lessons, I realized that my packed swimming bag didn't have any swimming trunks. Hmm.. so much for planning and keeping the car ready with things first thing in the morning. On my way back home , Elijah does on of those projectile vomiting stunts and.... need I continue?
Back home and straight into the shower. Finished cleaning him up and had to tell Benjamin that we couldn't make it to his first lesson. He seemed fine about it. After all the drama calmed down he asked if I was ready to go for his swimming lessons. Aww.. I felt bad .. and explained that we could only go next week.
And now, taking on the task of cleaning the car. The car seat was unsalvageable. I managed to get the car seat cloth out but still all the nooks and crannies. Oh my ! there was no use cleaning. Dumped the car seat and finished cleaning the car, not only the affected areas but gave a complete hoover. Once I get into one of these cleaning frenzies .. I go on! To the extend the cleaning moved from the car to the hallway. How did I manage to do that?
Started moving around coat stands and hallway shelfs and reorganizing. After I calmed down , I realized I hadn't fed the kids and they were obviously starved. And almost close to bed time.

Long story... I know.. but the point is the hallway is going through some changes and I will be posting its grand finale soon. Soon.

A before yet to happen make over scene:

Day 4: Unclutter the mind

We have been house hunting for a while, and are quite frustrated with not getting what we want. We do realize that what we want and the price range are miles apart. But still, can't one hope for something closer to the dream and the range.

It is an effort not to compare American house/ our house in Kuwait or in India to houses in the Netherlands. They are at least 5 times smaller (a little overboard on the exaggeration) and my number one dream of a reasonably big kitchen is crushed to bits.

Whenever we go for walks, on one side I talk with my husband and on the other side I am looking into houses to see how they look(you know the pretend to look but not actually looking game?).

I am on a break regarding house hunting and want to unclutter my mind of things I want and need and dreaming on and on. I definitely know that God will provide our needs and want in His own time. Then why am I stressing my life when I could be making my current rented house a proper home? And that's why I am on this journey to make my home a sweet livable place, less on clutter and more on joy.

A picture taken a year ago

Day 3: Prayer Corner

Summer is doing it's finale and autumn is already round the corner. Why am I talking about seasons? Well, this is very much dependent on how early I can wake up. In the summer, when there is light outside at 5:30 am, I can spring out of bed and start the new day cheerfully. As autumn approaches and when it's still dark at 7 am I am still in bed or sitting in bed thinking what to do and usually this thought bounces back and forth until one of the kids wake up.

But, after fighting the urge to sleep and missing out on being in God's presence, I finally decided enough is enough. So, since the past few days I am up by 6/6:30 am and I sit in my dedicated space to read my Bible and submit this day to Him.

I realized a clutter free space was essential to me to keep my attention and a space where it was comfortable but not so comfy that I could fall asleep.

So I cleared out a shelf on my book shelf, cleared the chair of "stuff" and put just the essentials that I need to have my quiet time. I tend to over dramatize when I have a few extra highlighters and other books around. I also made sure that I didn't switch on the computer and sit on my table lest I succumb to the urge of just "checking my mail disease".

Here is how that space used to be and now

The whole book shelf look:(my work related books, board games and other games)

My "no go Zone" during quiet times:(uncluttering project yet to undertake)

Day 2: Weekly Menu

I have found planning my weekly menu to be so helpful. It saves me from thinking what to cook and do I have them in the fridge? If I think one meal , I go and buy that. So that means , stuff bought earlier gets pushed to the back of the fridge. And when I am trying to salvage something for the weekend when I don't have time to cook, I find those pushed back food stuff in other interesting colors and textures.

The whole joy of cooking seeps away when I am forced to think what to put on the menu everyday and trying not to repeat. Planning an Indian menu everyday can be a little hectic. Typically, rice with a gravy, a meat/fish/chicken dish and a vegetable. A lot huh?

There are those days we do have non Indian food. Just to let you know.

So, most Sunday evenings, I sit and plan the week menu and then buy only those in the shopping list, on Monday. Here is a picture of my Weekly Menu chart on the fridge. This was given by one of my best friends who is in the US now. Lingwei, thank you!

Once every other week I make a huge batch of Tuna Cutlets(patties). Fried onions, with ginger ,garlic, green chillies, black pepper and salt to taste. Loads of tuna tins emptied into this mix and sautéed well. Mix in the previously boiled potatoes, and shape them up in oval shapes enough for a few bites. Dip in egg and bread crumbs and put them in zip lock covers. Freeze them. I make about 60-80 of them at a time. They come in so handy when i don't have something to make or i don't have the time. This is easy to take from the frozen bags kept to thaw out in the morning. Deep fry them and you have yummy cutlets!

31 days to clutter free life and home; Day 1: New Beginnings

My knowledge and awareness to the blogging world has been opened and I am beyond "amazed". I owe it to following my friend Tracey's blog ;Control the Chaos.
I am learning so many different ways to connect to the the bigger world and explore some of those things I have wanted to do.
While doing my regular "thing" of reading Tracey's blog I came upon this "31 days to.." part and that came up in my mind " constantly" these past few days. Thinking about it and trying to convince myself that I would definitely, never ever, will be able to write every day and do something with this was finally put to rest when I made my decision today to plunge into it.

This October link party is originally hosted by The Nesting Place.

So here I am, making that big dive.I have been reading Laura's book "Clutter Rehab" from I am an organizing Junkie ,and decided this would be my chance to put the book and the passion to totally unclutter my life and home. Baby steps. I know that sentence does seem too ambitious.

So here I am, choosing to organize and unclutter my life and home including such as;
1. Various sections of my home (Note: not entire rooms in one go!)
2. Organizing my own company and family life
3. Prioritizing and making my "things to do" list more human.And not superhuman
4. Try my best in reducing the things in our home

I dont expect anyone to follow my journey or even read this. I am doing this for me and my family.

What better way to start this off as I celebrate my 30th birthday!