A Simple Little Heart Recycle

Preparations coming up to Christmas and having family here over Christmas doesn't leave a lot of time to declutter or tackle any jobs I might have on my list but even getting a little thing done is helpful.

As I was sorting out some of the many things that had accumulated around my desk (which I have been gradually working on for ages) I came across two hearts.

They were from our niece Joanne's Wedding over 2 years ago and had been our place names at the wedding reception.

I like black and white and was sure that I could find some way of using them on a project so had kept them, but up to now I had not thought of how to use them.


Then now after two years I see them and suddenly have an idea.



If you have read previous blog posts of mine about my study and about things I love then you will know that I really do love hearts and have quite a few hearts around the study and the house.


In fact on the bathroom door and the back toilet door I have hearts to show what the room is

I had got these on ebay and loved them so I also later contacted the lady selling them to see if she had ones with study and office on them but she didn't.


Well I know that these hearts are not the same but I just thought I would use them anyway and all I needed was some blu tac and a pair of scissors.


I snipped off the long parts of the black ribbon just leaving the little bows on each heart, then stuck them to the doors with some blu tac.

I didn't add the words study or office because I would not be able to match the special calligraphy already on them but the names would do just fine as the study is mine and the office is Fred's.

Heart to Heart - table to door - a simple recycle.

How simple a recycle was that?


Can you find something that could be as simple a project as this?

Well now to look at the final results of work for this.

Very easy and took little time and of course I like the end result so more like FUNWORK than HOUSEWORK

A Great Idea for Moving Rooms

It's that time of the year again.

The time
when in Northern Ireland
we get much colder and wetter weather
and
in our house we move

from  relaxing in the Sun Room

to 

living in the Lounge.

I love being in the Sun Room but I also really like my lounge since we got it decorated a year ago and got the new suite.


We try to get as long as we can out of the Sun Room but by now it means the heating on a lot to keep it warm however we did manage to use it from May to middle of November so that's not bad.

There is one thing I got this year that has made the move from the Sun Room to the Lounge with us and that's what this blog post is all about.

I saw a Slim Cabinet Wagon  (which I prefer to call a caddy) on a website I had found in early springtime and I just knew it would be ideal for the lazy person I become once I sit down.
You know - I don't want to have to get up again to get my book or puzzle magazine or crochet or nail file etc.


One of the really enticing features was the fact that it was on castors and I knew straight away that it would be great to take from room to room.

So I treated myself to an early birthday present and ordered the caddy.

I knew I wouldn't need any help in putting it together even though I'm not a great fan of DIY because it would have few pieces and there would be nothing difficult about it and anyway I can read instructions (even when the men in this family don't think that's a necessary task).


It only consisted of two tubular sides, some rods, 2 metal plates, 4 castors, the cover and a smaller thin tubular part  -  no problem!


Yes no problem until I see that the instructions on the back of the box are in Japanese or Chinese or Korean or something but certainly not in English.

However I couldn't go far wrong with the few parts that had to be assembled!


The box came in handy for resting the sides on to join them with the rods to form the frame.

Very simple to do - just slot the rods through the holes and then use a screwdriver.


A bit wobbly to work with with the first few rods

but very steady when all the rods were fitted.

I then put the castors on the base plate ready to attach it to the bottom of the frame.


That was my only mistake.

I had to remove the castors as it was easier to attach the base to the bottom of the frame as each castor was was tightened in.

With the base and four castors attached I was only left with the smaller metal piece to be placed.

It screwed into the base plate and formed a divider for the central bottom part of the caddy.


All that was left was the cover

It fitted down the outside of the caddy but had a centre section into which a thin metal plate was slotted and this would form a shelf about halfway up the caddy.

Then the cover was fitted on securely using velcro strips along the bottom of each side of the frame

and the top of each side.



The finished Caddy

The two sides have slightly different sizes and arrangement of pockets.


The profile view clearly shows the shelf and the divider within the caddy.


There is plenty of room for anything you might want to have at hand when you are sitting watching TV or relaxing reading a book etc.


Because it is a slimline trolley it will fit in nicely beside chairs or a couch.

Just one little idea that makes it that bit simpler & easier for organising our home.

Here it is in the Sun Room beside the chair

What do I keep in it?

• Books
• Bible
• Puzzle books
• Crochet
• Hand cream
• Nail file, scissors etc.
• Hair clip
• Bookmark
• Pens, Pencils
• Glasses
• etc.

Oh yes and all the remote controls


Last year in the lounge I had this basket but it was getting too full.

Now  I can have the caddy instead of the basket and even have more things than I had before

or in a better position for me right beside my usual seat on the couch

It fits there really well and can easily be rolled out when I need to get at the lower  parts.

But below you can see that when it is in it's place it isn't even noticeable as you walk into the room.

Just one little idea that makes it that bit simpler & easier for organising our home. 

Of course this one was more Funwork than Housework because I got to but something, put it together (and that was't difficult)  and put my stuff into it  -  real Organising!

One of the Best Ways I Stay Organised - Organising

Today I thought I would share 1 of my favourite apps for keeping me organised in all aspects of my life but very much so in the home situation.

I am very much a

"what's the best free app for this situation?"

type of gal


so most of the apps I have are free.


However the one I am going to talk about today is not.


This is what happened......

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince who went on a journey to a far off land and returned to his beautiful princess with a precious gift (which at that particular time she did not realize she wanted).

But because of the personality of the handsome Prince, he insisted that his Princess do something immediately he had given her the gift.

He told her she had to buy something to add to the gift.


Ok so the handsome Prince was my husband Fred and I'm his beautiful Princess.

He had gone to America on business and returned with an iPad for me.

( yes it really was a present just for me and even though he said later we were meant to share it, that was too late because I had completely fallen in love with it by then and he had to get his own)

As soon as we set it up he said we had to buy a certain app for it because he had heard it was very good and knew I would want to use it.

Of course I knew nothing about apps at this stage and certainly did not know you could get free ones so I did as he said ( yes I'm an obedient Princess too)





And this is the app we bought

Things     PAID
I use this app every day and I use it in various ways.

At this point I would like to state that I am not being compensated or sponsored in any way for this post about the Things App - I just wanted to tell you about one of the ways I stay organized.

UPDATE:    The app is now called   THINGS 3  and  looks slightly different to the pics below but it is even better than before.

Firstly I use the Today feature in the listing to see all the things that I should do each day or that need to be done soon and today might be the best opportunity to do them.

So everyday I keep checking off in this list hoping that someday I will do everything that falls for that day - not happened ever yet!


Any time I want to add a todo item I can either just leave it without a due date so that it just appears in my today list all the time until it is completed or sits in my Next list.

If I choose a due date I can also pick how many days before that date I want it to appear in my today list coming up to the date.

Then there is the great scheduling feature where I can schedule something for a particular day.
Not only for a particular day but I can also have it as a recurring todo ie. every week, every month, every year, every 9 days even.

There is a section for Projects as well and depending on what you want to do you can adapt the project feature to suit you.

There are also Areas that you can place your todos in.

For the Home I have some areas as you can see above like housework, and the odd project but I also use some of the other areas like daily, weekly, monthly.

I love the way I can keep track of when things need paid or need to be cleaned or need to be bought like birthday cards, presents and especially coming up to Christmas I utilize the Projects section for different lists.

You can see my Christmas List by Names below and then when I click on each name I have my Notes within that one for the ideas I have for their gifts.

Another thing I find very helpful is keeping track of the food in the house especially in the freezer.

As I put something away I note it in my Next list with the date I need to use it by and how many days in advance of this that I want to be notified by.

Then I use the Tags feature so that any time I want to check up or plan ahead about meals I simply go into the Next list and filter it by my choice of tag which would be food in this case and it will bring up all the food in different cupboards and fridge and freezer and the date it is due by.

I can refine this even further because I have tags in for each of the cupboards and fridge and freezer so can turn up just the contents of one of these at a time too.

Other tags can be centred around time, priority, or any kind of category you can think of.

I can also order everything by due date as well.

Most of my home life can be ordered by this app but I do love to use other list apps too.

One way to help stay organised

Definitely FUNWORK  because anything on the Ipad is funwork to me and didn't I say it involved lists and lists and lists and you know I LOVE LISTS

How to PREPARE for a Car Boot Sale! - 13 Helpful Tips

Very busy recently with clearing out some of our daughters things from our house while she was here for a short holiday from South Korea.

She was sooooo good about making decisions on the things that she had left behind in our Guest Room.

I should have taken pictures of the before but I didn't think at the time.

Anyway she had things in:

• two sets of drawers, 
• one hanging rail 
• several bags and boxes piled up in another hanging area

Now she has things in:

• one sets of drawers, 
• half of one hanging rail 

Didn't she do well!!

She spurred me on so that I packed up quite a few things for the Church Car Boot Sale (as well as the things she was donating) and actually was able to go and help out at one of them.

Here again I should have got some pictures of the Car Boot Sale but hindsight is a great thing.


I do have some pictures of the things I decluttered and put out for the Car Boot Sale however.

Car Boot Sale

Before going to a Car Boot Sale it really is a good idea to be as organised as possible as well as making sure that the items you are going to sell are clean and not broken or chipped.

I was going with a friend but we were both taking our own cars and setting up our own tables.

# 1.   Make sure you go early, yes earlier than the organisers of the Car Boot Sale tell you to be there because the people who want to buy will come early and you really need to be set up first.

We parked the cars side by side and had our Church Charity Banner to tie between the two cars.

# 2.   If you are selling for a charity or special cause do make sure you have some kind of banner or sign up because some people will be a little more generous when they know the money is not just going into your pocket.  

Our church has been doing this for a few years now so we have a good banner and we also have some postcard sized cards with more info. printed for giving out.

I have two tables to take with me:  a large square one and a small, low rectangular one.

# 3.   Not everything you have for sale should be on the one table and two different heights is also a good idea drawing the eyes to look around more.

# 4.   A table always looks better if you have a cloth draped over it.   Yes you are selling things cheaply but presentation still draws people to look more closely.

Then I can also put some baskets on the ground too.


I put all the Dvds into one basket

I put all the books into one basket

I put small items that I could charge 20p for into a tin

I put items I could charge 50p for into a basket

# 5.   Not everything you have for sale should be placed on the table for everything to get moved around by the buyers as things will get hidden from sight and the tables will start to look very untidy very quickly.

# 6.   Putting similar items eg. the dvds into the same basket will draw the buyer to take a minute to look through each one.

# 7.   Smaller items are better in baskets, boxes or tins to have less items falling on the ground or getting missed under larger items and simply to keep the area neater.

I put all the clothes into one bag for carrying there and then they can be placed neatly on a table or hung up on a rail.

# 8.   Clothes should always be kept separate where possible so that people can spread them out and have a good look at them without hiding the other items for sale and a rail shows garments off better than having them all bundled on top of each other on a table.

I put all the kitchen, dining or ornamental things in one bag for carrying to the Car Boot Sale and then these would be placed on the table there.

I put all the candles into one lidded container

# 9.   Use sturdy plastic containers which can be placed on the ground giving another place for buyers to look instead of everyone at the same time trying to stretch over the main table.

I placed all the Christmas items in one bag together.

Yes I know it's only September but people are buying Christmas decorations already.

# 10.   Christmas items will sell at any time of the year but it is better to keep them to one side of the main table or on the smaller table so that they have a specific place and do not seem strange mixed in with other household items.

I had a brand new King size Sheet and a brand new pair of pyjamas to take as well

I had 3 large craft type bags and two handbags but only took this picture of 2 of the bags (all 3 large craft bags sold easily - should have asked for more money)

# 11.   Bags are always an attraction for the ladies to have a look at but remember to try to display them nicely and not just throw them into a bag or box as they are never seen to their best advantage in that way.

I also had a pile of hangers to use or to sell

I also made some notices on card to show the price of the items in certain containers

# 12.   Never go to a Car Boot Sale without some price signs.  People will buy quicker when they know the price (and maybe try to do a deal), whereas they may think twice about asking for the price of every object they are interested in.

All of this makes it easier for you to:

•  pack the car to go to the sale, 
•  unload unto the tables and ground for the sale, 
•  pack the things away again into the same bags 
•  lift the baskets back into the car.

Then of course when I got home again it was easy to unload the bags and baskets etc. into the garage to wait for the next one.

Of course there is the last very important thing that you must never forget and should have it prepared in advance.

#13.   Don't forget to have a float of money with you (and a safe place to keep it) to give 

your customers change from the nice large notes you hope they will be parting with 

and also of course to pay for your spot at the event.

A Car Boot Sale can be hard work but if you are friendly with the people who come to look around then they will be friendly too and make the event more pleasant.   Plus going with a friend means you can have a chat now and again and a break for coffee as you can take it in turn to look after both sets.
So it can actually turn out to be some Funwork instead of Housework for a morning.


The first time takes a lot of preparation but once everything is well thought out and good containers acquired each time afterwards is easier to prepare for and more importantly the prep time is so much shorter.

Then just think of the help this will be in decluttering and organising your home.