Paperwork PaperHELL!!!!

One of the things that I loathe the most is Paperwork or as I like to call it PaperHELL. 

For whatever reason, I just can’t keep on top of it so consequently when I need a specific document it’s never quite at my fingertips. 

This situation is made worse at the moment as we are still in possession of all our paperwork from the previous house too.

This is definitely one of the tasks that I intend to tackle over the Easter Holidays, so over the next few weeks I’m going to try and think of a Paperhell Paperwork system that’ll work for us!! Any suggestions will be gratefully received!!

Sprout’s House

           xox

Dining Room Reveal!!

You’ll remember from Sprout’s ‘New’ House Part 1 that our dining room started off looking like this.....

....before it swiftly became standing room only!! So my mission over half term was to get the dining room table up and running so we could stop picnicking in the sitting room!

It had to get so much worse..... 

........before it was got better, but I 

unpacked,

amalgamated,

recycled,

AND

ruthlessly chucked out

until our dining room looked like this!

The table is up, the chairs unstacked, my favourite mirror is hung…… and finally we can sit down and enjoy our meals!!

Sprout’s House

           xox

P.S It’s now packed to the rafters in the boiler room instead!!......

From Cardboard Boxes to Chest of Drawers

I recently expressed my enthusiasm for my ‘built-in’ wardrobes declaring that I thought they were a definite fashion must have......

 

Happily, the situation has improved somewhat as Sprout’s Daddy arrived home with a little surprise for me a couple of weeks ago......

 

 

 

.....a lovely vintage-y set of drawers.

 



So whilst the cardboard cupboards will remain for the foreseeable future at least we have upgraded from cardboard boxes to a beautiful - and space efficient - set of chest of drawers!!

 

Sprout’s House

           xox

Toy Cleaning

In one of my previous posts, I wrote about how I had tackled the toy mountain and part of this involved giving all of Sprout’s toys a good clean. Rather than spend money on a special toy disinfectant, I made my own by mixing together equal parts water and white vinegar plus a few drops of tea tree oil. 

Vinegar will disinfect and deodorise (the smell disappears when it dries), and the tea tree oil has antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Pour it into a spray bottle, arm yourself with a cloth and away you go! This mixture can be used to clean other areas of your house too including kitchen counters, hobs, baths, loos and basins.

If time is not your friend (and mostly it is not mine!!) then Bentley Organic and Dapple Baby make toy cleaners.

Sprout’s House

           xox

PS Safety note - always remember when using a homemade cleaner on a surface for the first time to test it on an inconspicuous section. Plus also remember to label your spray bottle so you remember what you put in it and keep it out of reach of little hands!!

Tackling the Toy Mountain

With only a few weeks (hopefully!!??) left before we move it’s time to tackle the toy mountain.

In my defence, I would like to point out that once upon a time I was going to start my own child minding business so I spent a bit of time raiding charity shops to help expand Sprout’s collection of toys.

It definitely got worse before it got better!!

I worked my way through each shelf and divided her toys into the following piles -

Broken toys – BIN BIN BIN!!!

Baby toys - I cleaned these ready to store should there ever be a Sprout Mark 2.....

Toys to donate – These were cleaned, bagged up and then I took them down to the charity shop so they didn’t get a chance to linger and be ‘re-discovered’!

And finally the toys that are still played with….my aim was to try and fit these into the four baskets you can see in the first two photos ready for easy transportation on moving day. Mission accomplished - ish... (All those puzzles will have to be stored in the baskets closer to M-day.)

Why don't you cull something in your house over the next few day? Even if it's just a few old books or magazines that have been sitting around for ages!!

Sprout’s House

           xox

Organised Earrings

Every morning as I get dressed this is the sight that greets me……

I must waste at least a couple of minutes each day unravelling the mess in order to find some jewellery to wear. Consequently, I end up wearing the same 2 or 3 pairs of earrings all the time. Something had to be done!! And preferably without spending any money!!

Cue these little beauties! They originally held some wedding decorations, but I had a ‘light bulb’ moment the other day and realised that they would fit into this miniature set of drawers.

If you’re on a budget like me, ice cube trays also make very effective storage for earrings. Whilst not everyone’s aesthetic cup of tea, popped in a drawer they shouldn’t cause too much visual offence!! 

Ikea and Hobbycraft also have great range of well-priced storage solutions including: 

Mien Storage box 

Moppe Mini Chest of Drawers

 

Flambeau Artbin Solutions Storage Box  comes complete with little plastic dividers so you can arrange and re-arrange the compartments as needed!

Beadalon Stackable Containers Medium 

Although originally for storing beads this pack of 5 containers twist together and would be ideal to take away on trips.

And if you fancy adding a bit of colour to your life, how about these?

Vammen boxes

Finally, for those who really fancy treating themselves to some fantastic jewellery storage (and blowing the budget!) Stackers by LC Designs are great way to organise your trinkets. 

They offer a selection of different trays, that can be stacked in any order, so you can tailor your storage to your exact collection needs. Men are also catered for with suitably macho designs that include trays for storing watches and cuff links.

Have you found any imaginative ways to store 
your jewellery?

Sprout’s House

           xox

Behind Closed Doors

Continuing with my streamlining mission, this weekend I attacked my ‘lotions and potions’ cupboard. This space had originally been designed to hold all our toiletries, but had recently become a dumping ground for pretty much anything we could squeeze into it including ornaments, belts, a wire pig(?) and an oil burner.

It also contained some seriously old creams and cosmetics some bought before Sprout’s arrival in our lives. Having done some research, I decided that an awful lot of it would have to be binned as most websites recommended that the maximum amount of time you should keep a product is 1 year!!

Here’s the low down:

Product	Expiry Date
Mascara	3 months
Eye gels and creams	3 months
Eye shadows and liners	3-6 months
Foundations(cream and liquid)	3 months
Concealers	6 months
Face creams and lotions	6 months
Toners	1 year
Lipsticks	1 year
Powders (pressed and loose)	1 year
Face wash	1 year
Perfume and Fragrances	1 year

So let the purge commence..........

I wish I could say that I threw out more than I kept and the basket on the left was heading for the bin, but this was actually the KEEP pile! However, I did get rid of some products that were at least 3 years old, and also some items that shouldn’t have even been in the cupboard including a plug timer, a variety of jewellery boxes and some medicines.

Then I had a good old sort out......

I grouped what was left into several categories including hair care, skin care, vitamins, deodorants and perfumes. This was a great exercise as it meant I could have a good look at what I actually I had, and as it turned out this included 7 deodorants, 6 bottles of lens solution, 4 or 5 moisturising creams and a million and one kirby grips. Lesson learnt - no more buying deodorant for a while!!

Now for the most important bit! Putting it all back in the cupboard!

I tried to keep each group of items together, so when I open the cupboard, in future, it will be easy to see what I’ve got! I also re-purposed a mug to hold all my nail related products, a cotton bud container to house all my stray contact lenses and a wicker pot for all those rogue kirby grips!

A little bit of before and after action......

So go on, have a riffle through your toiletries and throw out the ones that have been hanging around for ages!!

Sprout’s House

           xox

More money making ideas…..

Hmm…… so you own this riveting selection of books ……

Sprout’s Daddy can take all the credit for these titles!

 and you need to fund the cost of moving house. What do you do?

SELL, SELL, SELL!!!!

And of course the bonus of selling is that you don’t end up having to pay for the pleasure of moving these items at a later date. In my book(!) that makes it a win win situation.

Continuing with the theme of trying to rid our house of as much junk as possible Sprout’s Daddy has set up a seller’s account with Amazon in order to sell some of his books. It’s easy to do as you simply login into your Amazon account and click Your Account in the right hand corner of the screen. Then there is a box entitled Your Other Accounts where you can either choose Your Trade-in Account or the Sell your Stuff option.

Your Trade-in Account

Here you can trade-in books and video games in return for a Gift Card to spend on whatever you like on Amazon. Helpfully, Amazon also includes a list of your last few purchases so that you can easily trade-in these items without having to search for them. Otherwise all you need to do is search for your item by title, keyword or ISBN and click the Trade-in button. Once your items are received and approved, the Gift Card will automatically be added to your account.

Sell your Stuff

This option allows you to sell a wider variety of items from older books, DVDs and electronics to DIY, and home and garden items. Choose the product you want to sell, answer questions about its condition, select your delivery method then list your item. Easy!

In the past, we’ve also had great success with musicMagpie. This time you enter the barcode of a CD, DVD or Game you want to sell and it will give you the trade-in price. You need to enter a minimum of 10 items to complete your trade-in. Sending your items is completely free and if you're selling more than 25 items musicMagpie will send a courier to pick them up for free.

Please bear in mind that just like ebay you will have to pay fees whether they are incorporated into the trade-in price or just a percentage of the price you sell the item for! However fees aside, the convenience of selling from the comfort of your own home definitely makes me a convert!!

Have you made any extra money recently? Let me know if you have any great ideas for money making schemes and get the chance to share your tips at

Sprout’s House.

Sprout’s House

           Xox

Weigh and Pay

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have recently had a good clear out of my wardrobes and as usual I took all the bits and pieces that I'd decided to part company with to my local charity shop. However, my soon-to-be sister-in-law recently drew my attention to a scheme that operates in her area – Weigh and Pay. In a nutshell, they are a company who specialise in recycling textiles – clothes, shoes, handbags, belts, curtains and household linen – and for every 10kg bag you drop off at their recycling centre they will give you £4! So you can raise a bit of money and cleanse your house at the same time – result!!

Although Weigh and Pay only operates in the Wrexham area, there are other schemes available too.

Cash for Clothing operates throughout the UK and will collect from your door. They not only take clothing, but also CDs and DVDs too. The clothing they collect is sent to third world countries or to those experiencing situations that result in extreme poverty. Clothing that is not suitable to be re-used will either be made into new textiles or be used as wiping cloths by various industries.

UK Clothing Caravan also offers a clothes collection service. Their work force grade and sort each piece of clothing into over 200 grades before exporting it worldwide. As well as proving affordable second-hand clothes it also generates employment and supporting entrepreneurship in the developing world. You can also use this scheme to raise money for your local community or fund raise for a cause you want to help.

Ultimately by recycling clothing, you are also being environmentally friendly as the more that's sent to landfill the more that has to be produced thus increasing pollution.

If you need any more convincing here’s an equation that everyone can relate to!!

(Equation courtesy of soon-to-be sister-in-law!!)

Sprout’s House

           Xox

Another First…

After launching Sprout’s House with my first post it’s time to get a bit more technical and create a post that includes photos too! So here goes….

I was genuinely quite shocked to get my first comment so quickly (Thanks Kate!!) as I had imagined that I would be blogging away for quite some time before anyone took much notice. So keep them coming and I’ll do my best to reply.

For those that didn’t see it, my first comment was written by Kate and she suggested that I start by doing a ‘cleanse’.

 ‘I would start sorting and doing a 'cleanse' so you take the minimum junk. Pack a box and be really virgo-like by making a list of what's in it. Mark on the box a brief description and mark clearly which room you want the removal people to put it in on your moving day, rather than them dumping it all in one room. If you want to take it a stage further you could even number the box so you can reference it to the contents list.

Think of it as a cleansing ritual, it may also keep you occupied so there is less time to fret on the other aspects of moving house.’

About a month ago, I spent a morning ‘cleansing’ my wardrobes and at the time I congratulated myself on my ruthlessness. However, my enthusiasm soon dried up!

So today marked the start of the ‘cleanse’ - round 2. I decided to start small with Sprout’s changing table which to be frank was quite a mess.

We’ve all read those articles where it recommends that you use 3 containers so you can divide your things into KEEP, CHARITY SHOP and BIN. But has anyone actually used this method? I for one have never bothered so I thought I’d give it a go.

Three Ikea wastepaper baskets later and I had my containers ready for the ‘cleansing experience’ to take place. I started by emptying each shelf in turn and throwing the contents in the appropriate basket. 

So simple…… 

And yet......in this instance my KEEP basket was ginormous, the CHARITY SHOP bin contained precisely 2 items (a belt and a whistle), and the BIN basket had a few out of date medicines in it. So it was a bit of a fail in terms of throwing things out, but I did streamline what was kept in the changing table. Most of the KEEP basket consisted of clothes Sprout had grown out of so I was able to store those with her other old clothes......And now it looks pretty organised and most importantly cleansed!!

Another unexpected bonus of today’s exercise has been that I ended up with a whole basket free so I was able to store some of Sprout’s books at the front and some of her bulkier jumpers at the back.

A bit of before and after action! And now I’m on track to continue cleansing the rest of my house. What about you? Do you feel like having a ‘mini-cleanse’ over the bank holiday weekend? Let me know how you get on!

Sprout’s House

           xox