project one : : our new dressing table

So after two weeks of stress in not being able to do any organizing, I took some time out today to finally get something done. 


After a quick trip down to Ikea, we found our dressing table. It was slim, had a drawer and had a clean design - just the way we wanted it. And just to prove that girls can do manly things too, I decided to put it together all by myself.

Hello challenge.

It looked pretty achievable...

Yes, with the help of Ikea's DIY manual.

Okay, maybe this was a bit daunting:

But I was determined!

Not to mention that I was quite in awe of some of the types of screws they had... Like these:

It took me a while to figure some parts out, but within an hour of trying to match the picture to the actual bits... Hey presto!

Hello New Dressing Table!

What a difference it is compared to the state that this corner was in a week ago...

Now to get all our girly stuff together, put in some mirrors, perhaps a small whiteboard for happy notes...and we'll be ready to get pretty!

motivational mondays

What a past two weeks it has been with a whole bunch of changes that pretty much messed up the routine and schedule in my life - which was severely disturbing to a mildly OCD planner like myself. Two weeks into my new job, I find myself pondering over the benefits of the time investment, my motivations to joining the company, and the consequences of such a choice - including momentarily giving up being involved in a family business of which I pretty much invested most of my life preparing myself for.

Under the sudden realization of the many concerns that have been weighing on my heart, today, I broke under the pressure. Today I pondered over the dreams that I've had, my passions, my responsibilities, and wonder if I have been overwhelmed with the grinding axles of time that I had made a distracted choice of a harder, side-path - veering further away from my true dreams and goals in life.

To be honest, I don't believe that any experience is a wasted one. Rather, I believe everything has a purpose and a learning that can be gleaned...no matter how painful. However, I also believe that not every learning has to be experienced first-hand. Mistakes can be learned from that of the experiences of others (saving you the consequences) - that's why I believe in reading and listening to the experiences of others; after all the millions of years of life and the gajillions of lives that have been lived, someone out there, at some point in time, has bound to have faced a similar challenge and learned to overcome it.

So as I now tackle issues of my dreams and where I best fit in the world, as the younger sister ranted about not knowing what to do with her life, the older sister considers new horizons, and the brother starts on a new job as an assistant youth pastor this coming Wednesday, this week's topic is on dreams and fulfilling our potential. I think I'm also going to schedule an accompanying open family-project to make our own "Adventure Books" like in the show Up. It'd be like an activity where we'll just cut and paste pictures and words into a book of our dreams and aspirations. One of my girlfriends and I spent some time doing it one night and it turned out to be a really revealing experience - as it challenged me to think through my  dreams and goals of the past and present and to reevaluate how important they were to me.

These are the articles that are going on the door this week.
Get pondering...

1. The World Needs You To Do What You Love.
   - Including 5 things your could do to get paid to do what you love.
2. Do Interesting Things.
   - A short but very motivational read.
3. The Five Reasons Why You're Not Fulfilling Your Potential
   - It's a pretty real piece, which is what I liked about it. 

life mess

The past four days have been living truth that when life gets messy, the mind gets messy. And when the mind gets messy, it gets really hard to get things organized. 

I was so revved up to get the house organized, but somehow I didn't expect my new job to take so much energy and time out of me. Today I'm considering about the different pieces of my life right now and the fruits they are bearing. Perhaps there is more than the external environment that I need to focus on right now. I've always believed in cleaning from the inside out - no point having a closet look pristine from the outside but be absolutely in chaos within. Similarly, it's just as dangerous to look fine on the outside when we're facing turmoil within. People need to be real - inside and out.

I'm going to take the week to really think through the different pieces of my life right now (job, people, personal interests), evaluate my motivations, and schedule my time for my priorities.

The large table was claimed though, and the vanity table has been bought. It's still in its box and I hope to set it up sometime this week... when I finally get the time to get it done. Sigh...

Thought of the day
Sometimes it's good to take a breather away from life to evaluate it. Just as one could cover longer distances by stopping to take short rests on long runs, short breaks throughout life could help carry us further.

question friday : : an introduction

Starting next Friday, I'm going to start answering questions or challenges that you might have about organizing/decluttering. It could be as simple as "How do I fight and win the battle against dust bunnies?" or "How can I best organize my paperclip collection" to "How do I get the people in my house to work with me in living an organized life?" or "My whole house is a smokey mountain! Where do I start?!"


Leave a comment or email me at springcleangirl@gmail.com with your questions/challenges, and I'll get to finding some good solutions for you.


P/S Go ahead and watch the video about Smokey Mountain. It's always good to open our eyes to the world beyond our shores and open our hearts to the world out there who may not be as "well-off" as us. Count your blessings for there are many more than you probably realize.

thursday treats this week...erm...

The present is so small that I'm just too shy to give this week...

So the good news is that I started a new job this week (and I LOVE it, but that's not the point). The bad news is that this change - including the preparations for, and the time spent at, this new job - completely messed up my scheduling of the "finding" of new treats for you this week! :( Sorry... organizing has been a lot slower with a new job.

I do have a couple of items that I have collected over the small tasks I was able to squeeze time in the past week for, but I don't think it's enough to justify your time. Instead, it might be better to let this week pass and lump this small lot along with next week's lot - which would be much more productive in terms of your time in surfing through (and collecting) the bigger pile of presents.

Sorry guys (and ladies). What I can say, however, is that I've already targeted FIVE small areas that I'm going to be organizing this week, so you can imagine the type of treats I might be posting up this week.

These are my targets...

This cabinet

Which is filled with tons of techy, electronic stuff.

This area 

It's going to have to be a joint effort between the younger sister and I. 

Tons of academic notes, trinket, and things from Japan. It's a a goldmine...if she can bear to part with them, and if you can chope them before she changes her mind.

The Tall Shelf

One of the last phases of organizing this shelf - looking through the books and academic things.

A Floor-to-ceiling Pile of Things on the first floor 

(which is actually in the eventual Project..Four, I think)

that could be filled with anything.

And the setting up of the vanity table over the weekend would involve going through all our girly things...

Sounds like it's going to be a myriad of things next week...
Hope you're not too disappointed! Look forward to next week! :)

project one : : shelf update

Here was how the health of our tall shelf was:

Clutter galore.

(I think I should start a counter of how many times I use this phrase)

And here is how it is now...

The organization of the shelves have changed - including a full shelf each for the sisters, and a full language shelf. The vanity things have also been moved away to make space for the administrative things. More books will be cleared away when we come to the book-edition of Thursday Treats (i.e. the day I go through the family library and see what we can give away). I'll suppose I have to schedule that soon.

And now to work on the other side of the room which is quite a big mess now with all the furniture and item shifting. There are a few processes that will need to be smoothed out, but it will be accomplished soon enough! :)

And just to give you a glimpse of the task ahead. here's my sister's new space... (Yes, this was taken on one of her messiest of nights since moving into the new space).

And Yes, that's a ton of things spilling onto her bed - which means she needs more space for her paperwork/books. I shall need to find some for her. We shall have to factor this into the choice of the vanity table which will be placed diagonally behind her.

And here's the big table with a bajillion things.

This is also the area for our akan datang vanity table.

Observing the things beginning to be left here are giving me clues to the needs of this area - such as the need for a place for my sisters to put their bags/purses. I just hope I'll be able to find a good solution to our needs.

Alright, Slow and steady...

One item at a time.

project one : : wardrobe update

You know there are days where you realize that photos are very powerful motivational tools? 

Well, today was such a day for me.

From this:

Clothes are jumbled up, bags are squished, and a bajillion and one things crushed everywhere.

To this:

The clothes are organized by type, colour and height.

Things that did not belong in this area were removed and brought to new "homes".

The area on top of the drawers looked like this:

As you can see the things that don't belong, squished bags, lots of other squished things...

And now it looks like this:

All our bags are now sorted into 2 of those 3 drawers. 

The top drawer is for bandanas, scarves and caps. 

The second drawer is for small bags, purses and clutches.

The large drawer is for larger bags.

Here's a look at one of the drawers:

No more pulling everything in and out and not knowing where everything is. 

Happiness!

A tool that I found very handy in organizing this area was a belt organizer from Ikea

It's pretty isn't it? To think our previous storage "solution" was a square rattan basket! You have no idea how frustrating it was trying to pull everything out to find that one particular belt all jumbled in the basket. Now we can see exactly what we want, and know how to get it specifically and easily, as well as how to put it back (which is important for a sustainable system). 

Simple.

The insides of the wooden drawers look a lot better now too...but I don't think it's appropriate to post underpants on anything public - even online..especially online. I mean, I even feel strange just seeing them hung out to dry on those bamboo poles. It's just strange seeing women's lingerie out in the open like that. Eww.

Anyway...


There's just one bag of belts (that white bag you see) and a box of scarves that we have to deal with, and we'll be done with this area. 
Hurrah! 

Cost of making the wardrobe a better place:

Ikea plastic drawer unit ($40)

Ikea belt organizers ($0, because we have had this lying around unused  for a while)

Ikea drawer oeganizers (that I used inside the drawers) ($12.95)

Total expenditure: $52.95 

For all the saved grunts, frustration and time, that's definitely worth it.

motivation monday

So the family seems to be going through a little bit of a season of change. I'm starting work at my first "real job" outside the business today. My brother has just been accepted to work as an assistant youth pastor. My younger sister is just adjusting to having handed over the presidency of a society she had been leading for the past year. The older sister has also handed over part of her portfolio to someone else... a lot of changes are happening in our lives.


This week, our topic is on changes in life, dealing with them, and moving into new seasons of growth. Change can come at any time, and in many forms. A lot of the time, change is scary. A lot of the time, even if the change is positive, there's always something we need to let go of to help us move into the new phase. Changes happen - whether for "better" or "worse" - but it is change that brings growth, and growth is a sign of life (just think of how it all works out in nature too!).

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. – King Whitney Jr.

I think one of the wisest things that I've learned about changes in life is that you cannot always choose what happens, and you cannot always be in control of the change, but you can choose how to respond to it. There is always a variety of perspectives one can take over a single situation. The difference in one's perspective, and the ensuing choice of response, could differentiate between a winner and loser, a failure or finisher. Choose to take (or find) the positive one. A little reframing can go a long way.  

My selection this week includes some biblical ones which would give new perspectives to the topic - and not just a selection of purely secular similar views phrased differently.


Here are the links to the articles I've posted up on the door this week:

• Dealing with Life's Changes
• Being forward looking and changing the world with change
• How to face change, be it unexpected or self-motivated
• New Beginnings and working them through with God (Okay, it might be strange that this is at "retirementwithapurpose.com" but I thought it was biblically insightful)

For people who prefer watching/listening, here is a short video that I thought had a couple of things that made me ponder. I'll try to post up better videos next week as I explore the world of online videos.


Here are a list of quotes about changes if you're a quote-y sort of person. 


This was my favourite one:

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."

And I love butterflies.

Goal Setting Sunday

So I'm starting a new job later today (yes I am!) and I'm both completely nervous and excited about it. It's a 5.5 day week job which means that I'm going to have less time to work on the projects, but I suppose we just have to work in smaller chunks. 

Goal for this week:

1.To finish up the organization of this mess

(which actually looks a lot better now..but I'm going to leave it a surprise till it's properly done up)

2. To completely get the tall shelf organized (you can see it pictured here), and

3. To get our new vanity table bought and set up.

It's a lot of project one work this week. 

Looking forward to nice, accomplished, photos!

P/S The sisters and I have decided to get rid of the big white table so that we can get a vanity table in our room instead. I broke a little connector knob thingy off one of it's leg-planks though, but if you're willing to fix it, it might work for you. 

This is the only picture I have of it now.

It measures 59"(L) X 29"(B) X 30"(H). If you're interested, just leave a comment with your contact details, or drop me an email at springcleangirl@gmail.com. The earlier it's claimed, the earlier we can get our vanity table! :)

sunday randomness : : I am a toilet...good to know.

You Are the Bathroom

Overall, you are a healthy person. You enjoy taking care of yourself. You are also quite attractive. Looking your best makes you feel your best. You are conscientious and detailed oriented. You stay on top of things. You are very honest and open. Privacy is not something you need a lot of.

I have to say, though, that it's pretty accurate...okay, maybe except the "attractive" part. :P


Go ahead and take the quiz if you want to:
What Room of the House Are You?

I wonder how many other "toilet friends" I have. :)

Pure Giving.

So I posted up stuff yesterday in my Picasa album and got a bit worried that no one would want any of it. I logged into Freecycle, submitted an offering post, and the next thing I know, I get something like 50 emails for the items! I only had a few minutes tonight to browse through a couple of the mails, but chances are, I might be able to give out everything! :) Happiness!


There's something about giving that I love very much. It almost feels like Christmas... except it's September, and I didn't have to spend money on the gifts, and I don't really know any of the people I'm giving to. :) But it's okay! I think it's even more wonderful that I don't know anyone that I'm blessing - because then I won't have any part of me in expectation of receiving - which makes the giving all the more awesome...it's like experiencing pure giving. :)


Now I'll just need time to read through the emails, pack everything into groups, tag them with names, and send them away! This is more awesome than I thought. Everyone should give more often! And give purely! (Or purely give?)


I can't wait for next Thursday!


P/S If you're one of the awesome Freecyclers who emailed me, please be patient alright? I need some time to go through everything and get them organized for you.

If you've been keeping a bajillion (or more) things in your home, consider blessing someone else today!

Let's be honest, 99% of all the things you buy depreciate in value/material...even when it's stored in your cupboard. It's a simple fact that things decay (it's even biblical wisdom). If it's not the moths, it's rust, if not...then the dust bunnies might get to it. In fact, if things are stored in your closet, they're not just zero value, but are actually negative value - because it's taking up space in your house that could be used for something else that could serve you (and/or your family) better. I haven't gone and done proper research, but I'm pretty certain that even when things are cluttered up behind closet doors, it still affects you psychologically (Has anyone also experienced that nice feeling of relief and lightness after a good round of spring cleaning and throwing things out?) Giving away the extra things in your life would at least give them life and productivity... even if for someone else.

Sometimes, the returns are a lot greater when we let go.

If you're thinking where you can go to give away your things:

1. The Salvation Army has several drop off boxes all over Singapore.

2. Freecycle is an amazing online community of giving... not to mention that you actually get to meet the people you bless (even if only for a brief "Oh hello, this is it. Hope it blesses you. Bye." minute). Just log in, post, and start giving!

3. If you have clothes to give away, there's a Freecycler who's collecting old clothes too! So if you have clothes you want to give away, I can connect you guys!

It's really not that difficult. Just visionize the betterment of life in letting go, set aside time (even if it's just 15 minutes a day) and just pack, take a deep breath, and just...give.

I can offer you free encouragement anytime if you need it! :)

random cleaning update : : we have been attacked!

Argh! They've attacked!

Giant dust bunny!!!

Stop trying to look cute! 

Swat swat wipe wipe!

Actually, have you ever wondered why they call them dust bunnies?
Why bunnies?  I bet I was right about their similar reproduction rates...

I actually thought this particular one looked more like a platypus.

As so:

Still! DUST!

*frantic wiping ensues*

Here's an interesting site to understand the life of these "gentle creatures"...
even down to how to care for them.


Right, back to work fun.

There are some good dusting tips here.

When wiping or dusting, I've found it best to make gravity work for you and work from top down. Just the other day, I watched as my househelper cleaned my bedroom ceiling fan after she had tediously cleaned my whole bedroom floor (yes, with a bucket of water and a cloth). Rework back on the floor can be a frustrating experience. Start with ceilings, airconditioners, fans, top of walls, and work downward.

Oh, and when working with areas under siege with dust bunnies as I've encountered today, remember to dry-dust first before wet-dusting. (i.e use a dry cloth/paper towel/sock/other tool that'd help you sweep the clumps away before you use a wet cloth to go over the surfaces).

thursday treats

I'm just getting into developing a weekly schedule of posts and have decided that Thursdays would be the day I'd post up new things that I've found around the house to give away! :)


I've already posted up the first round of items in the new Picasa album you see in the sidebar. I can't believe I actually put more than 50 items together!


Some of the featured items this week (that I think most people would like) include NINE rolls of camera film and a camera battery, some very pretty vases and tons of creative material. Oh, there are also some T-shirt transfers for anyone who might be interested in stuff like that. :)


All the items this week are free (do take a look at the album description for more information - especially the part about the cookies. :)). In the future, I might price some items. If there's a price to it, it'd be indicated in the photo captions. 


Happy browsing!
If you'd like anything, just email me at springcleangirl@gmail.com with:

• Your Name
• Your Contact Number
• The Item Code(s) as indicated in the brackets in the captions of the pictures

Once I've got your email, I'll reserve it for you, and we'll arrange for a pick up somewhere convenient. :) It's basically first come first served. Anything that sits around for more than two weeks will be donated to a cause. :)


Looking forward to blessing you!
xoxo,
springcleangirl

project two : : update (in the orange!)

Ready to see the fruits of a day's labour?


Before

After

No more clutter and random boxes on the floor!

Before

After

Now you can actually see the ribbons, and there are two specific boxes for painting and stamping tools. :)

What a productive day it has been for the landing area! I had so much fun pulling things out of the cupboard and constantly saying things like "What the?" and "Oh, that's interesting" to myself. :) Here's some of the stuff I found...

Starting with a most pleasant realization...

Mint chocolate liqueur!

I should have recognized your existence earlier!

Come to mama... :)

And just to show how organized I can get...

Yes, every single one has a number on it. And yes, they are mainly arranged according to numerical order. :) No more hassle if we ever have a cross-stitching itch!

And about organizing seashells...

Haha, okay, I'm kidding.

The seashells were only sorted and labelled because I used them for one of my school projects. Once that was over, I put the shells back into my crafts box so that I could reuse them. I can't imagine sorting and labelling my whole shell collection. That'd be seriously overdoing it - especially that it doesn't really matter that much.

Here's something to help you understand one of my "What the?!" moments...

Yes, that's TEPPENYAKI FOIL.

You know, the foil they use at Japanese teppenyaki restaurants to cook your food. Yes, that. To think I have enough foil at home for about... a week of customers. We also have chocolate foil - as in, the foils they use to wrap chocolates. Don't ask me why we have these. It probably has a lot to do with the family being in the food business...

Only that we don't do Japanese food, nor chocolate.

This was a nice find too...

Mind you, that's a Club 21 Christmas ornament.

I don't know how much it costs, but I can tell you that most Club 21 anythings are not very cheap. It's darn pretty too... I wonder if there are anymore around.

(Can't wait for Christmas!)

Found some absolutely beautiful yarn... 

Hurrah for new knitting/crocheting projects!

How about some nostalgia, anyone?

Just for the record, I LOVED this group.

In fact, I'm going to youtube some of their music right now.
What happened to them anyway? They were so good.

This was a really cool find too (as in creative-geek-cool):

Do you know what it's for?

It's for making stuff like this:

Corrugated paper! *rave*
I believe you can get these at Spotlight or any other hardcore craft store.

And about those boxes on top of the cupboard... 

I wasn't kidding when I said they could be filled with anything. Stamp pads, decor, books, paints... I was really happy to find that little thing with the dial though (yes, that little orangey-red thing with the round dial). I don't know if you know what it is, but you basically put a special tape through it, turn the dial to the alphabet you want, click it, and it kinda...types out whatever you want on the tape, and Hey presto! You've got a label. I don't know whether we can still find the ribbon for it, but if I do find it, it'd be hours of fun (and a very euphoric time of labeling).

And in that last box, I've already told you that it's filled with ribbons...

I was dead serious. :)

So yes, I've spent the whole day wading through a whole hoard of things, but it's okay, after a couple of hours of clearing out and reorganizing, finding new storage solutions, and thinking through the items...this was the result:

From this...

To this...

So it's not perfected yet, but the organization is a lot better now! :)

The top shelf holds random household items we barely use.

The second shelf mainly with dressmaking items and fabrics.

The third shelf consists of my creative stuffies.

The fourth shelf with some frames, christmas items (the will be cleared in December), and bulbs.

And the last shelf is...yes, you guessed it, completely filled with alcohol. (Yes, alcohol that I intend to use in my new plans for friend-making events).


I shall endearingly name the bottom shelf "Molotov". :)

Okay, not funny.

To be honest, the cupboard is still not as clear and organized as I'd like it to be because I haven't found the best storage solutions for some of the items. But I will find them! And I intend to find them from other random places in the house too - so that I won't have to spend a single cent getting things organized. :) If there was an organizing scale from Red (Absolute Mess) to Green (Organizational Peace and Happiness), I'd say this place is somewhere in the orange-yellow now (just need to get better storage solutions and get rid of a pile of stuff I'm planning to give away before I get to the green.).

Proud of myself today. :)

I'll probably be spending the next two days working on Project One. 

Wish me luck! Can't wait to share the results!


P/S: The album of things to give away should be posted up tomorrow! (Hope I'll be able to group and list everything properly in time) Look out for that if you want anything.

Tip of the Day

Here are some things that I found very helpful in my packing today that I thought would be worth sharing:

A clever step ladder.  

It stores neatly as a stool when you don't need it and it's very handy for the house. Not to mention it's a lot prettier than those metal monsters any day. I unfortunately can't remember where we got this one. I did find a pretty vintage one on ebay if you're interested in getting yourself a step ladder. It looks very "e ole' library"ish, but know that it doesn't fold away.

About storing ribbons, I found a lot of half used ribbons today as so:

Thing is, you can barely see the ribbon that's inside of it - which would make ribbon-searching very annoying. So I did what would have made life a lot more efficient...

Yes, I just cut away the extra cardboard. It takes up a lot less space now, and it's a lot more efficient to find. Not to mention that I no longer have to deal with the crummy banged up extra cardboard. (As you can see, it does not have to be a perfect circular cut. Don't sweat the unimportant small stuff.)

You might have noticed that, other than the big box of ribbons on the top of the cupboard, I also created a duplicate space for ribbons in the cupboard itself:

As I thought about the usage of ribbons in my home, I realized that although we sometimes look for specific colours, most of the time, we just need something to make a present look a little more decent. I accomplished two goals by setting up this duplicate ribbon space: i) it reduces the hassle of having to climb up to get the huge box of ribbons from the top of the cupboard, and ii) it encourages finishing the currently much smaller rolls (which is what I put in this basket).

Thinking through usage patterns really helps in thinking of how to create and organize spaces. Think and plan before you begin - it'd save you a lot of frustration and reorganization later.