Spring Cleaning

I've been on the go for the past month which included a trip back to the US by myself. It was heavenly and I bought the ticket with miles. It was a much needed shot in the arm.

But I'm back now and trying to reorganize my life. Since this is the first spring in over three years that I haven't had an impending house move, I've decided to settle in a little. First thing - clean everything from top to bottom. I started with the bathroom - ick. Loathesome job, but someone has to do it. The rest will come later this week.

We decided to stay put over the term break and redo the kids room as well as the bathroom. The bathroom has left me in a state of dismay since we moved it. There is NOTHING wrong with it - I just find it dull - ugly, putty coloured walls, old-grandpa-esque tub, horrible, clunky wash basin and the huge, unattractive cabinet that houses the boiler. It's all old, icky and just not pretty and posh enough for Her Majesty (that being me).

In order to fund this I wrote an article for a magazine here in the UK - it paid enough to buy the paint. And I sold our double buggy, the buggy board, some of my fancy Tory Burch shoes, a few designer handbags I have absolutely no use for anymore and a few other odds and ends. that was enough to buy bunk beds for the kids (new ones, not second hand - I'm not keen on buying used beds), rugs, a plant, baskets and lamps. A lot is coming from Ikea, but I have picked up the bath rug from Sainsbury's using my Nectar points and lamps from Argos.

I have to say it is really nice to just get rid of things I hang onto for no discernible reason.I do not work in an office anymore so I don't need 24 handbags. I don't need the many, many fancy shoes either. So I'm gearing up for another round of eBay sales to fund our two day trips. One trip is to Brighton for the day, the other is to Windsor for an over night.

Mind you, this is all 'found' money and not coming out of our strict budget. The groceries are still a major effort and I've been watching the Discovery Channel show Extreme Couponing. This is NOT helping me. The people on that show are mad - but they are effective. There are two things that are prohibitive from utilizing their methods: the UK does not do coupons/vouchers like the US and I do not buy many prepackaged goods like instant mashed potatoes, packaged noodle/rice mixtures and such. I like things fresh (which does not help the money situation as organic = £££)

However, I press on.