Moving House Part one – Finding a new place

I decided to start a new regular series on moving house, another 4 parter. To be honest it was mainly because of lack of anything else to post at the moment, as home projects have taken a back seat. However a lot of my other projects are wrapping up and I hope to get at least some garden work done this weekend so I should have a courtyard update soon!

I'm not an expert on moving home but I think with the amount of times we've done it in only 5 years of living together we are getting close enough! We've lived in 4 properties over 5 years, our average is 1.5 years per place (some longer some shorter)...I hope we won't move again until we buy somewhere now! I thought it would be good to share the experiences we've had. 

So you've decided you want to move or been given notice by your landlord to leave, what’s the next step? If you've been given your notice, first take a deep breath and don’t panic! The first time we were given 2 months notice I was so upset that we had to move (even though I didn't love the place we were in) as I thought we’d never find a place in time, but we were actually out with time to spare!

A few hints and tips we've found along the way when house hunting:

• Sit down and think about where you want to move, and what you need from your new place. We make a list of absolutely essential requirements (cost, location, size and area are often the main ones) then a second list of things that would be nice but you could live without or work around (near shops, off road parking etc).
• Stick to your essential requirements (for us compromising on them has only lead to being dissatisfied after moving in), but don’t be too fussy on the rest especially if you have a deadline to move. For example somewhere must meet all of our essential requirements for us to book a viewing. We decided this time we wanted at least a one bedroom so discounted any studios, it must have central heating, so we didn't bother looking at anything with night storage heating and so on.  The ‘would be nice’ list comes second, it’s fantastic to find somewhere that meets the requirements of both lists but it is just not always possible. We managed to meet nearly all of our 'would be nice' points and our essential list and we are the happiest we've ever been with a property.
• Call or email all your local letting agents and let them know your requirements, and start getting the local newspapers (or steal the classifieds/property section from someone who does) and look in there every day. Obviously you may be in more of a hurry if you've been given your notice, so look at every available place to find advertisements – Local papers, property websites, do a search engine search for your area, classifieds websites as well as lettings agents.
• Also tell everyone you know that you’re looking for a new place, I knew 2 people at work who live near where we wanted to move to so they were looking out for ‘to let’ signs in their area for us.
• If you both work set aside a day per week for viewings so you can just book in a viewing without having to keep checking with each other and calling agents back.
• Being clear on what you want will save time when viewing, we found that there were a lot of places out there to let and we had to narrow it down a bit otherwise we would have spent hours looking round flats that weren't suitable. 
• Try not to get caught in the trap of thinking ‘I’ll just move there for now then look for somewhere else’, if you've been given a deadline to move it can be scary but persevere looking for somewhere. We had real trouble finding somewhere to take us with pets and I considered moving into somewhere like a studio temporarily then moving once the 6 month or year contract was up – but that would just mean more upheaval and a year of living somewhere we didn't like. 2 of us plus 2 cats and 2 turtles in a studio is not something I would like to try but I got near to considering it.
• However, if it gets really close you might need to think about temporary accommodation, like staying with family or friends and storing your stuff while you carry on looking. 
• Or take a good harsh, honest look at your list of essentials, is it too long? Is something always an issue? Do your expectations match your budget? If not one of them needs to change. Do you really need hardwood floors and fireplaces and is that holding you back being on your absolutely essential list when your budget isn't getting you those period feature properties? Get to the reality of what you really need, budget, bedrooms and pets would be all I really need if I was struggling to find better, the rest (new fittings, nice decor, near shops etc) is 'would be nice'.
• Make sure you ask all the relevant questions to you before going to look at somewhere, like price, area, pets allowed, size etc. Don’t assume just because the agent is calling you that it’s suitable, as sadly I often found this not to be the case. We moved for the first time with pets last time and although when I registered with all the agencies I told them we had cats we often got calls back about places that didn’t accept pets! One agent was very keen and sent me weekly emails of properties they had ‘selected’ for us, but when I called back to make enquiries about them most of the time nearly all of them were not suitable being either too expensive, not allowing pets or not in the area we’d asked for!
• Ask for the full address and look it up before you go, we asked for areas in the suburbs between Gloucester and Cheltenham or in Cheltenham, but there are areas within this that are not so desirable. For example, we got a call for a house, 2 bedroom with a garden and a driveway etc, within our price range and available now. I booked the viewing and looked up the address on Google maps only to find it was in an area that I did not want to live in (locals might know where I mean!) so I cancelled it.

Feel free to add any more tips in the comments, I hope that’s helpful it’s really just some common sense guidelines for looking for rental properties. Next up will be viewings. 

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1 Year on - Hates?

After the post on Monday about things we love about our flat a year in, here's the post on the things that we don't love. 

I said the same in the post back here that I did 6 months in along a similar topic, but there really isn't anything we really hate about this flat. However there are a few things that could be better. We've actually managed to resolve a lot of the issues, or they were things we just needed to get used to, so I though a recap of the issues we had 6 months ago would be good:

1. 'Apartment Living' as the Americans call it can take a bit of getting used to (before this we lived in a maisonette and then houses), there are people living above us and on both sides. Sometimes there can be noise from them, and sometimes I'm conscious that we might be disturbing them. We also share the wheelie bin, so have started using litter tray liners and bin liners for the cat litter and are more conscious about not filling the bin up in the first few days. Also being used to having a driveway and a garage etc it takes some getting used to living in a flat. We are pretty much used to this now, our own private garden would be great but we are just not going to get that in the town centre with a 1 bedroom in our budget.
2. Not having a driveway or being able to park right outside our front door. There is parking on the other side of the road and down a side street just round the corner, only a few times have we found no spaces on either road and had to park further away. I don't have the car often, so it's mainly Tom that deals with this and most of the time he gets a space reasonably close, but when it's tipping down with rain and/or you have heavy shopping to bring in it can be a pain. We do have an access road out the back though so we can unload stuff and bring it in through the back garden but then we have to go and park the car. We are used to this now, a drive would be great but again not something we are likely to get for a 1 bedroom in the town centre. 
3. On from that point, not having my own car. This really isn't a downside of the property really just something I've noticed. I could have a car (we're allowed 2 permits) but really it would be a massive extravagance financially to have 2 cars, I don't need to drive to work (Massive plus point there though!) so it would stay parked for the whole week and only be used maybe at the weekends. Still kind of sucks, especially as the climbing centre is over in Gloucester, along with all my family, so sometimes it feels like I moved to Cheltenham to spend half my time getting buses back to Gloucester, but it saves a lot of money and a car would just not get used enough to justify me having my own. 
4. We used to have a big living room at our last house that held our sofa, armchair, turtle tank and a drop leaf dining table. It was the first and only place we have had a dining table and I loved it. We had Christmas at home for the first time, and had Sunday dinner regularly inviting family round, we had nice meals sat at the table rather than eating off plates on our laps. I really miss having a dining table here. Solved! We have a dining area now, and a new laptop rather than our old big desktop so no need for a proper desk as I work at the table or on the sofa. 
   
5. Also on that note of having people round, not having the spare room so we can't have people stay over. We still have the storage space as we have the office and the entrance hall, but we don't actually have a spare bed any more. Although we only had people stay over twice at our last place, and we have a sofa which people could comfortably sleep on or we could always get an air bed to put in the living room if we wanted to. Sort of solved, I wouldn't invite people round for a sleepover on purpose but we have options if people do want to sleep here. We had 2 people stay on the sofa last year and both said it was fine to sleep on (although both were after nights out, and one was pretty much passed out by the time he got back to ours so we could have left him sleep on the kitchen floor and he probably would have slept through). We also bought an air bed for camping which if needs be we could inflate for people to sleep on. 
6. Lack of natural light in the bathroom and office, these are rooms we spend minimal time in but if I start using the office more it would maybe become more of an issue. I usually type posts on my netbook while sat on the sofa, but have been going to a chiropractor for my back recently and don't want to do this long term. Once we have a table/desk set up with a proper chair I want to actually use the office, so will have to invest in some good lamps! A solution I've thought of would again be to move it out to the entrance hallway, but in the winter it's a bit cold out there so wouldn't be a nice place to sit and work. We'll see once we get the table and get it all set up. Never really became an issue to be honest, I rarely work at the table for long enough to make it an issue, it's not like I'm in there for hours every day, so the way we use the space makes this not a big deal. We spend most of our time in the kitchen and living room (like most people do I'm sure) not in the hallway or bathroom so it's become less and less of an issue.

The only new point would be the mould and damp. You can see back in this post how bad it got, I'll spare you those photos again in case anyone is eating reading this but you can click through to see. That however is being sorted, and hopefully this month. After our inspection the Landlord has some ventilation people coming out to fit something to take out the old air from the flat and circulate it with new air from outside, after an assessment proved our theory right of it being condensation damp from lack of ventilation. I'll let you know how that goes and how effective we find it but it's nice that it's getting sorted quickly.

That's everything really, they are all quite minor things or things that are being sorted out. There are a few other little things I would change if I bought this flat tomorrow that I've talked about in my 'If I owned the flat' posts but they are really more down to personal taste, things like take up the doormat in the hallway, put more shelves or units in the kitchen, knock through some walls, change the carpet, or put in an extractor hood.

1 year on - Loves and Hates?

Continuing on from last weeks 1 year round up of the blog stuff, I thought a 1 year progress report on the flat itself might also be good. I did a similar post at 6 months. Really all the points we love back there are the same but after a whole year there are some different things or just different perspectives.

First up things we love, the 6 month post is back here.

1. It was warm through the winter, and cool through the summer. Being a basement it seems to keep snug in the winter with the heating on (which isn't too expensive, we had credit in the gas bill last year), but in the summer if we keep the doors and windows closed it stays cool. Awesome. There's a post here on keeping warm and saving money.
2. The area, I mentioned this last time but we have since found more places nearby that we love. The Daffodil restaurant is one of the best meals I've had in a long time and also a beautiful building, The Langton has a gorgeous patio for sitting out in the summer, Bath Road has amazing charity shops, The Swan has some lovely comfy sofas and do nice pies, there are lots of walks and outside activities around within a walking distance or short bus ride. There are also so many choices for things to do that we sometimes get a bit confused by all the options, the Town Hall does some really good comedy, music, wedding fairs etc and there are numerous festivals on through the year from food to literature, and it's all within walking distance!
3. This kind of comes in with the area, but the lifestyle here is a vast improvement on what we had before. The novelty hasn't worn off for me yet of where we live. Even with Gold Cup last week, which means the town is packed for a week with race goers. I feel really blessed sometimes to be living here, it might be because I wasn't raised here and that my home town has kind of gone a bit downhill (don't lynch me please people, you can't deny it), or was never really up the metaphorical hill in the first place, so I can see the difference and don't take it for granted. I walk around grinning to myself when I go on walks within a few miles of home for panoramic views over Cheltenham and the surrounding countryside, or when I walk through Pittville Park, or Tivoli, or Montpellier, or The Promenade. It really doesn't compare to where we have lived before, or where we will probably live again. I understand though that everywhere has less attractive areas, and I know Cheltenham definitely does, and I'm not kidding myself that I'm posh now!
   
4. The price. Since living in Cheltenham for a year I've realised the rent is pretty reasonable. We could definitely be paying less, but then wouldn't have a garden or it would be a smaller one bedroom flat. We could also definitely be paying more if we were in a more desirable location like Bath Road, Tivoli or Pittville, but we have all these areas within walking distance.
5. The rest were all covered in the 6 months post, but we still love all those points. The location, size, garden, landlords (well we don't love them like that but they seem nice, and are good at dealing with things quickly and efficiently), that it's painted white not magnolia (1 year in still can't get over that), quality of the finish, the money saving features and the period features.

Next up is things we miss or we don't love so much, there aren't many! Really this is home now, it's probably the most attached I've ever been to a rented place. Usually there is something wrong and I get itchy feet after a year or two and want to move. However here I don't want to move and actually will be sad when it comes time to buy somewhere and move (probably out of town because we can't afford it) to our first house. 

Renting with pets - Part 1

I promised this post ages ago back in one of my first posts, as we rent with pets I get a few questions on how that works from friends and family wanting to know how we get on or looking to maybe get a pet themselves. I've broken this up a bit otherwise it would have been a long wordy post, so this is the first part on how to find a pet friendly rental.

I love our pets, and once we get our own house we will have a dog (the cats will not be impressed), but I would be the first to admit being a tenant and having pets can be a bit of a tricky situation. So how do you go about finding somewhere pet friendly or convincing your current landlord to let you have pets? We got our cats when we lived at our last property which we rented from family. This was therefore a lot more lenient, and we had no trouble getting the cats, but when we moved it proved to be difficult so here are some hints and tips on what I found when trying to find a pet friendly rental.

• Just ask. If the advert says no pets then it’s probably no pets, but if it doesn’t mention pets at all then it’s worth asking. If you really like the look of a place but it says no pets then it’s actually probably still worth phoning and asking, if the property has been on the market a while and the landlord wants to get a tenant they might consider it, and the worst they can do is say no. The same goes for your current landlord, if you moved in with no pets you probably didn't ask if pets are allowed, so just ask.



'Don't look at that look at MEEEE'

• The split I found was about 80% no pets, and 20% yes to small pets. Although this will differ on area and type of property (e.g. large family homes in the countryside might allow pets more often than small flats in the city). Obviously that 20% was then reduced further by location, price, our requirements and taste etc, so about 10% of places I rang to enquire about were actually viable for us and our pets. That sounds like a terrible ratio and it was a little soul destroying being told no time after time, but we got there in the end to our lovely flat. It just takes more effort to find a rental when you have pets.

• Having pets will limit you while house hunting in more ways than one, as you also need to find somewhere suitable for your animals as well as somewhere where they’re allowed. For example we saw some lovely 3^rd or 4^th floor flats but we wouldn't have been able to let the cats in and out so they were not a possibility for us, we wanted ground floor or a very low 1^st floor.
• The turtles have never been an issue, once people find out that they never leave the tank they’re pretty OK with them. So I’d say things like fish, lizards, snakes, frogs etc that live in tanks and rarely come out and mess up the place are likely to be pretty acceptable, although definitely check first that they are allowed.

If only they stayed this small!

• We found that private landlords are more likely to allow pets rather than going through an agency. Often agencies will have a blanket rule for all their properties with regards to things like pets, smokers, benefits etc, and as it is not their property are not going to bend the rules.
• Be upfront and honest, I ask about pets on the first phone call to enquire about a property. Some people said to me to go and view a place first and show our interest then once we have said we would like to take the property say we have pets as the landlord is more likely to allow it if you are already there. I personally don’t think this is the best way to do things, it seems like a waste of time for everyone involved. In this rental market places go so quickly that I don’t think it makes any difference to the landlord that you are keen on the place if they do not allow pets, as they will find a tenant with no pets just as quickly.
• Although it doesn't hurt to play up your positives, for example Tom and I could move in right away and had a deposit ready, we have both been in our jobs for years and have great references from work and our previous landlords, we have great credit and are looking for a long term let…but oh yes we have 2 little cats and 2 even littler turtles.

• You might be asked to sign a pet clause in the contract, or pay an additional deposit. Think about what you would be prepared to do, we just had an addition to our contract that we have 2 cats so would need to rectify any damage they caused but obviously we would expect to do this any way. We weren't asked for any extra money on the deposit but I have heard of people being asked to do this, the amount that would be reasonable to ask for would depend on the rent of the property.
• If the place you are renting now allows pets, or you ask your current landlord and they say yes, think about what would happen if you had to move. The nature of renting often means you move more often than if you owned a place and it is not always your choice, so just bear in mind that you might struggle to find another pet friendly place. Maybe research the market in your area first and see how many more pet friendly places there are. I wish we had done this before getting our cats, we might have waited otherwise or would at least have been prepared for how hard it was to find somewhere else.
• There are definitely places around that allow small pets like cats, turtles, fish, hamsters etc even if they are hard to find. Dogs and multiple pets appear to be more of an issue though. Think about what animal you want to have and if they are going to be a problem for future landlords.



Who could say no to that face?

• Attitude. One lady said to me on the phone that 2 cats was a problem but 1 would be OK ‘I suppose’ (like she was doing me a massive favour), would I still like to view the property? I said no, what was I supposed to pick my favourite and leave the other one behind? A lot of landlords and agents I spoke with had very negative attitudes to pets, and some were even downright rude when I asked about pets, even though their ad didn't actually state ‘no pets’. Which I did point out to a few rather rude agents and landlords. My pets are my family, I am not prepared to leave them behind or choose between them so I never even considered these very insensitive offers or comments. Unfortunately as a tenant sometimes you have to deal with rude landlords or agents, for some reason a few of them seem to view tenants as an inconvenience and if you ring with anything other than a grovelling attitude asking them to please please please let you view their property then they get rather annoyed. I take the opinion that I wouldn't want to rent from this type of person anyway if they are rude or unhelpful, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

That’s about it really, if you have anything to add please add it in the comments! Next month - preparing a rental property for pets and how to minimise damage in those key first weeks.

If we owned our flat

I'd change the carpet. We've found the carpet to really not be very hard wearing at all, look at the state of the living room one.

It seems to snag and pull really easily and really soaks up spills! We've never had this at previous houses and I really hate to think I might lose some of the deposit on it but what can you do? The cats are pretty good at not clawing stuff and use their scratching post, so I don't think it's their fault, but the carpet just seems to snag so easily.

The rest of the flooring is OK, the bathroom is hard wearing black lino and the wood floors in the hallway and dining room are great, the kitchen is a little marked and under the oven is actually a bit warped and chipped but it's still got a bit more life left in it. I'd just run the same flooring through the whole that is in the hallways, it's a nice dark wood and looks great with the white walls.

Ah well, nothing we can do but nice to think about it!

Week 2

For the back story on my decluttering project see the first, second and third posts. Another hit and miss week for me, I finished off the hallway (Tom is yet to go through his music stuff) and started on the dining room which is pretty straightforward as there actually isn't a lot in there. I did miss a few days but to be honest could do the whole dining area in under 20 minutes so I wasn't too worried about catching up and doing a few areas together. 

The list so far is:

1. Hallway – Books
2.  Hallway – Cupboard
3. Hallway – Small ottomans
4. Hallway – Music equipment
5. Hallway – Shoes
6. Hallway – Surfaces
7. Hallway – Misc
8. Dining – Table
9. Dining – Boxes on tank
10. Dining – Pet supplies
11. Dining – Misc
12. Bedroom – Chest of drawer
13. Bedroom – Kate’s wardrobe (today)

The hallway needed a bit of a tidy and I did get rid of some things but it was mainly just stuff for the bin, like junk mail on the table and a load of post for the previous tenants that I needed to return to sender that I finally got round to doing (If you recognise this flat and used to live here, hey here's an idea, CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS!). 

We had the computer set up there to get all the photos and files off it, it's now in the to go pile! We had that old desktop (storing our photos and used to be our main computer but so outdated), an old laptop (nearly dead only keeping it as the desktop doesn't do itunes) and my netbook (solely for internet browsing). So 3 computers that all do and don't do different things! Now we've amalgamated them into one laptop and one netbook, so much easier! 

I also chucked out a few litter tray liner packets that had accumulated in the cupboard. 2 of the blue boxes on the shelves don't even have anything in them so not much I can declutter there, although it's still great to look over it and get rid of a few bits. The bonus of going through these means that I did look through our envelopes of vouchers and we discovered we have over £100 of Debenhams vouchers as well as smaller amounts for other places like WHSmith, so we went into town on Sunday and bought a folder and some stationery for making a wedding folder as there were also little piles of brochures, business cards etc around  :) 

I also started the bedroom yesterday with my chest of drawers. I did a quite large clothes cull back here, but did find a few bits I could get rid of like some underwear that has gotten a bit tatty (not going to share photos!) and I'm going to do the wardrobe this evening, I think I do have a few dresses I could get rid of as even though I've gotten rid of some the wardrobe is still overflowing. 

I think it's going well, any clutter out is a good thing, there will be some areas with more than others so this week being a bit slower than last week isn't a bad thing. 

Have you been taking part or has this inspired you to declutter any of your stuff? How are you getting on?

If we owned our flat

Time for this months look at what we would do if this place was ours, Wednesday will be an update on the start of the decluttering, so if you're joining in stop by and let us know how you're getting on.

If this was our flat I'd have more kitchen storage, seriously we only have one upper cabinet! The boiler is in one so only the one on the right can be actually used.

3 of the 4 walls in the kitchen have no upper storage on them, and we only have 4 usable cabinets and one drawer in the kitchen. It's such a random design, I'd have upper cabinets on one wall (Like continuing round in an L shape above the 'breakfast bar' and joining up to the current one on the right) and some open shelves on another, probably open shelves on the wall with the window so not to block any light.

It would really help get stuff off the counter tops and make the kitchen a bit more functional, the only reason I could see as to why it isn't already there would be as it's a small kitchen too many overhead cabinets might make it feel a little closed in, which is why I would do open shelving on one side.

This is how we do it

 

It's Friday night, and I feel alright....had that song in my head all day! Any way this is how we get started on the decluttering mission.

 

I think most people (excepting the few super minimalist tidy people) get the feeling sometimes that their home is just too full of stuff, and it gets frustrating trying to store, organise and clean all of it. When you think about it do you really need half of it? Most likely the answer is no, so how do you go about getting rid of what you don’t need?

 

The first step is accepting that you want to get rid of your clutter and that getting rid of possessions is a positive thing, the house will be tidier, easier to clean, look better and you will have more freedom to decorate without lots of junk in the way. If you’re anything like me you have loads of things you have been meaning to get rid of or do something with but they have just ended up hanging around because decluttering the whole house seems such a huge job and it’s easy to get discouraged or not find the time for it.

 

I originally found this method here and just adjusted it to fit our home. It’s not rocket science, but the key is to break everything down into really small areas and do them one per day, allowing just 15-20 minutes per day. Allow more than one day for things that will take longer than 20 minutes. This keeps me on track and I don’t get bogged down into spending hours at a time going through one area and losing sight of the goal.

 

It also helps to find the time if it’s only a 20 minute task, plan around days when you know you won’t have time. If you don’t get to it just try to do it the next day, don’t be tempted to do more than one area at a time though. The aim is to make this easy and kind of fun and piling up the jobs until the weekend will just make it seem daunting and like a big task. It helps to do them in order as it keeps you on track rather than putting off the bigger stuff, but last time I did this I sometimes substituted smaller jobs on days when I was unexpectedly busy. If you start an area and realise it’s going to take longer than 20 minutes just add on another day for it.

 

Set up 3 boxes or areas for ‘bin’, ‘sell’ and ‘donate’ and put things into these each day. The goal is to put things into these boxes every day, so to get rid of something from every area you go through. It might be more from some areas than others but you must put something in at least one of these boxes every day. Rather than having to make loads of trips to the tip, charity shop or car boot sales it worked better for me to get rid of everything at the end, and it’s such a morale booster to see the piles getting bigger!

 

Really be ruthless and try to keep the image of your new clean, tidy and clutter free home in your mind! If something isn’t useful, beautiful or sentimental then it goes. Think about what other lovely things you can put in place of things you never use or don’t really like.

 

It’s useful to have a ‘maybe’ box for stuff you aren’t sure what to do with, as it’s better to remove them from their place to see if you can live without them rather than leave them in place to decide later as 9 times out of 10 I will just end up leaving it there! Also I tended to put stuff in there of Toms which I wanted to check with him first, and stuff which I didn’t think was ours and needed to return to whoever I had borrowed it from or whoever had left it at ours. I also had a small ‘repair/projects’ box, for things like clothes that need mending, stuff you’re keeping for a project you haven’t gotten round to yet, or stuff you are keeping to repurpose or renovate. Give yourself a deadline for each thing to be out of that box and either fixed or gotten rid of, and be realistic on how likely it is that you will get round to it – if you’ve been keeping it for a long time and haven’t found a use for it how likely is it that you ever will?

 

The list for our flat is:

1.       Hallway – Books

2.       Hallway – Cupboard

3.       Hallway – Small ottomans

4.       Hallway – Music equipment

5.       Hallway – Shoes

6.       Hallway – Surfaces

7.       Hallway – Misc

8.       Dining – Table

9.       Dining – Boxes on tank

10.   Dining – Pet supplies

11.   Dining – Misc

12.   Bedroom – Chest of drawers

13.   Bedroom – Kate’s wardrobe

14.   Bedroom – Tom’s wardrobe

15.   Bedroom – Makeup and cosmetics

16.   Bedroom – Ottomans

17.   Bedroom – Ottomans

18.   Bedroom – Under the bed

19.   Bedroom – Under the bed

20.   Bedroom – Trunk

21.   Bedroom – Drawers

22.   Bedroom – Surfaces

23.   Bedroom – Misc

24.   Living room – DVD’s

25.   Living room – Corner by DVD’s

26.   Living room – CD’s

27.   Living room – Corner by CD’s

28.   Living room – Box under coffee table

29.   Living room – Ornaments, frames, candles

30.   Living room – Coffee table

31.   Living room – Misc

32.   Kitchen – Top of microwave/fridge

33.   Kitchen – Cupboard by fridge

34.   Kitchen – Cupboard under sink

35.   Kitchen – Cupboard by oven

36.   Kitchen – Drawer

37.   Kitchen – Worktops

38.   Kitchen – Tops of cabinets

39.   Kitchen – Food

40.   Kitchen – Misc

41.   Bathroom – Drawers

42.   Bathroom – Shower caddies

43.   Bathroom – Cupboard – cleaning supplies

44.   Bathroom – Cupboard – Towels, medicine box, misc

45.   Bathroom – Surfaces

46.   Bathroom – Misc

47.   Garden – Pots

48.   Garden – Plants

49.   Garden – Under steps

50.   Garden – Under tarpaulin

51.   Garden – Misc

52.   Whole flat – Furniture

53.   Whole flat – Ornaments, frames, candles etc

54.   Whole flat – Misc

 

Who wants to play along at home? We can compare tidy clutter free homes at the end :) The original list included a lot of things I didn’t need like kids rooms/toys etc and second bathrooms and bedrooms etc so modify it for your home and schedule. Leave the furniture until last because once you’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff you may be able to get rid of furniture you didn’t think you’d be able to. I also added a ‘misc’ day for each room on the end of that room, so once you have done all the areas you can think of just pass over that room again to pick up any things that you might have missed or didn’t fit into a category.

 

At the end of the list (Or when we run out of space to keep the stuff waiting to go) we go to the tip with the ‘bin’ stuff, start on selling the things in the ‘sell’ box so list a load of stuff on EBay or in the paper or do a car boot sale, then do a trip to the charity shop with the ‘donate’ pile. Last time anything that didn’t sell at the car boot sale went straight with the ‘donate’ box to the charity shop. Anyone not from the UK or not familiar with a car boot sale it’s kind of our version of a yard sale, we take all our stuff to one of these sales and park up and sell it from the boot of the car.

 

I’ll probably need to do this once a year as the clutter does build up pretty quickly, but each time it should get easier and I’ll try to keep the amount of junk we keep to a minimum and do this more informally as I go along rather than letting it build up.

 

I'm going to get started this weekend and cannot wait to start getting stuff sorted out!

Before the big declutter

I'll post our list for the big declutter on Wednesday, so if you're playing along at home get ready to get rid! See last weeks post here on the method.

I thought I'd share some before photos today because A.the whole flat is clean after a bank holiday housework blitz and B. I'm hoping it will look a bit different in a few weeks!

The Kitchen - Problem areas:
Top of the microwave
Countertops
Food cupboard

The thing on top of the hob is the oven shelves soaking in the overnight oven cleaner

The Living Room - Problem Areas:
Box under coffee table
Corners by the bookshelves

The dining room/hallway (not really sure what to call his room now it's no longer the 'office') - Problem Areas:
Shelves under the turtle tank

The Bathroom - Problem Areas:
Cosmetics
Built in cupboard

The Hallway - Problem Areas
Bookshelves
Cupboard
Music Equipment
Shoes
Computer Equipment
Chairs (we have 4 dining chairs and an armchair in here and never sit on any of them!)

This box is also still here, Tom needs to sort it out or it will just be labelled 'Sell' and become the start of the car boot pile...

The Bedroom - Problem Areas:
Under the bed
Ottomans

The bag on the bed is full of clothes that were on ebay and ended yesterday and I'm either sending off or if they didn't sell getting rid of elsewhere

So that's our flat as of yesterday, pretty clean and tidy but cluttered in some areas. I can't wait to get rid of some things and make some room!

If we owned our flat

If we bought our flat tomorrow I'd rip this out asap

It's a pretty good idea having a built in doormat but it gets dirty pretty fast and is really hard to clean. Other doormats I've had I've just been able to put in the washing machine when they get really gross, I tend to have a bristly one outside then just a mat inside. The bristles catch on the hoover or any cloth I try to clean it with and all come out so every time I clean it I just end up with a hoover or cloth full of bristles and the mat looks no better. I tried to shampoo it once and it soaked up all the shampoo and went all lumpy so I had to dry it out with a dehumidifier! Anyone have any tips?

Also the cats pee on it, they rarely ever wee anywhere outside the litter tray (usually if they do it's our fault like if we accidentally shut them in a room away from the tray) but I think the texture and deep pile is inviting to them. This means we have to keep the hallway door closed all the time when it would be nice to have it open more often to open the space up a bit. I've doused it in the cat repellent spray to try keeping them away but that wears off after a while and then I'm back cleaning up cat wee!

New Feature - If we owned our flat...

Well the payday wishlist fizzled out pretty quickly (one month!), mainly because I didn't find them very interesting to write or read so figured you probably didn't either...if anyone has a burning desire to see them again let me know?? I also have been trying out a new posting schedule, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I found posting over the weekend a bit of a struggle as I need time to actually do the projects to write about them so trying out not doing the Sunday post.

So new regular post, 'If we owned our flat', often as a tenant you discover something about your place that makes you think 'If I could I'd change that'. Often you can't change it but it's fun to theorize about what you'd do if you could...

This month I've picked the hallway, we have our entrance hallway then our small dining room/other hallway. If we could I would knock down the wall between them and make it into one large room. It would mean getting a new front door that is a bit better insulated so it wouldn't get so cold in there but it would be soo much more flexible!

Currently the rooms are like this

And like this

But look when the door between the 2 rooms is open how long the space is

If you could open that space up it would make the place seem so much brighter and bigger, I'd maybe put in a front door with full length glass to let in more light as our entryway is pretty secluded, you can't see into it from the road. It would be more flexible as well, as we rarely use the entrance hall for much more than storage, drying washing and walking through so it would be nice to actually use the space rather than have it so separated from the main living area. In a basement flat it would also be good to open up the small rooms a bit to make it feel a bit more spacious.

Of course it might be a load bearing wall or something and this might all be impossible but I think every tenant dreams about the things they'd change...what are yours?

Kitchen Reorganising

Saturday while my table decorations for our engagement party were drying I decided to reorganise the undersink cupboard

We had a lot of stuff in the undersink cupboard and the one next to it on the left that didn't necessarily need to be in the kitchen. It was either stuff that we rarely use or stuff that isn't kitchen related but has ended up in here. In the undersink cupboard we had a lot of pet stuff like flea treatments, worming tablets etc in a plastic box. I took all this out and moved some stuff from the cupboard on the left into that box

It was all stuff we do use so want to keep but don't use that often, as they are all fragile or breakable I didn't want to put them into this box

The box on the left is full of kitchen items we don't use often like place mats (umm we don't even have a table?), straws, food processor attachments, cake decorating stuff. The box on the right is full of pet stuff. They're both now back on top of the wardrobe in the hallway, where they have been sat empty for a while since we got them, put them up there and forgot about them!

The cupboards look a bit organised and you can actually see what's in them!

The box on the top has all our tupperware and food storage and the one underneath is the box pictured above, I also chucked the tea towels in there. The rest is pretty self explanatory, vases, carrier bags, cat food etc

And look at all the counter space that is no longer filled up with bits and bobs and clutter as we can get everything we need to into the cupboards!

The kitchen is one room I always struggle to keep clutter free as we like to cook, and me being vegetarian and Tom not it means we need 2 pans to make meals that usually only need one and that makes for a lot of kitchen stuff, so keeping kitchen stuff in the hallway might seem odd but it's all hidden away and it saves us a bit of space. 

The storage boxes came with our ottomans in the bedroom (£49.99 for one large and 2 small from The Range) and we have 4 of them, 3 on top of the wardrobe and one under the coffee table in the living room. I must say I didn't know what I'd do with them when we got them but they've been pretty handy! I sorted the one in the living room out as well as it's a 'dumping ground' for living room stuff like remote controls but post, takeaway menus, nail varnishes and other random items often make their way in there and it gets full up so once every few months I go through and put everything away where it actually is meant to go (often the bin) and make room for more junk. At least it keeps the living room tidy!