The clean and purge continues. I think I use that sentence a lot when talking about what I have been doing the last few months. But I just seem to do better with a simpler life around the house. And as I grow older, I seem to want a place for everything and everything in it's place.
I am not a horder or 'acquirer' by any means, but it sure creeps up on you that all of a sudden you have all this stuff, and so I keep cleaning out. For instance, I kept all of the kids bulletin boards from when they were underclassmen in college. Why? They were so worn out and used up, so now they are gone.
The work bench in the garage collects things over the months and year. We tend to 'set' them on there with the intention of putting them away 'later'. Later doesn't come. Haha! Look how nice and clean and organized it is now.
This drawer was a tangled mess of extension cords. All colors, kinds, lengths. Now they are separated, coordinated, and we know what we have and where they are. What is your guess for how many I have accumulated over the years????
In another lifetime, I painted that cute sunflower box! Now I'm using it for small tools and such. It brightens the space.
Everything is grouped with like products and we know what we have and what we don't. I'm embarrassed to say how many expired things I had to toss.
Some of my hand tools for gardening. These were dirty, grimy, gross, and kind of rusty in some places. I washed them and then used a fine steel wool on them. It took every bit of garden gunk away. Then I sharpened them and added new loops to hang them with. Overtime, the originals somehow broke and came off. I used an old leather shoelace for one and the wire from a broken pair of ipod headphones for the other. Abracadabra! New loops.
This is one of my very most favorite tools now. It is a Garden Plus. I got it at Lowes for $5. You put a little drop of 3 in 1 oil on the screws of your garden tools and it lubricates them like they are new. Then a dot on the blade and with the handy-dandy sharpener at a 20* angle you draw it across about 5-6 times and your tools are SHARP. I wanted a Speedy Sharp (which is basically the same thing), but they didn't carry that brand and I find that this works just as well. I sharpened all my garden cutting tools, a shovel, and even Duff's fishing knife!
