21 Day Challenge - Day 14 Under Bathroom Sink

Day 14 of A Bowl full of Lemon's 21 Day Challenge is under the bathroom sink.

This also was done not long ago, and even though it's messy, I'm surprised it's not worse lol.

Here's the before pic:

I pulled everything out, gave it a good wipe over. and sorted through everything.

Anything not being used, out of date, empty or broken was chucked.

(I don't really use those 3 bottles filled with red stuff, but I've had them for years and I can't bear to part with them or use them :) )

Everything was put back neatly.

Here's the after pic:

I unfortunately didn't get a purge pic, but at least it looks better :)

21 Day Challenge - Day 13 Medicine Cupboard

Day 13 of A Bowl full of Lemon's 21 Day Challenge is the Medicine Cupboard.

I did this cupboard not that long ago, but it's no surprise it's a mess again.

Here's the before pic:

Last time I organised it, I placed all cotton balls, band aids and bandages in an old wipes boxes. This has worked extremely well.

I pulled everything out, and purged anything out of date, ripped up old forgotten about prescriptions, left out sunblocks and repellents (will be transferring to the laundry cupboard) and sorted through the many medicine cups.

Everything was wiped over and returned neatly.

Here's the after pic:

And here's whats not going back in there...

To the left is being relocated to the laundry and to the right is rubbish.

21 Day Challenge - Day 12 Spice Cabinet

Day 12 of A Bowl full of Lemon's 21 Day Challenge is the Spice Cabinet.

I don't really have a spice cabinet, I have more of a spice tray so I decided to do the whole cupboard :)

Here's the before pic:

And the after pic:

Wow!! I can't believe my eyes. I think out of all the challenges I've done, personally, this would have to be the best outcome. I don't know why, maybe because this cupboard always seemed hard to organise because of its mostly non related contents.

The steriliser is out of it's box, which is top shelf up the back, as that is holding all newborn size bottles.

Anyway enough rambling :) Here's my purge pile:

The pile consists of:

• Old falling apart potato box
• Bottle steriliser (I have two, plus the dishwasher, and personally we prefer the microwave one)
• The Steriliser box
• 2 bottle lids (Not sure if the other one is in the pic)
• A bag of all girlie coloured bottles
• A small round tin which now houses my elastic bands
• A snack oven - I think I've used this 4 times in the 6.5 yrs we've had it.



Debt Slashing

2011 has been a pretty good year so far for us with paying off debts. Even though most of the debts were paid out with my claim money and with selling the 2nd car, it has shown us we've come along way from where we were 2 years ago... or even 1 year ago.

Every time we'd have money whether it was a loan increase, or paying out a debt which free'd up more money we would do something to the house... new windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom, the list is never ending, and as a result we were drowning in debt.

Last year when we knew the amount of the claim, straight away we thought about a deck/new blinds/carport. Then I thought well what do I want more out of life? Keep working at a job that makes me miserable, barely see my kids, have a messy and stressful household, but on the up side have a deck, OR, Quit work, use the money to pay out debts, have a happier, calmer household and eventually SAVE for the deck? Well, you know which I chose :)

So the amount we've paid out so far is as follows:

Joint Mastercard:

Limit: 4000
Balance: 3962.45
Current Limit: 500
Current Balance: 0
Actions Taken: Completely paid out the debt and lowered it to the lowest possible limit.


Hubby's Mastercard:

Limit: 8500
Balance: 5673.77
Current Limit: 2000
Current Balance: 0
Actions Taken: Paid off all interest bearing debt, Lowered limit to 2000, then recently paid off the interest free debt. Will cancel card when hubby gets a chance.


My Credit Card:

Limit: 2750
Balance: 790
Current Limit: 0
Current Balance: 0
Actions Taken: Paid out balance in full, Cancelled and cut up the card



Grand Total: 10516.22 :)


Here's what it looks like now :)

We Have a Legal Debt from hubby's teenage days with a balance of 860. We've contacted them and offered a lump sum payment of 40% and for the rest of the debt to be waived, to our surprise and joy, they agreed. We have until the end of May to come up with the $350, or the balance remains at $860.

There's 4 more debts remaining after this legal debt has been paid out, but I won't give figures just yet.

Computer: Has about 17 months remaining
Car has 4 years remaining
Mortgage 2 which is a small mortgage which was a few debts consolidated
Mortgage 1 is the main mortgage and still has a while to go lol

We're very pleased with how far we've come and can't wait til that car loan it gone, that's next on our hit list :) :)

(we aren't paying out the computer debt early as it's a tax thing for hubbys work)

Sydney Meats 10% off

If anyone around Sydney is interested in purchasing farm fresh meat in bulk at a discounted price, check out Sydney Meats. We've just purchased a 1/4 cow and can't wait to get it :)

I've not been asked to advertise, I just wanted to pass the specials onto any who's interested :)

ETA: They deliver free to Sydney, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains, and also deliver monthly to Central Coast, Newcastle, Southern Highlands Canberra and South Coast.

21 Day Challenge - Day 11, The freezer

I love this one, it was so quick. If only I realised a lot sooner just how quick most things are, I wouldn't have put them off for so long... hmm nah I probably still would have, lol.


I actually did this one the other day when I had a spare 5er...it doesn't look like that now, as I've since been shopping, and as we're trying out a fortnightly or maybe even monthly shop, if we can stretch it that far, our freezer is chockers :)

Here's the before pics:

Everything was pulled out and gone through. I gave the whole thing a good clean and put everything back in nicely.



Here's what it looked like afterwards.

I'll show a pic of what it looks like now :D

hehehe :D

We'll have to turn the freezer on in the garage soon, as we've just purchased a 1/4 cow... 36kg of meat.... Hubby's in heaven lol

21 Day Challenge - Day 10, Laundry

This is probably the worst room in the house, as it is an external laundry so unfortunately seems to store all the muddy shoes and dirty bits that quickly get picked up before it rains. My husband has recently excavated the backyard, and with all the rain we've had, equates to a lot of mud...and a lot of mess...

This whole cleaning challenge took about 20 minutes (I still have to vac and mop, but will do that once it stops raining and can get the vac out there)

Before pics:

Lovely white Dryer top there...

This is the artist who decorated my Dryer top. Isn't she cute :) :)

The other artist isn't in the pic, he's too good for us apparantly (He's a Russian Blue and a total snob, but he's cute too :))

First off I started with the cupboard. I pulled everything out, gave it a clean and organised all that was to be put back in.

• The drop sheets for painting will be stored with the painting stuff in the garage.
• I organised all animal bits, like Shampoo, brush, Flea and heartworm treatments altogether in that little yellow tub which originally stored many empty paint pots and playdough pots, so I turfed the lot and reused the tub.
• Gave the cat and dog heart worm tablet and a flea treatment each
• Put Hair Clipping sets together in a plastic bag (we have 2, one doesn't work but hubby won't part with it...why? who knows lol)

Then I took that extension cord out to the garage, along with toys that went in the cubby.

Wiped over the Dryer, Washing Machine and top of sink (will give it a good Flylady clean tomorrow)

Here it is now:

Washing related stuff, Hair Clippers, then Pet stuff on the bottom shelf

Top shelf is. Cleaning supplies, Fish food which I'm giving to my cousin, Bath hose and a bag of bags

Much better :) I've shut the door so the critters don't get back in and decorate.

Will update once I've vac'd, mopped and shined the sink