Unplanned Tidying and Decluttering

You know that thing were you have a whole lot of things you should really be getting on with, but then you suddenly have an indescribable urge to declutter and organise some areas that, up until that moment, you've been doing a very good job of completely ignoring.  Well I had that recently and normally I would just push through it to get on with what I was supposed to be getting on with, but this time I decided to just go with it.

I wasn't entirely sure how much I would actually find to declutter as I had already done a couple of big purges and I tend to go through my things as I clean.  However, I was nicely surprised by the number of things I was able to add to the decluttering pile.

The first big category was a number of electronics that no longer work or don't work well particularly well anymore no matter what I do.  I have been keeping a hold of them thinking I might get round to fixing them, but I won't and I know that so I've decided to just let them go.  Though I now need to go through them, move any of the documents I want to keep and wipe their hard drives.  I might try and get some money from them, but I can't imagine it'll be much.

I also pulled out these shoes that I brought for my wedding but which ended up not going with my outfit at all.  I love Irregular Choice shoes, but I don't really see myself ever wearing these now and there is a part of the shoe that rubs the side of my foot even though I've only worn them indoors.  So I should probably enjoy how pretty they are one last time and then sell them.  A little bit of extra money would be good.

Then there was this book that I keep holding onto because I like the idea of being able to use it, but which I know I won't.  At least not until I actually have a garden of my own and who knows when that will be.  I also finally went through my socks and pulled out all the ones that had holes in them.  I'm not entirely sure why I've been keeping onto them, probably because I just couldn't be bothered to get rid of them.

Lastly were all these little things that I found here and there.  Some gloves which, amazingly, were too small for me.  A little clutch bag I've used but which I actually have a nicer one I want to use more often.  A travel jewellery case which I do still like but don't actually need or in fact use most of the time we travel.  It's time someone else got some uses out of these.

Weirdly once all of this was done I was able to get back to all those others to-dos I had and get through them pretty quickly.  It took away the distractions and I was able to concentrate again on what I needed to get done.  Maybe I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that those things were there and needed to be dealt with.... and now they are.  Next time I won't ignore it.

On a side note, I was watching a documentary on cats and it talked about how, a long time ago, there were women who were known as wise women who knew that keeping your home clean, tidy, and free of vermin ensured that you remained healthy.  So they brushed their home with broom sticks and owned cats to kill the rats and mice.  However, the men in the church decided that there was something bad about these women so they persecuted them as witches and killed vast numbers of cats.  And then we got.......the black death.  Keep your homes clean and tidy people.

Secondary Income Ideas and Tests

Part of my goals for 2022 was to find at least one secondary income to help boost the money coming in and give me, someone who is self-employed, a bit more financial security in the long run.  With all the things that are going on at the moment it feels especially important now.

I have to admit I've been a little bit slow with this as I'm not sure which direction to go in and I'm worried that there are some things that might put a spanner in the works, such as my dyslexia.  There is also the question of finding the time to fit these in around all the stuff that I already doing.  I have had a few ideas though and at the moment I'm having a look to see if they're actually feasible.

One thing I would really like to see if I can do is earn an income from recording things like audio books and articles.  I feel like it is something I'd really enjoy doing, but this is definitely an area where I'm worried that my dyslexia might play a negative part in.  There's also the initial outlay of either getting good recording equipment or finding somewhere to record to produce high enough quality samples which would make people want me to record for them.  I guess I'll just have to have a go and see but I would like to do a little more research on it first so I know what I'm getting into before I start.

I have also been thinking that it might be good to do something that actually uses the more creative side of my brain and is a little more hands on.  I have a few ideas but there are two specifically that I want to give a go.  The first is making jewellery from the sea glass I've collected over the years.  I've never made jewellery in this way before, with wire, but I think it's something I should be able to do.  I'm mostly worried about them not being neat enough to warrant charging for them.  I also need to do some research on how much I should be charging as well.  First things first though, can I actually make them.

The second one it to make t-shirts with my own designs.  It would basically be a cartoon which makes fun of myself, but obviously I need to see if I am able to draw the designs I have in mind first.  I use to draw quite a bit, but that has gone to the wayside over the years and I need to see if I can still actually draw and in the style I would like.  Of course, I could get someone else to do it for me, but that would involve spending quite a bit of money on that and I really want to see if I can do it myself.  So I'm going to practice this for a bit to see what I'm capable of and I also need to do some more research on where I'd sell these items once I was done.

With both of these there is going to need to be quite a bit of practicing before I can even begin to start looking at earning anything from them.  There also needs to be a situation where people can afford to buy them and that might not be the case at the moment.  However, they could end up being quite a steady earner.  That's all my realistic ideas at the moment and I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about giving these a go.  However, even if I fail at them, at least I know I've tried.

Walking and Wild Swimming: Woodcombe Sands and Ivy Cove Circular

In keeping with our plans to walk and wild swim more we decided to do one of the walks recommended in the Wild Swimming Walks: Dartmoor and South Devon book.  I won't go into a long description about the route as it's written in this book and, for once, we did actually keep to the recommended route instead of our usual getting distracted and wandering along different paths.  I will say though that this walk was really good and we will probably do it again, or at least a variation of it.  It has the perfect amount of walking (a good mix of easy and a little bit more challenging, which is exactly what you want for a Sunday walk) and swimming.

It definitely helped that we lucked out with the weather, which was clear skies, lots of dryish heat, and the right amount of cool breeze to make it bearable.  However, that is perfect weather for burning if you're not careful and one of us may have gotten a little red from it.

We were worried that as it was a Sunday during the summer holidays this route would be a little busy, but thankfully we were able to find a parking space in the village that you start and end at (East Prawle) without getting in anyone's way and the beaches we swam from were pretty quiet too with only a handful of other people.  As for these beaches (Woodcombe Sands and Ivy Cove), they were a great find as they are clearly not used very often, probably because you do have to go kind of far on foot to get to them, you can swim out quite far without having to worry about boats etc being a problem, and they had very clear waters.  Unfortunately we didn't see too much wildlife when we were snorkeling, but the visibility was still really good.

We wanted to travel quite light and so didn't take our heavy wetsuits with us instead, I just took my swimming top and went with the knowledge that I might not be able to spend too much time in the water.  It did feel very cold when we first started to walk in, but I actually got used to the temperature and was able to stay in much longer than before.  The distraction of snorkelling at Ivy Cove really helped and I floated around until I noticed the beds of my nails started to go a little blue - a pretty good indicator it's time to head back out.

Both of us have had Covid and we're both having to deal with a prolonged cough so we weren't sure how easy we would find this walk, but both of us were pleasantly surprised.  It did highlight some fitness issues we need to work on before we do any multi-day walks in the future, which is good information to know.  However, I do feel that the swimming did actually help with my cough, at least for a day, so more wild swimming can only be a good thing.  I would definitely recommend this walk if anyone is looking for a nice way to spend a few hours.  The book recommends that you take about 2 - 3 hours to do this walk, but once we had taken our time and done all the swimming and relaxing on the beach it actually took us about 4 hours.  We also followed it up with a relaxed drink at the cafe in East Prawle.  Definitely one of our favourite ways to spend our days off together so we'll definitely be doing more of it in the future. 

Making a Mood Board

Over half the year has gone now and, I'm not going to lie, I'm losing some motivation now to carry on working towards our 2022 goals. I've heard many people talk about doing a mood board to help with inspiration and I thought it might be worth giving it a go. 

One decision to make was where to put the mood board. It's great having it on your tablet or computer but I wanted it to be somewhere where I would see it regularly, especially in the mornings and evenings which is when I normally think about these things.  It occurred to me that the best place would actually be the front of our wardrobe.  It has a good surface area to put things on and as it's located in the main living area we'd see it all the time.

This does mean that the pictures have to be relatively big to be able to see them easily, though not necessarily of good quality which makes things a little bit easier.  I don't have any magazines or anything like that to use and I couldn't find anything in the charity shops that we could use, so I decided that I would need to print some off.  We don't have a printer at home so I just put some pictures together on an A3 size page and send it to a printing company. Might be a little excessive, but it didn't cost too much and if it helps me get motivated I'm up for it.  That should be available to collect at the start of next week and I'll add them then.  For now I've added a picture I love but which the frame broke on and some of my old drawings to remind myself I was alright at doing that type of art and of which a possible secondary income could stem from.  I've also put up a tracker for our four months savings so we can have a more visual show of how we're doing.

I decided to use some of the washi tape I have quite a lot of to put the pictures up rather than blu-tack just to add a bit more colour and to tie all the different elements together.  So hopefully this'll give me the boost I need to keep working on our goals this year. At the very least our wardrobe is much more colourful. 

Little update - this is what it looks like now. 😊