January Cure 2018 - Set up an OutBox

Day 3 - Set up an Outbox

An OutBox? What's an OutBox?

Physically it's a box or a bag somewhere in your house that's not in the way. That is a half way station for items you are deciding whether or not to get rid of.

Items that go in the OutBox stay in there for a while, until a decision is made, and can be pulled out and kept, OR disposed of.

It's a HalfWay House for clutter that's on probation! Or as the Apartment Therapy site calls it - a clutter pergatory HERE

There's just ONE rule - anything that goes into the OutBox has to stay there for a week, before it can be taken out and a decision made of whether it's a stay or a go.

This is my OutBox - today. Poor thing, it's being misused! Not only that it's inaccessible!

My full OutBox

 Hmmm misused? Yup. I LOVE the idea of an OutBox, but it's easy to misuse.


I set up an OutBox as soon as the very first moving box was empty. This is it above. And into it, I put things I know I don't want, that need someone else to deliver to someone else for me. So since I moved in, this has been emptied twice.  Things that are rubbish go into the bin, things that are for kerbside recycling go into the recycling box, and the carer empties those on their way out into the Wheely Bins on a daily basis. Things that need recycling at the tip/recycling centre go in a bag and are given to the next family member who turns up in a car for recycling.

And the one thing that I don't actually have? Is an OutBox - that is a place for things I'm not sure if I want. It started off as an OutBox, but then I didn't make any decisions and now it's a combination of things I know I don't want and things I'm not sure I don't want. Which isn't right!

So the I know I don't want  is NOT how the OutBox works. The OutBox is for things you are not sure if you want.So what I really need is,

1. A rubbish bin for rubbish - goes into the  black wheely bin for kerbside collection
2.  A recycling bin for recycling - paper, card, glass, some plastics - goes into the blue wheelybin for kerbside collection.
3. A bag for recycling things that aren't collected at kerbside - for a family member with a car to take away and dispose of for me.
4. A bag or box for things I know I don't want - possibly several, split into (a) selling (b) charity shop and (c) freecyle.
5. AN OUTBOX for things I'm not sure about.

And it's the fourth one I'm missing!

So today, my task is, finding somewhere I can have the fourth item where it's out of the way but also accessible.

Talking of accessible - that photo of my alleged OutBox is awfully dark! Yes it's in the pantry that has no artificial light source though it does have a window, but mostly it's dark because, yeah, BURNT OUT LIGHT BULB hahaha! (On the January Cure site there's comments on Day 2 Making a List about who would have a burnt out light bulb and not change it. Um, me?)  They're halogen lights, I've never had them before, and want to maybe have LED but not sure about what sort. Also, it needs steps/ladder and that's not part of my skillset these days, at least, not unsupervised.

So, I have change the LightBulb on my Day 2 List (actually I have ask advice as well as changing it). I also have altering the direction of the bulbs on the list, as quite frankly, the ceiling is very well illuminated, the floor and surfaces less so, meaning I'm forever treading on the cats as it's a dark floor. Oh and the fittings are covered in a greasy dust presumbly from a few months of proper kitchen use, so cleaning those is on the list too. Unless a family member wants them, because replacing them is on my list and why clean them if they're merely leaving the house? Oh, because they work and probably will go for freecycle. Yeah, cleaning as a quick fix immediate thing as well as a low priority  in a few years finding replacement ones I like and buying them and getting rid of these is on the list...

One dud light bulb on the left. It's surprising how much light that one bulb gave.

Not only is it dark, it's inaccessible. Temporarily. Two days ago I had a supermarket delivery of soft drinks and cleaning materials and they've not been put away yet, and yesterday a carton of cat litter arrived. So I can't get to the Outbox until they are put away, and today I felt so unwell I just lay in bed and the carer tackled the ironing mounting (and finished it yay her!) instead of me having a shower. So tomorrow is a shower, which makes it unlikely that all these will move. However they will be moved within a week, and it'll be back to a tatty wall with an armchair as a temporary resting place until I decide what sort of snuggler type ginormous armchair I want to buy for the space. Yeah those things are on my Day 2 list also. Oh there's also a bathroom caddy that I've not decided what I'm using it for and where, so that just keeps being pushed around the kitchen. That's on the list too...

OutBox is in the pantry on the left behind the stuff.

Yesterday I showed you this picture of what the previous owners' kitchen looked like at that end -

Before I bought the house

The cupboard to the left at the back has been removed, leaving 2 cupboard widths free space, and their range cooker is now my fridge freezer space (and on the other side where you can't see it, is my Rollator - it's like a foldable zimmer frame on wheels with a seat, used to go short distances that are a bit far for a stick but not far enough to merit a wheelchair. Honestly, I have so much wheeled stuff these days! but it helps me. so...)

Obviously they have tidied up, got the lights pointing in the right direction for photography and it was bright sunshine outside and used a proper camera and someone who knew what they were doing.

Today it looks like this, one bulb not working, grey winter day, clutter where the cupboards were and also the dining table is covered in the stuff I'm doing with my Brother Scan N Cut machine (it was the paperchains you saw in the photo above, but is also the paper hanging ornaments I talked about on Day 1). It needs a tidy up. Yeah that's on the list too... The fridge magnets need tidying and I need a little tray for the windowsill for the soap and washing up liquid and when the suction hooks come, the teatowel and handtowel will hang on the side of the fridge. Yeah, all on the list...

A somewhat dark and gloomy view of current state of that end of the kitchen.

The other end's no better, countertops have random semi unpacked items on them, pending the doors going on my Billy bookcases in the living room, and the bookcases being attached to the wall for safety. But that's something the workman has to do, and I need them to give me an invoice for all the work they did on the Utility area so I can make sure I have enough money for the next lot of work I want them to do, before getting them back. Sigh. I may send them a postcard, dunning them for the invoice lol.

Anyway that neatly brings me onto WHERE I'd like this succession of recycling/ giving away/ Outbox. In the HALL!

There's a lovely long space between the front door and the stairs. That eventually will be all used up when a Stairlift is installed. But I'm on the waiting list for an Occupational Therapist to be assessed for a stairlift, and hopefully then join the waiting list for assessment for a grant, then a waiting list for approval, then a waiting list for the enginner to plan it, then the thing is made then installed. It takes about a year, which is why I gave my sofa to a charity before I moved (it was not going to work in this new house) and have my actual bed in my living room until I get a stairlift.

However, in theory this would be a lovely space for all those bags and boxes, out of the way, easy to get and keep under control, accessible and also, crucially, easy to keep tidy.

Except it looks like this:

Quite welcoming! Lovely period original door! with hammered glass that's clean on the inside but quite grimy on the outside, yeah it's on the list...

Look new radiator! if only there was a boiler to go with it! soon there will be

 I think the only paint I want to change in here is to make the newel post white. I rather like the red wall, though if it needs repainting I'd choose a slightly less orange shade maybe. But anyway it's entirely liveable with so it's on the list, but waaaaaay down the priorities.

But then as you go towards the door, uh oh! another dumping ground! Two mirrors, the doors from the Billy bookcase, some boxes I use to shift things around or as temporary storage whilst I work out what is going where (still not quite unpacked, yeah all that is on the list too! It's a VERY long list), the cat scratching mat underneath the hoover and a camel bag cushion.

Oops! would be perfect for the OutBox if only it was not a dumping ground!

Yeah all those things are on the list too. The hoover will be moved back to the pantry tomorrow after being used. Hopefully the carer and I will be able to move the doors and mirrors to just behind the front door, the camel cushion upstairs and the boxes either to recycling OR used as the Outbox/ recycling/ selling/ charity boxes and there will be an ordered row of places that are easy to get to - in an out of the way place for categorising what's leaving the house!

But for now, it is what it is.

Today's task involves putting something in the OutBox - on January 1 (Day 0) I sorted out my drawer of felt tips and had a pile of duds. That pile has now been gently tossed into the hybrid OutBox cos I need to find out whether they can be recycled or just binned, and the One Rule gives me a week to do that!

So close and yet so far! But by the end of the weekend, I shall be all ready for what's ahead. :) Feels good! As the Day 2 said, a lot of the Cure is about planning. So today is NOT a failure at all - it's making a plan, checking it twice, then working out what time is available for putting it into practice. Setting a deadline and being realistic about what can be done when, and using whose energy (which is the thing I lack, I have severe me/cfs and run out of puff ridiculously quickly!)

It's SMART - specific, measurable, acheivable, realistic and time driven - in corporate speak (but which works just as well for the January Cure at home as it does for planning staff appraisals. Gotta love those transferrable skills!