This is going to be epically boring to read, but it helps me to keep tabs on my progress. I usually only do the bare minimum at home—washing up, vacuuming, laundry, and a spot of dusting when I notice it, so it’s nice for me to keep tabs on what I’m doing to take care of my space. 2013 definitely has to be more about balance and not just working and zoning out at the weekends…

- Picked up a box from the grocery store to fill with books for scanning. Going to do my language books this time.

- Sorted through three drawers and toolbox; threw out assorted rubbish, dead batteries and lightbulbs, reorganized each drawer—now half empty as opposed to brimming with junk.

- Went through pens, pencils, and other office supplies; put aside a bunch to take into the office.

- Cleaned out hallway cupboard; vacuumed the dust, got rid of rubbish, transferred suitcases there instead of having them dotted around the apartment.

- Started to rearrange the storage closet in the spare room; ordered a set of four plastic drawers to add in there. Hopefully that will get more things off the floor and random surfaces.

- Finally gathered up unposted mail, ready to go when the post office opens again on Friday.

- Sorted through the kitchen cupboards;

right-hand cupboard: top shelf has extra plates and cups for guests, lower two shelves now just what we need for two people;

middle cupboard: everything rearranged, jars I was holding onto in the recycling, a few broken things in the rubbish, recipe books now in there instead of in the bookcase in another room;

left-hand cupboard: added baskets to each shelf so that I can pull the ingredients out easily;

cupboard under the gas stove: removed all food, now I keep all of my food in the “pantry” (sounds fancy but it’s just a couple of big plastic storage drawers in the spare room) which seems to be much better for keeping tabs on expiry dates and means that I can get everything off the floor—we have a small kitchen and I couldn’t put away the rice cooker, a couple of large pans and some trays;

cupboard under the sink: removed the plastic bags from the grocery store that we use as rubbish bags and moved them into a sturdy bag in the hallway cupboard (they used to spill out and get in the way).

OUT:
- work bag that partially disintegrated when I put it through the washing machine
- two novelty pots for sugar (beluga whale and seal-shaped; I bought them a few years ago when I visited an aquarium, but since then I’ve learnt about how appalling most aquariums are ethically and I just don’t want to be reminded of those poor animals every time I drink coffee in the morning…)
- gathered up old packaging and paper for recycling

NEARLY:
- wardrobe is calling for an extra purge