ms-havachat's heading to IKEA - again!

What is it with Ikea and expats?

It's one of the first places we go to when we first arrive in a new city, after the supermarket. If you mention to someone you need a piece of furniture they will tell you 'go to Ikea'.

This is truly a GLOBAL BRAND.

The stores are exactly the same on the outside, regardless of where you are:

Germany

Japan (we spent many summer days here so the kids could
play in the air conditioned play centre)

Russia

Anywhere.

Inside is the same too, just the language used in the signs and currency are different.

Even the annoying one way pedestrian system is the same.

It's an odd, sobering thought that no matter where you go in the world, Ikea will be there, same as you're used to, offering you storage solutions and things you never knew you needed til you saw them at reasonable prices.

Each place we've lived, we've headed to Ikea within a month or so of arriving.

There's often one more cupboard needed to help with lack of storage issues; or something was broken in the move and needs replacing. Plus, their bits'n'bobs are FANTASTIC.

We need lots of additional storage space as our new place. I've had to stop unpacking the kitchen stuff cos there's no where to put things. Who ever designed the kitchen needs to go back to design school, or even spend time in a kitchen to understand the ridiculousness of it.

No one wants to spend money unnecessarily, especially on items needed for 'now' as they probably won't be needed next move. Things like this are either given away or sold to a new family who arrives just as you are leaving, for a fraction of the price you paid.

The thing with Ikea, is it is attractive. It's well designed. It's well priced. And cos you have to build it yourself, it offers quality family time on the weekend.

I've been googling second hand furniture, looking on eBay and Gumtree for the things we need to no avail. Looks like Ikea will save the day yet again.

The other thing with Ikea is their food hall! Their meatballs are delicious! So are their frankfurts.

In the heat of Japan's summers, we would car pool several families to Ikea for the day. The kids would go into the air conditioned play zone, while we would stroll the store (there's always something you need once you are there) and have a quiet coffee before it was time to collect the kids. We'd all have lunch then drive home. Great day out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wonder if people do this in the colder climates in winter months?

Ikea is NOT a place to take (some) husbands. They don't get the philosophy.

You are expected to walk out with at least 5 additional items than on your list.

A few tips on a successful Ikea trip:

• Leave husband and kids at home (if possible)
• If you need your husbands help, leave the kids with a friend. 
• Go midweek with the girls, make your choices, then shop online. 
• Don't go on the weekend.
• Take the big trolley - you know you want to. 
• Take measurements of the spaces you need to fill.
• Take a tape measure to measure the items you like to make sure they fit where you want them.
• If you have prints to frame, take the actual print with you as their frames come in many dimensions, some of which make no sense at all. 
• It's funny how easy it is to forget the colour scheme you are aiming for. Take a photo or write it down. 
• Go in a car that has a large boot, or the seats can be taken down to fit all the stuff you buy. Nothing more annoying than a successful shopping trip and you can't get it home. 
• Take a freezer bag for the meatballs.
• Take a list with you. You'll always find there's things that distract you, so best to keep focused with a list.
• Count the candles you already have - you may not need more.
• Ask for help in the self serve section, some of those boxes are very heavy!
• Have FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dream of purpose designing our own home. Of deliberately choosing the colour schemes and appliances. Shopping for specific pieces of furniture for the rooms from independent shops or having something bespoke crafted, and knowing that it'll stay there forever.



PS: This was a random chat about Ikea. I don't know anyone who works there, nor have I been asked to write this. It's just my opinion based on our experience these past 9 years as expats.

ms-havachat's going to a car boot sale

No I'm not selling boots.

Nor am I selling Squirt (the car)

I'm purging AGAIN.

The kitchen in the new house has very few cupboards and we'll need to buy a pantry and probably a small buffet to fit all our bits'n'bobs.

While unpacking I realised that there is a fair bit of crockery that if I'm really honest, like I am with clothes and toys, I actually don't ever use, so WHY am I keeping them? The other thing was that some of our kitchen stuff has been in the attic for the past two years as the landlords had part furnished the house in Dublin - I figure, if we've managed for two years without some things, we don't need them, or we've replaced them.

Who needs two gravy boats? I don't use one all that often, so why have I hung onto two?

Three white oven dishes, all different sizes (all oval) but only one large lid. I seldom use them - they are either too big for G and I, or too small when we entertain.

Tall drinking glasses that have seen better days. The glass is cloudy and scratched. I replaced with bright shiny ones last year - why do I still have the old ones?

Two glass trivets and 3 metal trivets. Never use them! We have stunning placemats that are heat resistant plus, once set to entertain, our table is too narrow to put hot dishes on for people to self-serve.

White tea cups and saucers! Other than MrsH who loves her tea served in an old fashioned cup'n'saucer, or when you're out, does anyone use cups'n'saucers?

Several brand new photo frames in their original boxes plus a lot more that are not being used since we merged the photos into a lovely multi-framed wall stand (We did this to save space).

Four sets of placemats! Reduced it to two; one good one (wedding present) and one every day (washable).

Numerous glass vases. Now that Ikebana is the preferred flower display, do we need so many vases?

A BOOT SALE, you may be wondering is an event at which people gather to sell preloved goods from the boots of their cars. I guess this helps keep the items for sale small and manageable for people to buy and take home while ensuring the sellers stick to the rules of preloved small items.

They are a great fundraiser! If you charge £20 per car, and open the school playground on a Saturday think of the number of cars you could fit; sell a few hamburgers and hot dogs, cold drinks and voila! Money in the kitty.

Cheers to Google Images for this great pic.

Some car boot sales are run by professionals who do all the marketing and advertising, secure the area the sale is to be held (anything from school playground, church car park, local car park etc) and hold them maybe once a month or every 6 weeks.

In addition to the kitchen stuff we don't need there's several handbags that haven't used for years; pieces of jewellery not worn; a few more games grown out of and other bits'n'bobs we honestly don't need or use.

What's the saying? One persons trash is another's treasure.

Now you know I LOVE a good purge, and we had one before we moved a few weeks ago. I just didn't take an honest look at the kitchen stuff and now, as I unpacked it and wondered where to put it in the new kitchen I realised there's still a bit more purging to do.

As we need to buy a pantry cupboard for the kitchen I figured they money we make from the boot sale could go towards that and what ever's left over, be it cash or goods will be donated to a local charity towards their next fundraiser.

Have you ever been to, or sold stuff at a boot sale?

Was it a success?

Any tips?

Have a good look in your cupboards - do you use everything??????

Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

You were purchased several weeks ago, as the start date of August 1, 2015 worked in with the school year and the International Women's Club year. I was so eager to get organised, that I filled you in as soon as I got home.

It was fun going over the 2014/15 diary to see where we've come and relive memories some of the entries brought back.

Coffee's made. The sun is trying to peek thru the clouds and the kitchen table is comfortable to sit at as we begin. Welcome to my life for the next 12 months. You will be an integral part of my life, so best get started being acquainted.

We are going to have such fun making new memories.

If you've been chatting with me for a while you know I'm a tad of an organization freak. Well, my diary is no different. I think it stems from my days in advertising sales. Working on a daily newspaper, with several deadlines a day meant you had to be super organised. In the '80's we were all going to 'time management' courses and 'organisational' courses amongst others, and I loved them, tho I fear maybe some things I've taken too far.

One was colour coding information for quick reference. I still do that!

My red felt tip pen is my favourite. That's the one for all the Very Important Dates like birthdays. Here we go (again) popping in everyone's birthdays on the top right hand page. They are also on my electronic calendar (set to repeat forever) with a reminder set for 2 weeks prior for those people we send cards/gifts to.

That's one thing that we no longer do with friends - exchange birthday gifts. Think it's a combination of age, the expense of international postage, trying to find the 'right' thing amongst other things. In fact, seldom do we exchange gifts with friends here ..... it's weird.

This year, I am going to try very hard to remember to pop a card in the post - it's lovely to receive hand written cards (even with my illegible scrawl) as everything is email and Facebook messages.

Where's my orange highlighter? This one's great for a diagonal sweep across the page for school holidays and public holidays. A real quick visual reminder that the whole day/weeks are free as there's no school commitments. They can be filled in with holidays, or catchup with friends, or visitors.

Because I'm so organised and have already done this, some of the orange swipes need to be erased as MissM's new school starts earlier than her Irish one. The page is ruined with a long streak of white-out (liquid paper).

A page from my diary :)

These orange swipes come in handy for when G is travelling for work as I just write the destination on the orange line so I can see he's away. The shorter orange line at the top of the page is for the Sydney school holidays, so that if we are planning a visit, we are aware of how the dates fall.

Even while chatting to you about this, I realise it's a bit OTT!

Life has it's routines and rhythms, don't you think?

For me, the International Women's Club dictated a good part of my month, and  I'd already written in the Monthly Meeting and the Executive Committee meeting dates as well as the copy deadlines for the monthly newsletter for the year; in addition to other key events - well, those all need to be erased.

Fortunately the school calendar is running late otherwise those dates would have been in pen in my diary too,  only to be erased.

It's the weirdest feeling, erasing one's plans. I know I'll create new ones soon enough but for now, the day-to-day life I felt comfortable with is being erased, quite literally, while the one I'm yet to start is full of blank pages.

I know it won't take long before the pages are filling up again with stuff, and the ebb and flow of life here fades into the memory banks, but this is the 5th time I've had to start-over and while I know what to do, and how to do it, I think I'm going to have to dig real deep to find the energy to do it again so soon after doing it the 4th time.

A dear friend, who I met in Dublin before, is currently living in London (she's done one stint in Germany between times) and I emailed her to let her know we were coming and how I was looking forward to seeing her. She responded with an invitation to lunch.

So I do have something to write in my diary that won't be erased.

MissM first day at school and Lunch with MrsM.

Once we have confirmation of MissM's enrolment, I can enter the school holidays.

See, that didn't take long!


With friendship
x

PS: I also keep my diary on my phone which is sync'd to my laptop!

Purging or Keeping?

Yeah, yeah, it's winter in Ireland but a WINTER CLEAN doesn't sound quite the same, does it?

It's also the NEW YEAR. A time for do-overs, resolutions, fresh starts and what better way to do this than with none other than the help of Peter Walsh.

I love Peter Walsh, an Australian-made-good in the UK with the help of Oprah. He's the neat-freak, the guy who helps disorganised people get organised. His Facebook page is full of tips, several of which I have not only done, but maintain to this day.

His annual 31 Days to Get Organised started on January 1 and it encouraged me to have a look around our place and see what might benefit from a New Year Spring Clean. If you've not heard of Peter, or seen his Challenge, I encourage you to do so.

First things first, as we were enjoying a staycation over the Christmas/NY break, it allowed us the opportunity to take stuff to the Clubs storage unit that should have been gone months ago. I needed G's help as two of the storage buckets were too heavy for me and not worth me aggravating my back. It was a really good feeling just knowing the 3 buckets of stuff where no longer in the garage, and the bag and extra bucket were no longer taking up space in the sitting room. (Prior to taking them to the storage unit, I typed up a label for the outside of each box detailing it's contents for ease of reference in the future.)

With this feeling of accomplishment I was spurred on to look around and see what we no longer need, or use. G was around to help take things to the recycle centre, or tip, or to reorganise things if needed.

I had a cupboard full of empty jars which I occasionally use as vases for fresh flowers. I was going to glue them in small groups and sell them as mini-geometric vases at the Bazaar the Club held, but never got around to it. The amount of useless jars annoyed G even tho the cupboard was seldom opened.  Realising I was never going to make the mini-geometric vases, all but 7 were put into the recycling bin. Too easy.

NEXT ..................................

The attic. The place where things get put when not immediately needed anymore, or not at all.

Encouraging G to come up and help with the decision of what to keep was futile. So it was left to moi.

I LOVE having at attic to store stuff. We had the garage when I was growing up. Anything you wanted to keep, but didn't use went into the garage. Every few months, we'd have a family tidy of the garage, reorganising what we wanted to keep, and throwing out the things we realised we didn't really want/need long term. Stuff still get's put into the garage! Even tho we've not lived with mum for years, and Dad passeed away even longer ago, things still go into the garage, and my brother is asked to go over every few months and help her 'go thru stuff'. It 's a standing joke with my brother and I.

Our attic has very useful stuff stored. All our luggage is there plus envelopes full of loose change in various currencies, and any other items we require when travelling (neck pillows, various adaptors, toiletries bags etc), the stuff that's needed once a year, (Christmas, Chanukah, Passover, Halloween, Easter), umbrella for outdoor table setting, snow sleds,  picnic basket and chairs ...... all fairly normal stuff that families have that need to go somewhere.

We also have lots of other stuff in our attic. Our dining room table/chairs (there was one in the house, so we kept ours packed), a couple of boxes of kitchen things (the kitchen here was stocked with pots'n'pans), numerous empty boxes to house electrical products and ornaments when we are on the move again (keeps the items safer, tho the empty boxes take up room between moves),  and MissM's baby stuff.

My biggest issue at the moment is what to do with several storage boxes of MissM's early toddler year stuff. Stuff that is carefully wrapped and put 'away' for when she has a baby; stunning pop up books, her favourite musical toys, several stuffed toys and other items given to her on those precious first few birthdays and Christmas', baby clothes (some of which have found their way onto her dolls), ornaments, pillows etc.

So many wonderful warm emotions took over me as I looked at them yesterday. I sincerely hope MissM has the same experience when she touches them in years to come. How horrible to go thru all this drama for her to ask 'why on earth did Mum keep this????????'

If we were normal, and didn't move countries every 2-3 years, we'd put all this stuff (and more probably) in the attic, or under the house, or, in the garage and ignore it!

MissM has enjoyed played with my dolls pram, has my very first proper doll, Carrie on her memory table, snuggles up with my stuffed cat Chi-Chi, and reads my first hard cover Winne The Pooh book.

Maybe I am keeping too much of her stuff?

We don't have the choice of keeping 'stuff in the garage' and it would be so easy to sell, or give away most of the things, but part of me won't allow that to happen.  I've decided to find out how much it will cost to ship two boxes back to Sydney to store in Mums garage (ironic, eh?) till our next visit when we will go thru our storage unit (we have half a household packed away for the past 8 years, reckon 90% will get chucked) and add it to the remaining items.

Part of the reason we can't simply hold onto stuff like most people, is that we are limited to a specific amount of container space with our moves, and we are currently 9 cubic metres OVER! Now, we can identify every centimetre of space without a problem as there's several items we purchased in the UK e.g.: trampoline, outdoor table setting/umbrella, Ikebana bits'n'pieces, a few new paintings. We also moved with a full compliment of electrical equipment (we tend to sell all of this as we move from different power strengths) so 'loosing' 9 cubic metres won't be too hard.

Peter Walshe's encouragement to Get Organisined coupled with my subconscious need to reduce our stuff by 9 cubic metres has come down to things like throwing out old pillows, repacking the Christmas decorations in a more orderly fashion (reduced boxes by two!), donating leftover Christmas paper/cards/unwanted decorations to charity, accepting that buying 3 plastic sleds to play in the snow in the UK was ridiculous. We'll probably leave the outdoor table setting and chairs when we move on to our next Adventure, as well as the trampoline (not sure it would cope being pulled down and built again), MissM will probably not want/need as many toys'n'games as she's entering tween-hood and is playing differently, we've all got clothes and shoes we don't wear!

I love a good purge!

It not only frees up physical space, it affects our emotions too.

Donating stuff to charity is a good thing, as is recycling.

One thing expat life has taught me, none of us need all the material stuff we hang onto. If you haven't seen Peter Walshes video yet, you should. You might just find yourself looking inside your cupboard and drawers differently.

With friendship
x

What's in your garage/attic/basement?

Do expats over compensate for their kids moving around by

keeping material things i.e.: memories from their 'past'? 

How often do you Spring Clean?

Which of Peter Walshe's Challenges attracted you? WHY?

Memories Are Precious

How many photos do you have sitting on your laptop?

I have 8,325 (currently) in 135 events. Goodness knows how many are sitting on numerous CD's in the drawer of my desk in my office.

But not ALL of them are found there.

We have 18 Creative Memories albums (12x12) and 14 albums created online using either mypublisher.com or via iPhotos with us. Can't remember the number we have in storage in Sydney. The one's we have with us are 11 years of memories, starting when I was pregnant with MissM. No way they were going into storage!

We love reminiscing. We laugh. Retell stories. Relive the events that make us the family we are.



Where are your photos???????????????????

We all take more photo's than ever before as our mobile phones are more camera than phone these days. We snap and upload to FaceBook or Instagram all the time.

I often wonder what's happened to retail camera sales. You'd be right if you said they are decreasing, rapidly.

We still use our fancy camera. The array of modes available far out preform our Samsung phones, but the Samsung's camera is pretty awesome! Admittedly, the majority of photos that get printed into albums are from the camera. There's still a way to go with the phones camera in terms of this, and I can't remember the last time we had actual prints made.

All these instant pics on Facebook and Instagram are just that - instant 5 seconds of sharing.

But what happens to the REAL memories, the one's you want the kids to have when they leave home for college, or the one's you want your grandkids to see as a means of getting to know their family heritage.

When we're out'n'about, and see people with cameras, I wonder what do people do with all the photos they take?

What's the point of taking photo's if NOT to print them into an album to be ultimately shared?

Many years ago, I was a Creative Memories consultant - the first global company selling photo-safe products, guaranteed not to fade your photos. We preached 'living memories' to the converted; we instructed clients on the importance of 'every picture tells a story and it's your obligation to tell it' (Creative Memories called it journalling). Clients undid old, unsafe albums saving their precious memories from fading (unless they had already started, the proof was obvious), or salvaging boxes of photos from the attic/garage/cupboard/under the bed and sorting the years of accumulated memories.

Aside from the American fanfare that accompanied the monthly consultant meetings, the philosophy of creating photo albums bursting with memories resonated with me, and many others.

I was the worst consultant! I seldom embellished my pages with stickers'n'paper as to me, it was all about the photos and the journalling (and still is); the fancy schmancy pages detracted from the photos. My clients agreed, so I sold lots of pages and albums etc, but not much of anything else.

Sadly, but for obvious reasons, CM no longer exists.

It's all online publishing now.

Personally, I love online publishing, especially with my magazine and newspaper experience. It's like laying out a publication! I'm probably too organised, with my double page spread approach, and the need to have photo's in chronological order, or albums themed.

G throws his eyes to the ceiling when I ask him to proof read yet another album prior to ordering it. I know he secretly loves them!

May I share some helpful hints with you about creating your albums?

• As you download photos from your camera or phone to the laptop, create a file for the album (create title) and choose the pics you want in the album as you go as this saves time when you're ready to start the album and ensures you have ALL the photos for the album you want.
• Once the pics are in the album file, edit them. We take pretty good photos, and I'm lazy, so all I do is crop the pics
• remove unnecessary sky/grass/footpath/road/people
• focus on the main image of the pic as much as possible
• leave curious symbols from the era - cars, signs, buildings etc will one day be 'old fashioned' and be an important part of your history
• ensure the pics are in the order you want the to appear in the album
• Grab a pen'n'paper and count each 'group' of photos and start to work out your layout or how the pics will flow in the album.
• Some themes to consider:
• An annual school album for each child celebrating all that happened that year. This gets harder as they get older as you are not at school as often, but while you can make the most of it
• photos of first day school year,  
• class room, 
• teachers, 
• friends, 
• sports days, 
• concerts,
• art - OMG, photograph all the artwork that comes home!
• projects/assignments
• last day of school
• I also include MissM's ballet, drama etc in her school album as it helps to fill it up as her last few schools weren't so keen on parents being around taking photos.
• Holiday's
• Not every holiday demands a album to itself, but special holidays do.
• Reunions
• Special Events
• an album created as a gift is a truly stunning thoughtful gift
• A '0' birthday
• Anniversary
• Engagement/Wedding
• for the above albums it's nice to invite guests to send you good quality pics to be included in the album,
• depending on the stock used, (in terms of what ink pens you use) you can leave some of the text boxes blank and ask guests to sign the book
• An ongoing annual album
• Our main albums are simply a compilation of all we get up to (other than the event albums)
• As we take photos, we download them and choose the ones we want in the album and file them into the 'Dublin January '14 - ?' file til it's got about 300 pics, then we create the album. 
• We've 3 albums from the time we lived in Winchester and they are called, Winchester Book 1, Winchester Book 2 and, you guessed it Winchester Book 3.
• Filing as you go saves so much time!!!!!!!!!!!
• it allows you to write notes so you remember where you were (sometimes castles, temples, ruins, churches look the same after a while) and what memory you might want to include

I use mypublisher.com these days (but there are many more out there)  It's creative, easy to use, flexible and the company is constantly emailing offers to save money! I create the albums, G proof reads them and they sit on my laptop til a good deal arrives. 

The only downside to this is that we don't print photos anymore. Mum and my in-laws miss out on hard copy prints; we email them photos all the time so they know what we're up to, but they often ask for printed pics. It's something we just don't think about doing. 

SIL is the same. Which is sad, cos we don't have records of the kids growing up and doing stuff other than what we see on FB. When I was doing CM it was easy to leave pages blank and fill them with hard copy prints when SIL sent them .... and I did the same for her, so we could include each other in our albums. Now we both print online, it's harder for some reason to do this. 

Gosh, we don't even download to CD's anymore, it's all on the hard drive.

I'm about to sign off now and find a couple of CD's and pop as many pics on it as I can and post it to Mum, SIL and inlays tomorrow. 

What do you do with your photos?

Where are they?

Are you inspired to create an album online?

With friendship

x