One Daily Positive - Week 7 Surviving the storms

I've done too much driving the past week and my nerves were shot to pieces driving during Storm Ciara, up to Birmingham and down to Bristol, but I only have car hire till Friday.

My Mother in Law has jumped at the chance to house sit in March when I return to Dubai, my SIL will bring her up the weekend before I travel. only 1 house rule 'DON'T LET THE CAT OUT' My friend has said she'll walk Bob after work, apart from the week she's out with me in Dubai.

I'm loving the weather other than the storm and the rain, but the cold is good. I'd forgotten what it was like to come home after a trip out and just put my pjs on and snuggle up on the sofa under a blanket.

The house is starting to feel like a home again. Peter has done quite a few repairs and I've finished sorting the paperwork and changing our address. We received less than half the deposit back from our tenants, you can read about that and the house repairs on the blog this week (link below)

40 Sunday
We had planned a walk on the Malvern Hills, but the weather was bad so we walked to the retail park for a coffee and back. Took child 4 and 4a to Birmingham airport for their flight home and stopped along the route for Sunday lunch. Home, into PJs and watched the telly. 4 and 4a spent the night in a hotel after their plane was cancelled.

41 Monday
Down to Keynsham to visit MIL and pick up supplies from B&Q for repairs to the house. My SIL and her friend are coming over to Dubai in March, bumped into the friend at the retail park and met SIL and niece for lunch. This road flooded within 10 mins.

42 Tuesday
Off to Gloucester for a meeting with Social Services about child 1. Child 2a and baby joined us in Gloucester for a couple of hours shopping and we all had lunch.

43 Wednesday
A day at home, while the garden was sorted and new fence panels installed. Took a walk to the shops to choose new carpets and have a coffee. One of our oldest friends called in with his wife. We've both known him for around 24 years, but Peter and I only met 21 years ago. He's offered to come round and put up curtain poles and bathroom accessories, repair loose floorboards and finish the DIY jobs I can't do. Out in the evening with friend and her husband for an Indian, then the pub for a few drinks.

44 Thursday Woke at 5am to heavy rain, we walked Bob into the town for a coffee and some shopping. Peter wasn't feeling well and went to bed for the afternoon. The new fence panels were fitted and I did some gardening and started cleaning the kitchen. Found the grave of Mr Rooney, child 5's pet hamster.

45 Friday
Took Peter to Birmingham airport for his flight back to Dubai, car hire dropped off and I caught the train home. Stopped at a nail bar, then home to finish cleaning the kitchen. The standard airport selfie.

46 Saturday
Walked Bob in the rain to the coffee shop at the retail park, did some washing then caught the train into Worcester, home to cook and bake. Evening spent cleaning the en suite shower room.

On the blog this week:
The real cost of renting - Work done on the house

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Storage for small spaces

We don't need storage solutions, there's my husband and I in a 3 bed house, in Dubai, with so many built in cupboards that we have the luxury of keeping the toaster in a cupboard.

However when we lived in the UK there was a period of time when we had 5 children in a 4 bed house and we had to make the most of every inch of space, from built in shelving in alcoves to storage boxes under bunk beds and regularly holding boot sales or donating items to charity.

In recent years, we bought a 1 bed flat in the UK to use as a base for visiting our families and as somewhere for our adult children to stay when we were over.

Sadly within 6 months of purchasing the flat my father died suddenly and mum had to move from her 4 bed house to a 2 bed flat as my father was a bit of a hoarder, lots of the more valuable items ended up in my flat for me to be able to sell on mums behalf at a later date.

Space in the flat is tight, with plastic storage boxes under the bed and a set of golf clubs and a suit case belonging to our middle child who is now living in Australia and my father's stamp collection in the built in cupboard and an old sewing table of my gran's in the lounge as I couldn't bare to part with it.

The 3 best buys I've had for the flat to ensure we can still live in it when we visit (up to 6 months of the year) was the wardrobe, the under sink cabinet in the bathroom and the sofa bed from Ikea.

The sofa bed stores all the spare bedding and pulls out as a double bed.

Washing is an issue and I've not mastered the art of drying things. We do have a washer dryer but the cost is high and the dryer part isn't that effective so I often do a service wash at the laundrette when anyone else is staying in the flat with me, other wise I hang bedding to dry over doorframes and chairs.

A cupboard under the sink now keeps the bathroom items on the shelf and cleaning chemicals hidden from sight, making it easier to keep the bathroom clean.

Moving my fathers stamp collection into the cupboard has freed up space in the bedroom.

I purchased a small wardrobe for this alcove behind the door to hang my clothes now the cupboard was full and our son's belongings now live under the bed.

Over the door hangers free up space in the lounge for hanging clothes to dry. This is also the cupboard housing my fathers stamp collection.

Do you have issues with storage? Having built in units in our former family home and our current one in Dubai mean we require far less furniture than we used to need and I'm sure when we move back to our former family, 6 bed, home in the UK next year with just the two of us, we won't have half the need for the furniture and storage solutions we've purchased over the years.