Unclutter my life. Day Seven. The Bearwood Jumble Trail.

It an attempt to sell some of the things I am unearthing during this unclutter my life process I am taking part in the Bearwood summer Jumble Trail. Think yard sale with lots of people all holding one on the same day in the same neighbourhood.

I am hoping to offload some of the cookery books I sorted through, and have been going throught the last few things that I still have from Mom after sorting through her stuff. The amount of stuff she had was staggering for just one room. And I am sorting through my stuff so my kids don’t have to.

At the moment this is what is going into the jumble.

Brownie badges circa 1989.

Including the sash.

Enamel souvenir charms.

Soft toys.

Vintage scarves and hats

Vintage scarves and coats

And a selection of Bionicles, donated by my son. He too has the declutter bug. He has a vested interest in this declutter exercise as when he saw how much stuff Mom had, he realised that one day he may have to go through my stuff. And as a person who is not a hoarder, has enough clothes to last a week and only one pair of shoes, this one collection of stuff was a blip.

Let us hope the sun shines and the people of Bearwood want some decent cookbooks, Bionicles and Brownie Badges.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

 

 

 

Unclutter My Life. Day Six. Back into the closet.

This is definitely more than a 7 day exercise. I started clearing my closet on day one. What I didn’t say was that was just one of many that need uncluttering. And then there are the sock and undie drawers. Stuffed to overflowing and something had to be done.

I emptied the sock drawer.

54 pairs of socks

Cleaned it.

Drawer organiser

Inserted an organiser.

Organised socks

Put back only socks I knew I would wear. The thick colourful ones are a necessity for English winters. And on a chilly summer evening. I started with 54 pairs and 17 odd socks. I now have 24 pairs in the drawer.

These did not make the cut, and I plan to donate them to Socks and Chocs, a charity that helps the homeless.

The left over socks

Seriously, do I need 24 pairs of socks?

Then onto the undies (no photos of those you will pleased to know).

The suck you in to give you a flat tummy that make you faint, went straight into the bin. I am fat, these will never make me look thin. The shabby ones also went into the bin. The rest were sorted by colour into an organiser. Bras, the ones that I have not worn for over two years because the fasteners have broken – binned. I have kept some I rarely never wear, just in case. Just in case of what? No idea. This uncluttering is hard!

Inspired, I went through the baskets. I have one for tights. People who know me well and read this blog, how many times have you seen me in a dress and tights? I did sort them and the ones with holes in were binned. I do wear dresses sometimes. In the summer, with sandals. And for interviews. And they may come in useful. You never know.

A basket of tights

A basket for thermals. I can justify those. Victorian house that is cold. My current workplace is a church, my office is the vestry. It is cold in there in the summer. Yup those thermals will be needed.

A basket of thermals

Sarongs and scarves in another.

Sarongs and wraps

That did not fit on this.

Scarves

I wear scarves ALL THE TIME. I don’t of course, but one day they may come in useful, all 30 something of them.

Organised and colour coordinated

I then colour coordinated the dress closet. My 31 year old wedding dress is hiding in the plastic covers. There are a couple of items that still have the label attached, that I have never worn. Bought many years ago from Planet and Monsoon. Too gorgeous to part with. As is the beaded evening dress from Monsoon. None fit me of course. This is the year that I will lose 4 stone and wear them. It is.

So the de cluttering is going well. As you can see.

Linen and the closet of the man of the house

At least the bed linen is organised (all 10 sets of it).The extra duvets and electric blanket? Did I mention a cold Victorian house? This my husbands side of the wardrobe. He too did the socks and undies exercise with me, in that he sorted his, not mine, obviously.

How do you think I am doing in my de cluttering journey?

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

 

I thought I was getting over the farsickness

until I heard this.

Every time I hear it I yearn to be travelling again.

It was on the radio today when I was in the hairdresser. I had to fight back the tears as they would have wondered what on earth was wrong with me.

I first heard this on Australia Day 2012, on the way back to Perth after a day out to Margaret River. As we drove back into Perth the storm began. Thunder, lightening and rain, threatened to cancel the firework display. It rained in every city I visited in Australia. As we walked into the hostel, soaked to the skin, the guy on reception, who had told us a few days ago that there was no chance of rain in Perth this time of year, looked at me and my husband and said ‘Rainmakers’. We got caught up in 8 cyclones during our travels, and we are still not put off. We are no strangers to holiday disasters.

 

And now, whenver I hear Goyte singing ‘Someone That I Used to Know’, I travel right back to that day. And I know that I just have to be on the road again.

 

Unclutter My Life. Day Five. The Hall aka the dumping ground.

It seems that these posts have been inspiring readers to tackle the clutter in their lives too. My Unclutter book is now out on loan to a friend.

I managed to clear/create the reception station. As I don’t have the book I have no idea what day or time of day I was suppoed to do this. Monday I think.  It is Wednesday. And I started this 9 days ago. What I do know that this seems to be a daily task as everyone empties their lives into the hall on a daily basis.

It is also the place we put things that are on the way out of the house, such as books to return to the library, things we need to remember to take to work, or donations to take to charity shops. I am going to have to come up with a better solution to keeping this area clutter free.

I also tackled the emotional task of letting go of paperwork I found when going through yet another shoe box that my mother had kept in her wardrobe. I put my wedding planning folder from 31 years ago in the recycling bin.

The table plan was fun as there were divorcees there with new partners and the aunts and uncles from one side of the family were not talking to each other.

And many people on this plan are no longer with us. Holding on to stuff that have happy memories can trigger sad thoughts too.

Seems crazy that Mom kept them for so long.

Gathering dust.

Yet when I came across them the other day, I could not part with them immediately.

I scanned them.

And finally in a mass sort out of paperwork I said goodbye to them.

It was tough. Why so we hold such attachment to such things?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I guess that is why sometimes we need a friend to help us let go of stuff. Someone to hold them for us to stop us forming an attachment to them. To help us decide that we do not need a table plan and the receipt for the wedding cake from 31 years ago

After all I still have my husband, most of the dinner set, some of the cutlery and the towels. Not bad for 31 years.

Nostalgia, Cake and a Poem in The Cotswolds

Charlie aka Forages and Finds invited me and my family for a day out in the Cotswolds.

While I was looking forward to seeing her, I was really looking forward to seeing these.

All 8 of us plus Truffle the doglet piled in and the adventure began.

When I was learning to drive in 1977 the two cars I had the pleasure of driving were a Mini Cooper and a Morris Traveller. This was a real nostalgia trip for me.

Memories of when I was 17 flooded back. The smell of the car, the noise of the engine, the bouncy seats, no seat belts in the back, when motoring was about having fun, not about commuting, traffic jams and boy racers. When 50p filled up the petrol tank and 17 year olds could afford to insure a car. No air con, just wide open windows and the wind through your hair.

Then, like today, a large group of us would set off  to Clent or the Lickey Hills in a collection of Morris Travellers, Minis, Jeeps and Beach Buggies. It was the 70’s, we were into Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Eagles. We had long hair, flared jeans and tie die t shirts. We didn’t have California but we did have Clent.

Back to 2014. Charlie and Dom drove us first to Whichford for lunch at The Straw Kitchen. We had a mooch around Whichford Pottery too. I can thoroughly recommend a visit here. The gardens are lovely, the ceramics on sale are beautifully crafted and the selection of quality gifts is very good.

The main reason we were here was for the food in this quirky cafe.

The tea here is English in the true sense of the word as it is grown on the Tregothan Estate in Cornwall.

The ingredients are seasonal and locally sourced. The menu has an Eastern Mediterranean influence, think Yotam Ottolenghi, with a Cotswold twist. The food is very good.

And then Charlie announced that we were off to Adelstrop for a walk and some foraging.

Adelstrop. Just a couple of weeks ago I had read the poem I Remember Adelstrop at Make Friends with a Book, the shared reading group I go to. I had mentioned then that I would love to visit the village. And now I was.

Later after a walk and some trespassing and foraging we stopped here.

For cake, of course. There is always cake when you are with Charlie and co.

And we listened as Dom read aloud ‘I remember Adelstrop’. The people on the next table also stopped to listen. Such is the power of shared reading and good poetry.

Go and make some tea, cut a slice of cake and listen to Richard Burton reading the poem by playing the film below.