Sunday 28 July 2013

Finding Order in the Chaos

There is one thing as sure as the sun will set...I am a hoarder.

I keep everything, you know; just in case! ( I might NEED a concert ticket from 1996 one day !!!)

A revelation a few weeks ago made me realise my clutter is my security blanket, the people that love me tolerate it and it keeps me safe by giving me a physical reason not to have friends visit me at home, yep I like my solitude that much. 

But I am changing and I would like to be able to invite my friends over without being embarrassed about my mess. To come home and relax, not look around and feel more tense. I want to feel like I am in a haven when I am home, not a hellish nightmare.

So I started......to pin storage solutions on Pinterest.

Next I read cleaning/decluttering/organising blogs to inspire me and give me ideas on how and where to start.
On lady suggested that you remove one thing from each room every week... ain't nobody got time for that.

Though I did start small, with my spectacles.... I still have every pair of glasses I have ever worn and I started wearing them when I was about 8! Getting rid of something like this you would think is an easy task, I was ok until I walked into the optometrists to donate them for reuse in third world countries and the dispensing technician says "Oh wow, these are just like the current season :insert designer I have never heard of: ,are you sure you don't want to keep them ?" "NO NO I don't...". Walks swiftly to the door before I was tempted to snatch glasses back.

I have also been working on reducing our wardrobes. What I discovered was; If we have lots of clothes, I wash less, but when I do wash, I have more things to wash, fold and put away. Therefore reduce the clothes, increase frequency of loads = easier management of laundry! 
This clean out yielded 7 garbage bags of clothes for the Charity Shop.

This weekend however was the big project weekend, toys.
Miss L, JD and I set to work we made 3 piles "TO KEEP", "TO BIN", "TO CHARITY"
Now trying to explain to a 7 year old and a 5 year old that they have too many toys is difficult enough, but trying to get then to part with them was even more of a challenge.
So we started off talking about kids who's mum's and dad's maybe can't afford to buy them new toys, for whatever reason and that wouldn't it be lovely is the Charity Shop had some nice toys for these families to buy especially with Christmas just around the corner.  This seemed to encourage them. I explained the importance of throwing away the broken stuff and the things with missing pieces, because lets be honest no one wants these things and our piles of things grew larger and larger.
I am so proud of my children's ability to let go of the things we no longer use or need. 

We packed it all into the back of the Mr's van and he is going to deliver it for us tomorrow! 

Suddenly I don't feel sad about letting these things go, because I know that they will go to better use thatn gathering dust here. The toys will entertain other small children, the clothes will keep a less fortunate child warm and a mum might find herself a nice frock to wear. If our pre-loved things can make someone else smile, I will be happy.

We are still not finished this epic project, but when we are you will see the pictures here :) 


                                              
Goodbye Clothes

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