Decluttering

Hello, and happy new year!

This morning I am feeling like a lop-sided giraffe. I am having difficulty turning my head left. Not really a problem as I do not, and do not ever intend to, cycle anywhere. However it is a bit ouch. Which means time to do the exercises my chiropractor told me to do everyday. But laziness = not doing them everyday = seized up neck = exercises done as emergency measures to alleviate seized up neck... Anyhows, everything today is looking a bit like I've got sea legs/inner ear infection balance malfunction. The laptop is at a really strange angle. Its either that my rotten floor joists really are sinking or else my head must be tilted as a result of this neck thing. Will I get funny looks later in B&Q?

Ah, yes, decluttering. Everyone seems to be doing some. Mostly filing cabinets, aka black holes. I have so far done far less than I wanted to, as I got no further than making a heap of unworn clothes on the bedroom floor before Christmas. I have instead resorted to flicking through magazines looking fruitlessly for pictures of houses with actual stuff crammed into them. Either people who have stuff  hide it well, or actually have a life and don't bother trying to get magazines to feature their homes...

I would post a photo of how the kitchen table looks this morning but a written description is, perhaps, less scary. On said table there are:

• 3 pairs of school trousers waiting to be mended. They have been there for a very long time
• A tin of Quality Street containing just the toffees, which evidently no one is going to eat so they may as well be thrown away
• The christmas cards, to be cut into next year's labels instead of being slung in a carrier bag in the loft and being cut into labels hurriedly on christmas eve
• A new packet of scissors
• A tube of toothpaste - for the 11 year old's spot
• A load of bubble wrap from christmas pressies
• Last year's calendar
• One of the kid's christmas stockings
• Various ipod cables/phone chargers
• A string of sequins and 2 packets of beads
• Some plastic bags to go upstairs as bathroom binliners
• A new packet of thank you cards 

Which proves a) there is far too much inertia at Trashsparkle Towers, and b) I maybe ought to get some of those wonderful Holding Company stair baskets.

On a more positive note, in a bid to have Less Stuff In My Life I have:

• Cancelled one of my 4, yes, shamefully, 4!!!!, magazine subscriptions. Which is 25% less magazines to take up shelf space, and will mean 25% less time wasted lying on the sofa. In theory...
• Reduced the price of 2 of the books on my Amazon inventory. To hell with it, they will sell.
• Considered being more efficient by moving all things "for sale" to boxes under my bed. And then straightening up the deformed billy bookcase, by emptying it, bolting it to the wall, and re-arranging the remaining books and mags. Note, we are merely considering at this stage...
• Actually put the clothes from the sorted-out heap into a bag. Well, only about a third of the pile, as I was obviously feeling more ruthless the day I created the heap.

Wednesday Snowday

We've been hit full in the face by the big frenzy of snow that everyone in the south had over the weekend. Its lovely! Really fluffy and dreamy. And the sky was becoming pink as we went out - gorgeous. Did I remember to take the camera? No...

Went out to see the frozen canal, had a snowball fight with the 11 year old, tried out the new caff up the road.... muffins, mocha, yum, and then went to do a bit of food shopping, with only 6 things on the list. Came out with 6 bags, which was significantly more than one item per bag. That's the second time I've done that since the humungous online food shop last week. Oh well, at least we're not bothering Dominos Pizza anymore.

Some energetic house-rearranging on the go at the moment - gotta do something to burn off those mince pies - so finally a redundant filing cabinet has gone up into the storage-starved bedroom, and is now housing t-shirts and handbags. The makeover of the big filing cupboard is one stage nearer... its a Utility piece I've had for absolutely yonks. Was loosely thinking of silver and white wrapping paper for the interior, as the dining room is heading in a very white, black and grey direction, but think I'll do the inside of the doors with blackboard paint. Before and after pics will be on here soon.

A cheap reconfiguration of the kitchen is also being planned, with minimal purchases (a corner wall unit, worktop, tap, plus the fees of Messrs Plumber & Gas Fitter Ltd) and reuse of what is already there (carcasses, sink, cooker, appliances, vintage sideboards)... not the ideal week to be doing it, so will hold back with the sledgehammer just for now. Although Keef is definitely going to still be on the wall above the cooker...