Decluttering

In 2015 I decided that I would lose 1000 things from the house. Well, I managed to part with just over 700 items. So I failed to reach my goal but there was a tiny bit more space in the house so I won as well because creating more space was my real aim. In 2016 I went for the same goal but failed miserable because I cleared just 365 items from the house. That is still one item per day but it falls far short of the 1000 I was hoping for. I had, of course parted with all the easily-partable-with things the previous year. This year I want to continue but I am going for a goal of 500 items. If I make it (and I am going to try really hard) then there will be 1500ish items gone from the house. Surely that will make a difference to the clutteredness in the house.

I am not good at parting with things, especially if there is any sentimental value at all but I must try harder. I know that when we are gone, my clutterfree daughters will get a big skip and everything will just go in it. I'd like to have a bit of a say in where things go.

My other aim last year was to write a post on average once a week so that I would have a diary record of happenings in my life for me to look back on. I managed 41 posts rather than 52 so I feel that I didn't fail as badly as at decluttering. It is my aim to post 50 times in 2017 too. I forget things so easily and it would be good to have a reminder. I remember the big things but it is the little details that don't stick - the ones that make me smile at the memory. Like parking in the church carpark earlier this week and hearing a little voice shouting " Ganny, Ganny". I hadn't realised that she would be at the church nursery school that day so it was a real treat seeing her at the nursery gates jumping up and down and waving and shouting to me. She is two and a half and not good at saying a 'gr' sound yet. I can't tell you how pleased I was to have such a welcome! And this is just the sort of thing that brings a smile but slips out of my memory so quickly.

I've taken a pile of carrier bags full of clothes to a charity last week so I'm pleased that I've got a total of items gone to put at the end of my post : )

38 items gone

Whizz........

2017 seems to be whizzing past. We had a lovely family Christmas but it feels like months ago not just a few weeks.  We've been doing lots of things in the last month: acquiring wood, cutting up wood, finding yellow stickered things to share with my friend and my son and his family, sharing yellow stickered goodies that my friend found, cooking, knitting, making soup for the church coffee shop (a new activity for 2017), going for a trip out and buying hen food whilst out, and lots else. Hen food is cheapest for average quality at a countrywide store, I have found, but there are no stores near where we live. If we are travelling out of our area and passing nearish to one of these stores, we call in. Currently they are selling three bags for £18 and closer to home, we are paying £8.75 for the same size sack.

I did have one evening recently when I was cooking and suddenly there was an almighty crash and the microwave turntable shattered into hundreds of pieces. Didn't half make me jump! Fortunately the food was in a covered dish so no glass got into our dinner. We've only had the oven since May and it is still under warranty so we phoned up Tesco where we had bought it and eventually they agreed to refund or replace. I only wanted a new turntable but they thought that it must be faulty. The problem was that I had bought it in the last session Tesco had of doubling up the clubcard vouchers. They couldn't give me back the full number of vouchers and they couldn't refund the full price. They could not replace it because they don't stock any similar combination oven/microwaves (maybe they have had lots with faults.....?) but they eventually came up with a solution that was a happy outcome for us. Yesterday we collected our new one (from a different shop and a different model too) and I look forward to learning how to cook with that one.

And we have been out this afternoon to collect some nice silver birch branches from a friend who has had a tree pruned. Silver birch burns really nicely when the wood has dried out nicely. Those branches will get used next winter.