so a lot has happened..

and for the better

I am much happier... we are much happier and this makes everything easier, 'nuff said :)

did I mention I went interstate last month?

it inspired me in some ways in so far as decluttering goes... my mum (no actually... my parents) are hoarders. they wouldn't quite make it onto the tv show "hoarders" but they're close. I used to tidy when I came to visit, for my own comfort and I think it kind of became expected of me... then I had kids and I stopped. I was far to busy chasing them about to worry (though I would tidy away stuff to make their place a bit more toddler friendly)

this time my visit was for my mum's birthday party... that meant lots of visitors coming to their home and I just couldn't have them walk into the sh!tfight that greeted me when I first arrived. So I rallied mum and we tidied away (out of sight, out of mind unfortunately) stuff in the main living areas so it wasn't too embarrassing.

Still their place could do with a massive declutter and I've threatened more than once that I'll come over one day and toss all their crap out. I don't think that will be any time soon ;)

Anyway I came home full of beans wanting to sort out my own (much smaller mess)... then with the great unhappy white elephant that was sitting around at home things got waylaid. I fell in a heap, exhausted from the trip (notice I say trip and not holiday) but having to press on at home all the while feeling quite numb and empty.

A few things got done (minor tidies and chuck outs) but there was much wallowing as well.

Now things are better and with that comes new enthusiasm!

We've taken the Easter break and given our dining room / study a real make over. Our problem has ever been that we have tried to keep our big furniture in a small space. We have always reasoned that it was because we have a lot of stuff but I suspect part of it is that many pieces of furniture were our first... we paid a lot for them and had grown attached. Also (and this is why my parents don't throw stuff out) I have been brought up to not be wasteful.

But in reality I have been wasting space (ping... light bulb moment!)

So, with the in-laws planning a garage sale in the near future (saving us the hassle), we have launched on one mother of a clean out.

The huge dining room table, large bookcase, corner computer desk and filing cabinet are out. Replaced by a long pc desk (accommodating both our pc's... his and hers LOL, whereas his was on the dining room table and we never got to actually eat off of it!) and a small square dining table which pulls out to seat 6 as the need arises... which isn't often. Oh and we've brought back inside a smaller book case.

I have cleared out our filing cabinet, most of it's contents will be shredded and archived what we need to keep and we now can fit all that we had in a 4 draw and a 2 draw cabinet into the 2 draw. Seriously we had held onto paperwork for way too long.

I am sorting through my books and purging anything I know I will never read again. And it's much easier than I thought... the safety net of my Kindle has kept me from being too soft in my stay or go choices. I do not have all my books on Kindle as well but it is nice to know that if I desperately want to read something again it's easy enough to get a hold of it.

Our space feels good now, it's not quite how we want it... I think some pieces could do with a lick of paint to make it prettier and bring it all together but there is definitely a sense of having more space and that does wonders for the morale around here.

To be continued...