Here we are, well into February and I’m still decluttering. I can’t pretend that it’s going at a rip-roaring pace, but it’s definitely still going.

Every couple of days I tackle another cupboard or a couple of shelves. I’m being quite ruthless….but frankly I need to be…there is a lot of stuff stuck in the back of cupboards that hasn’t been used in decades. Most of the cupboards are/were hopelessly overcrowded…and you know what that means…the stuff at the back absolutely never, ever gets a look-in.

Today it was the turn of the kitchen cupboard full of bowls and assorted ovenware. A lot of the odds and ends were inherited from my brother when he emigrated to Canada 20 years ago. I’ve maybe used them once or twice and most of them are two-person household small, so no good at all for my 5-person family. I can’t imagine why I’ve ever held onto them as most of them are rather sad looking. Well, not anymore! Now the excess is boxed up ready to go to Church for the White Elephant stall at our annual bazaar and my cupboard is fresh and organized. I can actually find things without having to take everything out. Wow! That feels good.

Over the weekend I also had a big sort out of my knitting and quilting books. They have never been weeded through before. Knitting and quilting stuff has always had holy status round here, but when I took the books out of the bookcase to clean it, I really saw them in a new light. This is a collection that goes back 25 years. Quilting in particular has moved on – a lot – since then and so have I.

I’m never going to make a Baltimore Album quilt, really I’m not. Nor am I likely to wear quilted waistcoats or make things that verge on kitsch. My style has changed and a lot of the books had never been opened in 20 years. So I ruthlessly made a pile of those that had to go and at the end surprised even myself with how many there were.

I have a hard time throwing books away, a really, really hard time. Mostly I give everything to the church – English books can be sold for Church funds at a premium in Switzerland – but ancient quilting books? I don’t think so. There’s no point me dumping the church with the cost of getting rid of things that don’t sell. We pay for our garbage here by the bagload – and it isn’t cheap!

My problem has hopefully been at least partly solved by a friend who suggested that I should try to sell them second hand on Amazon. So that’s what I’m doing. Of course it only works if they earn enough to more than cover the postal costs and the percentage that Amazon take, so I’ve had to weed through and only list the ones that I could sell at a slight profit. I’m certainly not going to make much money, but at least the books will hopefully be going to a good home. Even though it is all a bit of a hassle, I’m really in favour of re-homing things if I can, rather than just throwing everything away. I’ve only sold one book so far though, so this could take a while!

Slowly but surely I’m simplifying. It all feels like there’s been a breath of fresh air through the house.

Helen

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.