Happy New Year everyone! Anne here, and I'm currently embarking on the incredibly glamorous holiday activity of . . . decluttering. I don't do it every year, but I find the beginning of the year a good time to take stock of things and try for a bit of a fresh start. Clearing out the old to make way for the new.
Not that I'm planning to buy more stuff — I'd love to get down to something fairly minimalist, but I know myself and it will never happen. It's not that I'm a big shopper, it's just that my mother raised me to be thrifty and to use things to the nth degree -- clothes worn until they fall apart, mended if possible, and if not, repurposed into cleaning rags. That kind of thing. Recycling.
As well, things breed in my house. Coffee mugs, bowls, books — oh my, do the books ever breed! — notebooks, and stuff I use in my hobbies — beads and pretty paper and that sort of thing. They breed. You should see my TBR (to-be-read) pile(s) —that's one on the right. I blurred the titles.) A tactful (cough splutter) friend once said to me, "You know Anne, this place would be really tidy if you just got rid of all the books and the papers."
Yes, but I'd rather cut off my arm! ( Probably. Actually, I quite like my arm.)
I love charity shops, and am very happy to give them anything they can sell. So I'm combing through my wardrobe and filling bags with the clothes and shoes I've hardly worn in the past year, and I'm looking at books that I know I'll never read again, and putting them in the charity box, too. And hats — I have so many hats, but I hardly ever wear a hat! So I'm culling hats, too. (The hats in the photo are just my everyday hats — I have lots more dress-up/silly hats.) And I'm even hardening my heart and tossing things in the rubbish bin. (Extreme behavior!)
It's a lovely feeling when you've cleared out a pile of stuff. I cleared out the bathroom cabinet yesterday and tossed a stack of half-used old tubes of hand cream and sunblock and old make-up and medicines — all kinds of things that were out of date. Today I keep going into the bathroom to admire all the gleaming, empty shelf space. <g>
I wish I were the kind of person who did this as an everyday thing. I had an aunt whose house was like a display home, and every drawer and cupboard contained something completely unknown in my house — empty spaces! But I'm not that kind of person and never will be, so every few years there's a frenzy of decluttering and tossing.
What about you — are you an everyday declutterer or is it the occasional frenzy for you?