My Home Is Not The Only Project In My Life

It's one of many - too many!

Mini Porch Update

There has only been a small amount of progress on the porch - but it's good progress.  The capping stones are now on the new little walls and the fixings are in place.  My friend only had one day last week to make it across to work on the porch.  But I am glad he made it as the rain since would have put the new mini walls in jeopardy (so much rain).

Almost there now with the porch

A weekend clearing out - at my mum's

Dad was a massive hoarder - only kept in check by mum's presence in his life. Goodness knows how the house would have been had mum died first and he was allowed free rein to hoard.  I don't doubt he could have starred in one of the TV shows where people are sent in to help.  He and mum had started taking books to charity shops many years ago with a view to moving, but I suspect as many things came back into the house.  It’s only now that we are seeing the full picture. I won’t go into the detail of everything here - but as mum now wants to move nearer to my brother and I, we need to clear the house we moved to when I was nine years old and all the gathered things from 53 years of marriage.

So after a busy week of only very small achievements in my own home, I dropped my daughter at work and set off to my brother's.  He had hired a van - something he's been doing a fair bit over this summer - and we thought it would be nice to drive up together road trip style.  It's about 70 miles and takes going on for two hours - mostly due to the 20 mph speed limit in most of greater London now - so we had time to catch up on the way.

The aim of the trip was to take as much as possible away in the van - to the tip or to charity shops, but we only had about 24 hours at mum’s.  My brother (thankfully) focussed on the big items, garden stuff and spider infested boxes of junk or treasures (depending on your viewpoint) while I cleared half a bookcase, dusting off books and packing them into bags to take away.  It's slow work because everywhere are reminders of dad, and I wanted to be sensitive to mum.  I felt bad that I didn't clear more, but I was being distracted to help my brother or see something mum wanted to show me.  Clearing out is never just clearing out.

Mum and dad’s old bookcase in the small bedroom - so many treasures found (it was more cleared by the time I left)

It was sad in many ways, but also good to be making progress for mum, as well as spending time with her and my brother.  Usually it's fleeting meals somewhere in-between us and mostly there are our girls and his wife around too.  This is different - just the three of us - working together and helping mum - it's good spending precious time together.  Mum treated us to dinner out too which was nice - and needed after all the work.

My brother is really efficient at clearing out - because he doesn't have any emotional attachment to things. He's always been a bit of a clean freak (in a nice way), and he gets so much done because he's not stopping to read things, ask mum if she wants to keep something or finding treasures he feels the need to show us.  I mean he does sometimes show us things, but not in the way I do this.  Lessons can definitely be taken from his method - it was an education and it definitely made me want to get on with things at home.  I certainly don't want to end up in my 80s having to do it all still.

The outcome of the weekend was another van load taken away - everything from dexion shelving, two new internal doors, random bits of wood, bags of rubbish and plastic recycling (old tubs which had held screws, nuts, bolts, hinges and other metal fixings), large branches from an ivy bush, plastic boxes full of the metal fixings, a table and 6 bags full of books along with other bags for charity shops.  Perhaps not ideally, I now have the six bags of books and another full of bags for the charity shop adding to the chaos that is my living room.  Sorting these books is becoming a matter of urgency now.

The six bags of books adding to the chaos of my living room

It was a success though - apart from the fridge-freezer that was supposed to be delivered Sunday morning and wasn't.  I have been catching up a bit on sleep since - and haven't exactly hit my own clearing yet this week.  But I know I need to take it one step at a time and get back into the rhythm of home - daughter, dog, work, writing and clearing out!

I do have a habit of distracting myself with new projects - whether it's a writing idea or research on camper vans or searching house prices somewhere or other.  (Or buying gorgeous new stationery).  But I had a moment while walking the dog the other day where I accepted that I can't jump ahead to the fun things, I have to knuckle down and get this house sorted before moving on to the next thing - because that's partly how I got in this mess in the first place.  Perhaps this was me growing up a little at last?  Acceptance can be tough though - and I’m a little bit proud of myself for putting some priorities in place.

Let's hope it lasts - and those books find new homes really soon.

Things out this week:

 - a few bits of rubbish and recycling

 - money - seem to be haemorrhaging it to pay for my daughter to go to work

Things in this week:

 - 6 bags of books

 - 1 bag of bags for charity

 - one gorgeous new refillable pen (from Tom's Studio if anyone is interested - also see my note - also I'm not on commission)

I'd love to hear about your decluttering projects - especially any that I can aspire to.