De-cluttering, Renovating and Moving

I'd like to say that I don't know where the time has gone since I last posted - but I do know - it's been taken up with looking at homes and going back to homes to measure and see what will fit where and painting (oh the blisters from painting for 3 days) and weeding and more weeding and getting the front garden ready and the front front garden ready and the back garden and the house.

Thank goodness I was able to take 3 days leave last week to get some of the above done but it seems that every time I turn around, there is something else that we 'have' to do before we put our home on the market.

The de-cluttering has been good - and so cathartic.  It is also very stressful because I am married to someone who likes to hold onto things.  I'm not sure if you would call him a true hoarder but he doesn't like to get rid of things - even if there is only a very teeny tiny possibility that we may use it, he likes to keep it - just in case !!!!!!  It does drive me insane but I am sure that there are things that I do that drive him insane - so we sort of cancel each other out like that.

I am enjoying going through our stuff and finding little treasures that I had forgotten about - a letter I wrote to my Upstairs Gran when I was 4 yrs 8 mths old, photos of family members no longer with us, writing paper/notelets I never even knew I had, 50c stamps that I will need to buy 10c stamps to go with on a letter and so it goes on.

The bookshelf, which is floor to ceiling and 1500mm wide - is full to overflowing with books - some of which we will never read again so Lifeline will get those as well.  I know that there is someone out there who will read them.  The ones we don't give to Lifeline, will get packed away so that we only have shelves that have books one row deep instead of two rows deep !!!

Ideally I would love to live in a minimalistic home, but I understand that living with someone who likes 'stuff', it probably isn't going to happen.  All I can do is hope that what we keep is worthy of the space that it takes up.  And really, do we really have to have more than two sets of anything - be it towels, linen, table cloths, place mats, coffee machines etc etc.  I am sure you get the picture.  It seems that Lifeline is going to be getting a lot of 'drop offs' over the next couple of weeks - I know that there are people who will actually make a lot more use of these things than we do, having it sitting in our sideboard, linen cupboard, bedroom cupboard or kitchen.

We have taken a storage shed that we are moving 'stuff' into this weekend which means that this week is the week that I pack up as much as I can and send it off to storage.  I know I can take it into storage at any time but I would rather do it all now and then they will cart it there for me instead of us having to do it later.

I don't know how much I am going to be around over the next couple of weeks - last week we worked pretty much until we collapsed into a bath and then into bed.  There is nothing quite as exciting as weeding by torch light - but it was so much cooler than what we had put up with from 8-11 in the morning !

Joining in with Jess for #IBOT because it's Tuesday and I like to join in with such a fun linky !

Have the best week !!

TFTD : Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.