Becoming Domestic

Last night we returned home from a weekend away. On the journey we had been discussing the fact that we’d like to move to a smaller, more energy efficient house to further reduce our costs. Because we rent we are able to move whenever we want to with very little in the way to stop us. We’ve been here for two years and although it is a lovely house we feel it is actually too big for our needs in some ways.

Each room seems to be filled with Stuff. The kids have way too many clothes, toys, a lot of books.  The baby was given a lot of baby related paraphanelia which she is already too big for and we have far too much furniture stashed away in each room (four sofas, loads of chairs, a couple of extra tables for parties, extra bedding for guests, suitcases etc etc etc).

It has been a dream of mine for ages to stop feeling overwhelmed by how much we have and instead start saying goodbye to it in advance of our house move so we no longer have to pay for it to be moved or need a house big enough to house so many things.

I’m setting myself 30 minutes this morning to Freecycle several things that have not been used for over a year or are taking up space (a noticeboard, a 1960s melamine laundry tud, an over sized houseplant, baby gym) and give them to people who want them.

Last night I made a list of things we actually need as opposed to just like to have (beds, bedding, towels, some clothes and shoes, good non-fiction books, our photos, toys and art materials). It was a much shorter list than I’d anticipated and made me feel free instead.

I’ll try to sell a few high value, easy to post things on eBay but hopefully as the next few weeks progress I’ll be feeling that instead of living with a constantly growing mountain of things I’m in a clearer space which requires far less in the way of tidying, dusting, sorting.

The final remaining job will be to gently hint to the lovely grandparents that the children would prefer to spend time with them and days out instead of ‘treating’ them with piles and piles of plastic clobber.

[Update since drafting this post an hour ago... I've filled a bag to take to the charity shop - mainly cheap and nasty children's toys and books - especially those which have small pieces and may be a choking hazard for the crawling baby, people are coming to our house pick up unloved houseplants, baby clobber and large unused household and office things, I've created a pile of things which will probably sell well on eBay and aren't too much hassle to post, have had a quick rummage through my kids' wardrobe and found loads of too-small school uniform which we can pass back to the second hand uniform lady from whence it came. I feel much better and know that the task in hand is not insummountable and it does feel really good having a clear out]

Posted on October 20th, 2008 under Decluttering, Downshifting • Tags: Downshifting. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback