After taking all the junk to the tip yesterday morning, Bill and I stopped off at Home Bargains. I'm still being good at not buying all and everything I see and like. I dithered over a white pumpkin mug but didn't think it would be nice to drink from. Then I spotted this little pink cup and thought you know what, I like that. Pink has faded from this house quite a bit recently, so it's nice to add a little splash of it here and there. Spoiler alert, the pink front door and garage doors will be going soon too. We fancied a change, but I still love pink and always will.
And I am planning on going through the kitchen cupboards soon to get rid of any cups that we haven't used for a while, so I don't need to tell myself off for buying a new one, particularly one that makes a good cup of tea.
A few bits were found for my mum & brother's hamper. Chocolates, biscuits, savoury cheese biscuits, and some snowman shaped marshmallows. And a jar of apple sauce, which she eats with pretty much everything. A nice little start, but still more to get. Trying to make sure it's not too heavy this time, last year it was hard work carrying it round, mainly because of the wooden box I used as the base.
Plans for today. I've got laundry to catch up with,things have piled up from the end of the week as the water was turned off a few times. I had to empty the airing cupboard too, which was timely really. With the demise of the single bed I can get rid of all single sheets and duvets. I put a quilt in the recycling yeterday which means there is a lot less to go back. And.I have got rid of all the festive bedlinen and won't be buying it any more. They were mainly for double and single duvets - we have neither now - I've kept the snuggly brushed cotton ones for Violet's bed, but anything christmassy has gone. The truth is that duvet covers aren't really seen on her bed as she has a quilt over the top. It made the decision to get rid of them all the easier. The airing cupboard ends up being such a higgledy mess, I've needed to get rid of stuff for years but kept hanging on. This year has been such a great lesson in letting "stuff" go.
But I am feeling sort of festive. With my new cup, the candle that I bought of 'twisted peppermint', and the book that I ordered on Friday morning and had delivered on Friday evening. Amazon are amazing for speedy deliveries.
Roast chicken and all that goes with it like a mini Christmas Dinner later on, and I'm hoping the weather will change from the blue sky and sunshine we have now to grey and drizzly, because I want to curl up with the book and lose myself in the snowy Norfolk landscape created by Heidi Swain.
Sadie, I'm so impressed with your momentum for clearing your clutter! I'm at the stage where I really need to sort the house, but don't actually make a start. My adult children are 34,32 and 29 and yet I still have stuff from their childhoods stashed in the 2 spare bedrooms! It would be so much easier to keep on top of things with less stuff around.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Mrs LH, and I do have some lessons that I can share. The main one being take one room at a time, then clear it in stages. One initial declutter and tidy, then go through things again, and then again. I don't hold with this 'does it bring me joy' thing, but I do look at stuff and ask if I need it or like it. The amount of stuff I've rootled through and forgotten I had. Which straightaway tells me it can go. Also, if you focus on one room at a time, then it's ok if you are relying on using the weekly rubbish collection to recycle or chuck out. It's better if you can get to a dump, but if not, then the slowly does it route is the way to go. Once you see things vanishing and space taking over it spurrs you on. The probelm is when you try to do it all at once and it totally overwhelms. We were lucky, having the skip was a massive help and it's that that spurred us on to get rid of so much, but I think equally if you start with one room and blitz, blitz, blitz, that would have the same effect.
DeleteI agree. Once there is less to deal with then everyday living is just so much easier and pleasant. Violet is just learning this and I think it's a great life lesson. She's been through all her junk and would call me in and ask what she should do with this or that. I'd say 'get rid' because I'm heartless, she's say 'but you made it' and I'd say but you don't want it or use it so it can go. I'm not offended! So now she's getting really good at being able to chuck stuff out and I'm glad. I don't want to encourage her to hold on to stuff 'just because'. It's a bad habit to have, and one it has taken me years to break! Good luck, let me know how you get on x
Haha to the funny shopping encounter. Strangely enough I had one too, some bloke suddenly exclaimed, oh no, I used the wrong scanner, this must be yours!! True enough he mistook my trolley for his. The couple of items were quickly removed and we both had a good laugh about it, I did say it was a good try!!
ReplyDeleteStrange isn't it how tea just tastes better in some cups.
ha, got to love a trolley mix up, especially when you can have a laugh about it too. I always said to my mum that she bought too many yellow sticker items, this was proven when one day she left her trolley for a minute and came back to find someone rootling through. The woman was mortified and said to my mum 'I'm sorry, I thought this was a reduced trolley'! ha ha, she had so many reduced things it looked like the shop had left it there.
DeleteYes! It is odd. Sometimes I've bought a cup or mug that I just loved but it made tea taste vile and I'd have to get rid of it. Hate it when that happens!