Darning may not *feel* like decluttering...

I've been darning this week: a Land's End nightie that really should have lasted longer than it did, leggings [that I use as pj bottoms], joggers, socks, and reinforcing weakened areas on a cardigan.

This may not seem like it's getting rid of stuff, but it has created some (much-needed) mental space, so that is seven things off my 'mental To-Do list'.

Result! 

"You're Aiming Too High!"

I saw a YouTube short [that I forgot to bookmark, so I can't remember who it was by], and he said that if you are failing, it's not because you aren't aiming high enough, it's because you are aiming too high; aim lower!

It was a persuasive argument: my aim had been "Do.All.The.Things", and I've realised that that particular aim has caused "paralysis"...  If I want to start to succeed, I need to start with "baby steps"...

I need to Aim Lower!

Since I started to declutter, we have emptied my mother-in-law's two-bedroom terraced house, in two phases: Phase 1 cluttered up our dining room, and prevented us from making good the wall [structural movement from 2003 that the previous owner hadn't dealt with, and that was worsened by another bout of heave, following Covid's lovely summer/wet winter combo].

We got Janet's stuff finally dealt with [shoe-horning in some pieces that we intend to keep (at least for now), and taking so much stuff to the charity shop (I can't tell you how many loads of clothes I washed, and how much kitchenware I scrubbed)], and then it was time for Phase 2...

If you guessed "cluttering up our dining room", I would love to be able to give you a prize, but there isn't one on offer, sorry!  We also "cluttered up a storage unit".

So that then added another delay, as we dealt with emptying the dining room once again. 

Thankfully, in the meantime, we have had the wall made good, and the whole room plastered, and tomorrow the plumber is coming back to re-fit the radiator; we may even have finished painting the walls by then - who knows?

I'm going to try and blog about the changes, as a way of keeping myself accountable. 

[Yeah, like that worked so well the last time?!  But: this time, I have been having some counselling, and am working on/willing to work on the shame I feel at not being able to keep my home clean and tidy, and I'm going to aim lower, so please keep your fingers crossed for me, anyone who stumbles over this?  Thank you, if you are out there and wishing me well.]

I cannot change the past, but I can start again, and (maybe) change the future. 

Decluttering... A.k.a.: Holding Myself Accountable

It's been an awfully long time since I've felt like blogging, and life, the Universe [and particularly Covid-19] seem to have got in the way - we've all been there, and having come 'up' from 'down', I suspect anyone who has been there sincerely hopes never to return.

Today, I'm fired up with enthusiasm, and hoping to make a start on decluttering...

Detour before I start: we did (what felt like) very well with sorting things out to donate/chuck during the first Lockdown, and then did a favour for a friend, and emptied his two-bedroom flat for him (so he could terminate his lease and remain in Germany), and it all ended up at our place, and suddenly we went from "this pile will go to the dump (once we are allowed again)", and "these boxes are for the charity shop (once we are allowed again)" and "those things are to take to my mum/aunt/cousin's (once we are allowed again)" with a whole shedload of "once we get rid of all the other things, we can arrange these things more satisfactorily" to "Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!", and our neatly curated piles/bags/boxes were swamped with a whole 'nother home's worth of stuff.

People who need to declutter, and are at the start of that 'journey', know this too well: stuff is overwhelming, and too much stuff is deeply-depressing and massively-overwhelming.  And people who can be prone to feeling depressed and/or overwhelmed may notice that sinking feeling more?  I don't know, but I do know that I hit a point of "I can't cope with this" and once that kicked off, it just became so much easier to just dump more stuff onto the 'pile' than start to reduce the pile.

I have cleared a space in the main dumping room bedroom, so I can now move up there without edging sideways, and am (physically) at a point I can do some work (as long as I don't overdo it).

I have been down a rabbit-hole of plantar fasciitis, hip arthritis, trapped nerve [same hip], reactivated torn rotator cuff [opposite shoulder], and bone-crushing exhaustion [from insomnia - can't sleep on my: back, front, left side, right side when the pain is bad!].

So please keep your fingers crossed for me that stuff will make it out of the house, and my body will withstand my efforts [I need my lovely husband to drive stuff to the tip/charity shops as my shoulder is painfree, but massively weak from all the not-doing I've been doing (on physio advice) to heal the tendinitis].

Oh, and the point of this post was to say: "I miss blogging" and "if I post about it, it will make me (much) more accountable", so even though I have started, I haven't got so far you'd notice, so this seems a good place at which to resume my online diary.

Catch-up number 5

I'm hoping to make this the last of the catch-ups, and then you can safely assume that all we are doing is "normal" living type activities.  I may still blog when we've made a visible difference outside, or when I've finally found homes for all our possessions, but I'm not planning to do a daily post...

Unless I spot a new/interesting bird - that might get me to the computer.

Here goes:

• Wednesday, 25 February: I got a second coat of paint on the wall that will be behind the stove - that's enough already!

Catch-up number 4

In the excitement of moving, blogging has really taken a back seat.  I finally got the photos all uploaded to Flickr, so my mind is now empty enough that I can face wading through my notes, so I'm [finally] pushing on with updating this blog.

Here goes:

• Saturday, 7 February: The plasterer has done a good job of the wall where the woodburning stove will go, and it's already dry/nearly dry everywhere apart from where Glyn blocked up the old opening/around the flue.  Both Richards have finished - the utility room now only needs the lights reinstating, and a washing machine to be complete.  David sanded the remaining unsanded coving in the kitchen, and all of the hall - phew!  That's all we are going to do sanding-wise, as we are fast running out of time.  I painted a second coat on the second quarter of the sitting room ceiling, and started the first coat on the third quarter.  I'm still being "hamstrung" by the shoulder problems, so am doing as much as I can without making my shoulders so bad I need to take time off; we figure a little bit of work every time we come is better than doing eight hours and then being unable to do anything for months.  Later, I finished the first coat on the third quarter, but keeping track is fun!

We've moved!

I'm crazy-busy trying to get at least one room habitable [hamstringing myself by flitting between rooms], and haven't got the mental space to do the 'update so far'...

So, today, I'll just say: we have the hearth, I'm waiting for the stove [next Thursday is the installation date], I'm cleaning the sitting room floor & windows (trying to get one area vaguely clean before the herd of cats* female relatives descend next week)...

Right, I'm off to use more Flash!



*It's like herding cats, interacting with that side of the family, so I think of them as a 'herd of cats'!

Still playing catch-up...

I'm wading my way through my notes from the last month, so here is another instalment of progress that's happened at the house:

• Saturday, 17 January: Richard 2 has been.  We've now got a shower tray, base cabinets, and worktops in the utility, and about three-quarters of the tiling has been done.  For the first time, I can "see" myself liking living in this house [as opposed to living in the house until I can make enough changes that it feels bearable (the downside of buying a place for the exterior when the house is a sh!thole, I suppose)].  That felt like an immense breakthrough, and I've felt so much more positive since.  Thank you so much!  He has also connected the loo to the mains, but until Richard 1 has finished his ministrations we are still reliant on our bucket.  Jason fitted the sliding kitchen door into the final position; that's him done for now.  David continued removing wallpaper paste from the sitting room walls, and I started sanding the cornice, and painted behind where the radiators will be in there.