Wednesday 13 February 2013

A Whirlwind or a Meander

 
A whirlwind is spinning through our place, well a very leisurely slow spinning one so maybe it's more of a meander :-)
 
Yesterday I decided to tackle some corners of the living room, yes the spare room has plummeted to the bottom of the list, in fact it's filling with discarded things ready to be placed in our plastic box stash which is in the shed, I'll retrieve a couple of boxes today and start packing things away.
 
Sat watching television the other night I felt myself more drawn to watch the bookshelves, they weren't very entertaining just starting to annoy me.  Since moving in over a year ago I can honestly say not one book has been read off these shelves (although a couple have been added).  They are mostly fiction and I've simply not been reading fiction recently.
 
 
 
So I decided to start a slow and deliberate cull of the books. First I concentrated on the top shelf, making lots of space I moved some things over from the windowsill which has also gradually filled up.  I also did the bottom shelf and made more space for things to move down, in fact I made so much space all the books that were lying sideways on top of other books on our other large bookshelves were re-homed on these shelves.
 
 
 
The windowsill looking too full, I'm in love with surfaces now not stuff.
 
 
 
Much sparser, and easy on the eye (and also easier to dust).
 
 Also the cat can now sit on either end and look out of the window which he does anyway but usually knocking something off in the process.  Someone needs to explain relative space and size to him, he is the biggest, fluffiest cat ever and he still thinks he can fit in a matchbox or sit in the space where one has been!!
 
 
 
Then the top of the shelves caught my eye ....too much stuff.
 
 
 
Much better.
 
The jugs are reminders of nice things and are used for flowers, the leafy 'bowl' is a souvenir from a wonderful day out.
 
 
 
This jug, not so good memories, the candlesticks never used and the wooden trough, although I love it to bits, I have never found a good use for it, maybe someone else will so it's off to the car boot sale box.
 
 
 
Sorting through my books is always the hardest thing for me, I love books, really LOVE them, but last year I treated myself to a Kindle and now I am slowly and surely putting all the fiction I may want to read onto it.
 
 
 
I mean look at the size of it compared to even one book!
 
Also when I go anywhere where there will be waiting involved I can simply pop it in my bag and have a whole library of things to read at my fingertips.  Definitely one of my better purchases.
 
All these books are now in the car boot box, some of them are now on the Kindle, I'll watch out for the others being available cheaply in the future.  I'm going to sit and look through the Kindle store and see if any of my other books are available for pennies or free as they sometimes are on Amazon.
 
Today I'm tackling a little bit more of the kitchen, taking the cupboards one at a time, there's no rush to do this and I think that's what I'm enjoying, after the mad whirlwind of last year rushing through the house gathering all the obvious things we no longer wanted that were cluttering up our lives, this gentle meandering through surfaces and spaces is calming to the soul and as an added bonus while I go about all this sorting out I'm spring cleaning as I go in a rather nice and leisurely way.
 
Sue xx

24 comments:

  1. It is a pity your carboot sale will be so far away from me.

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    1. Sorry.....am I tantalising you with pretty things, think how uncluttered your life will be if you can't buy them though (and you wont have to dust them!!) :-)

      Sue xx

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  2. I like your gentle way of decluttering.I have started something similar. I really need to cull my books again, they are 95% reference books so I do refer to them quite a bit for things.However my collection of cook books could probably be reduced further as I seem to collect recipes online now more than anything.I haven't bought a new cook book for several years now, it is just hard to relinquish some of the golden oldies.
    Did you ever get to the end of sorting your cookery books?

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    1. No, I barely started really. I will resurrect the other Blog at the end of this month I think, I really do need to sort through them, maybe the Blog with motivate me.

      Sue xx

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  3. You are going to have some lovely things on your stall! After a flurry of activity in the attic room and its storage area my decluttering has now slowed to a gentle meander. The room is almost finished and I should be able to take pictures of it very soon. I've even resisted the pull of the auction house today, where there are several sewing boxes and the most beautiful old Singer sewing machine I've ever seen. The urge to own them was very strong but I've resisted it- I have several sewing boxes, the sewing machine was electric, and access to the spool was too fiddly for my fingers which are losing dexterity rapidly. I already have an old Singer which has been converted to electric and what I really want is a treadle in a cabinet, something which I'm prepared to wait for until one comes along at the right price ( very cheap!).

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    1. Well done on being firm with the sewing machine 'non-purchase', they are objects of great beauty though the old Singers, it must have been hard. Hang tough until you find the treadle one of your dreams, there is something truly calming about treadling while you sew.

      I can't wait to see my stall it will be a thing of beauty, I may even have to do a practice table at home so I can get a photo, we always get absolutely mobbed when we arrive at our regular venue, there are a lot monthly shoppers that watch out for us (partly to do with a good variety of nice things and partly for the free range eggs).

      Sue xx

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  4. Love the pretty jug and the wooden trough. I'm slowly getting rid of unwanted/unread books, our local post office collects them and sells for Bluebell Wood childrens hospice, my Kindle is the best purchase of last year.

    Karen x

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    1. I really don't know why I dithered for so long until I got one. I do love the feel and smell of books, but I have to say I really don't miss this at all with my Kindle. Oh, and waiting did have a very good bonus - they went down in price so much I got a real bargain :-)

      Sue xx

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  5. I'm with you, I love my kindle and it takes up far less room, but I do still love all my non fiction, gardening, sewing and crafting books. Julie x

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    1. Snap,I feel just the same way, that's why I'm using mine mainly for fiction and autobiographies. I couldn't get a cook book on my Kindle I'd miss drooling over the recipes and photographs and seeing splashes of previous cooking sessions on my book.

      Sue xx

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  6. Just curious, but have not seen you mention your weight loss program lately. Are you still on the Harcombe diet, or any other?

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    1. There's a tab at the top of the Blog that charts this years weight loss. I've stalled a bit at the moment due to being so poorly, first the weight fell off and then with all the comfort eating and feeling the needs for carbs, piled back on again.

      I do still love the Harcombe diet, but fell off the wagon a while ago, I kept mixing things I shouldn't....ooops!

      At the moment I am thinking of going back to the 5:2 Diet (the Fast Diet) as talked about by Michael Moseley last year. It made me feel so well doing it and has such positive outcomes for the futre that I think this is my way forward. I will begin in earnest once I am properly over this flu bug, as I'm still not 100%.

      Sue xx

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  7. P.S. I don't like my kindle...all books look the same, it is awkward to hold, the new books are pricey and the free books (at least in the U.S.), are mostly trash...also, it is a real pain to have to turn it on and off when I have 5 minutes to read and can much more easily grab a book and open it in a few seconds...

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    1. Mine springs into life really quickly, so if I have 5 minutes to spare it's the first thing I grab.

      There are a few free books that are good and I have loaded all the classics onto it free of charge and dictionaries etc, but I usually just look out for special offers and the books that are ONLY available for the Kindle, there's been some brilliant ones, including some written by Bloggers that I read.

      Sue xx

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  8. Another non-Kindle person here - I can't quite get my head around the idea I'm afraid - plus I often read a book in the bath and there would be no WAY I'd be taking a kindle in there with me!
    My next "proper" plan for my "Simplify it" year is going to be my clothes and wardrobe I think. It would be lovely to have some space in there!

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    1. Nope, I wouldn't dare read it in the bath, knowing my track record with magazines, they never dry out properly once they've fell in, I once dropped a brand new copy of Vogue in my bath, I nearly cried :-(

      Simplifying my wardrobe was THE best thing that I have done this year. I still have just 33 items and some of them haven't been worn!! I love the space and the not having to make decisions about what to wear - truly liberating. I will never go back to having loads of clothes.

      Sue xx

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  9. I love my kindle although I was suere I wouldn't. However I also read in the bath and only take real books in for that. I'm slowly taking fiction books to the swap shelf in our local but I can't get rid of cookery books, just can't do it!!

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    1. Haha.....I have a similar problem hence the slow moving pace of my other Blog.

      Sue xx

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  10. Someone else who loves Katy Fforde :-)

    xxx

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  11. I love my kindle as well my daughter bought it for me nearly 2 years ago.I carry it with me everywhere trying to declutter. I have sold a few books on Amazon i know you don't get alot for them but every little helps.I need to go through my cook books as i have a cupboard full that i don't even look at.

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  12. You are so right re the dusting... it's one of the prime movers behind my de-cluttering!

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  13. I have some books on my iPad so have not got the Kindle. I love Katie Fforde too and have read all of them, although hated a couple of them, like Wedding Planner and another one something to do with Literary stuff. I've now just finished the Simon Serrailler series from Susan Hill, nail biting stuff.

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  14. When my OH left I let him have one of my tall pine book cases. I was helping him, but it was a mistake for me as I started to run out of space for my books. Finally, it came to crunch time. Buy another pine bookcase, or declutter the books and buy a Kindle.
    Browsing in Standsted airport on my way to a friend in Madrid, I went into Dixons and they had a super offer on for a Kindle and a case. So.. I snapped it up! It was probably what a decent bookcase would have cost anyway.
    I went through my book collection like a white tornado and have freed up plenty of space for my last paperback books. They have all been sitting in piles on my dresser (since October)waiting to go to the charity shop!

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  15. I know this doesn't necessarily help your decluttering mission, but you (or one of your readers) may find this website useful - readitswapit.co.uk - I've used it successfully many times to swap books I no longer want for books that I do!

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