I have to report it’s chaos here – we’re having to tidy the house, no choice, we have to do it. We have to get rid of a lot of the stuff we have accumulated and inherited over the years, and I have to confess it’s a massive struggle. Our married life together started when we already each had our own house, full of stuff, plus garages also full of stuff. It was the usual thing – items too good to throw away but unable to think of what to do with them (plus the subliminal thought that they might come in useful one day, no matter what condition they were in, or old-fashioned, or not working, or no longer fitted us, or the purpose they were bought for – etc.) I guess it was also the way we were brought up, not to waste anything – and throwing out an item just because you didn’t like it or need it, seemed wasteful There was the occasional jumble sale, and second hand shops, but it was just before the wonderful idea of charity shops became a thing.
We both had our own interests – although I have to say mine needed less possessions than his did. Me – a typewriter, books, cookery stuff – him books, cookery stuff, a couple of drum-kits, art stuff of every description, cameras etc and stuff to develop his own films. So we had stuff, and then we had children – and children need masses of stuff and this was before babies and small children became a target audience for all the items they require these days. I’m not complaining, just explaining! One child has now left home, and of course I have kept a lot of her stuff in case she needs it, even though she says she doesn’t, the other child also left home but is now back (we hope temporarily, not because we don’t love him, it’s just… he has more stuff than we do!) We also inherited a small amount of things from our parents, although they were much more organised/disciplined/ruthless than we are, but there were items from our own childhood, and I especially am very sentimental and attached to possessions from the past and the memories associated with them.
So, it has come to a time in our lives where we have to cast aside our laziness and indolence, break out the dusters and the cleaning cloths, find the paint brushes to accompany the tins of paint on their mission, go through the cupboards, the book cases, the shelves, under the stairs/under the beds, the storage boxes no-one remembers packing, mystery items which don’t seem to belong to anyone (or at least no-one claims them) random stuff… Maybe on our mission I will actually need the half-dozen bottles of bleach, and a similar number of toilet cleaner I somehow have acquired, plus all the sprays, cloths/dusters/scrubbing pads, squeegees etc. Maybe we will use the carpet cleaner we bought about fifteen years ago, maybe I will work out the mystery functions available on the vacuum cleaner, maybe we will get a season ticket the town dump, and stamps on our donation cards when we visit the charity shops.
At the moment we are feeling quite focused (daughter has made us a list) but how long will it last? No doubt I will report back.
Lois Elsden 