There's something about being away from home for a while that makes me look at things with a fresh eye when I get back, especially at New Year when I'm thinking about new starts and new ideas.
For a long time I've been selling any books that were no good for Amazon on Greenmetropolis. I liked their ethos and although I only 'earnt' £3.00 per book sold (and from that I had to deduct second-class postage) it was quite a nice steady little supplement to my earnings. Now, I don't know what has changed but over the past couple of months I've only sold two books, and it had got to the point where the piles of books for sale on Greenmetropolis were growing ridiculously high again (I did have a major cull of the books I had listed for sale on there in the summer too.) Whilst I was at my Mum's I had one of those 'eureka' moments and thought if I get rid of all the books cluttering up the dining room, clear out the accumulated cr*p from the desk drawers, swap around said desk and a large bookcase (also crammed with non-selling Greenmetropolis books), then I could make room for a small area where I could keep my sewing machine out permanently, which - fingers crossed and with a fair wind behind me - might actually mean I get to use it more often. That anyway is the plan.
At the moment the dining room looks like a bomb has hit it. There are a couple of boxes of books already sorted out (I'm double checking them on Amazon before I finally donate them), half-empty shelves in two bookcases and books, books, books wherever I look. Luckily a charity sack came through the letterbox this morning from the British Heart Foundation (who will collect books - many charity sacks are for clothing only) so they'll be getting a sackload of books on Friday. The rest of them will be destined for the local hospice charity shop warehouse who are very good at collecting larger donations, and who never seem to mind taking books either. I shall breathe a huge sigh of relief when they are finally gone and the dining room will probably seem twice as big when we're not tripping over teetering piles of books.
Having been well and truly bitten by the de-cluttering bug at the moment I've also been throwing things from other drawers and cupboards willy-nilly - including some scarily out of date herbal medicines. I'm always complaining that our house is too small, but I think the real issue is we just have too many 'things' in it. I'm really looking forward to getting rid of some of them over the next few weeks.
Just taking a break from clearing out a wardrobe full of STUFF! So your post made me smile.
Posted by: Sandie | 01/06/2009 at 03:27 PM
aha - a blogger after my own heart! am sooo on the decluttering mallarky this year. its not that I am untidy.....its just that there is too much stuff!! will check out the book selling place, as have lots of books to get rid of too
Posted by: mo @ get stuff done | 01/06/2009 at 07:41 PM
I had a major de-clutter before Christmas - I systematically went through the loft and every cupboard in the house, donating a ridiculous amount of "stuff" to charity shops. Wish I'd done it years ago, it feels so nice knowing that I know exactly what I've got and where it is. I LOVE being organised!
Posted by: Wendy from Scotland | 01/06/2009 at 09:25 PM
Happy New year Elizabeth! I'm thinking on the same lines, I want to create a craft area (getting back into making cards) and need to have a bit of a clear out.This is a good time to do it I always think, January is a bleak time after Christmas so a little project will take my mind off the lack of cash in my bank!
Posted by: gill | 01/10/2009 at 08:21 AM
Hi there
I loved this post. Decluttering can be totally therapeutic and the new year seems like a great time to do it.
Working for The Big Yellow Self Storage Company, this is a busy time of year with people looking around their cluttered homes and deciding enough is enough. Bitten by the declutteiring bug as you say!
But unlike yourself, for sentimental or other reasons, some people can’t bring themselves to sell or exchange possessions like books, so storage is the next best thing to having a big throw out.
Do let me know if you have any thoughts on this – just drop me a line. Our website is http://www.bigyellow.co.uk/.
Take care!
Amy
Posted by: Amy | 01/30/2009 at 03:49 PM