Let's face it, January is the worst anticlimax of the year. The fun and warmth of Christmas has passed. We've had the enforced and slightly manic gaiety of New Years and then the bleakness of January hits us. I'm not talking depression and doom, just the fact that it really is a nothing kind of month. The house is quiet and bare after the decorations are down, the weather is bleak and blustery.
So to counteract this we make New Year's resolutions that few of us even attempt to keep!
I'm going to loose 50 lbs by the summer.
I'm going to the gym 5 days a week.
I'm going to spend less time on my iPad and read more 'real' books.
This January I was travelling for most of it and this left me feeling that I'm in limbo. It's already February and I haven't even had time to let my resolutions fall by the wayside. What's that all about! So, nope I haven't lost even 1/2 lb, I haven't been near the gym and I certainly haven't read even an ebook let alone a real book. What I have done, though, is for another blog; you'll just have to wait because some things can't be mentioned until the time is right... Will that keep you reading my blogs?!!
Due to everything I haven't managed to kick start I've decided to declare January a trial month and my year started on February 1st. Yes, I've stolen that from a post on FB but it sums up my January perfectly, so I'm going to run with it. This meant I was actually going to start decluttering my home room by room. I've been threatening to do this for about a year, but last year I had surgery in February and had to recover from that, so I used it as an excuse to avoid the junk that I've spent years hiding in cupboards and storing; in fairness to myself it was a valid excuse but that's not the point. As its a year since that surgery I decided that now I would declutter and clean out my life. As you all know I spent last year decluttering 'friends', people who weren't good for me emotionally, who pushed me too hard and weren't giving back as I gave to them (no, it's not about getting your love or care reciprocated but it is about feeling loved and valued). That's in the past though and the decluttering I'm doing at the moment is getting rid of physical rubbish.
OMG, how much shite do we actually collect?! As I'm going though our rooms I'm astounded at the stuff we've accumulated. Seriously, I've kept stuff that I have no idea as to why I kept it in the first place. So, first lesson learnt, if you do keep something as a momento for a special day, pack it into a memory box with the date and why you kept it. You still might get rid of it at a later date but at least you will know why it was important to you at that moment in time.
The only way to deal with a full house of clutter is to break it down room by room. If you look at the big picture then it's easy to feel overwhelmed and once that happens procrastination is bound to set in. I'm the queen of procrastination so over the years I've learnt my own way of dealing with things I don't want to face up to:
1. Bucket, sand and head, in no particular order but ostrich comes to mind.
2. Hide and disguise.
3. Man up and deal with it.
So for the last two weeks I've been working on the bedrooms and bathrooms. Car loads of rubbish have been taken to the tip, and many more bags of clothes, toiletries, shoes, books, bedding, to name a few things have been passed onto the lovely Josephine who cleans for me twice a week. She sends the things home and sells the rest, then sends the money to her family in the Philippines. These ladies work six days a week and are not at all well paid; they leave their husbands and children behind and often don't see them for two years. The least I can do is pass the things that I consider unwanted, onto her and her friends. Her dad wears Dicky B's old shirts for church, her mum loves my dresses and costume jewellery. And she arrives wearing a hair band or necklace that I've put in the bag, as happy as anything. So my decluttering is helping others as well as myself. It's a win, win situation.
At some point in our lives we do actually have to man up and deal with our clutter whether it's physical or emotional. Often the two go hand in hand, which isn't always easy. The great thing is that it can lead to a huge weight being lifted. We aren't blind to our junk but we can do a great job of pretending it's not a problem, that it doesn't affect our lives. Trust me, it does. Whether we want to admit to it our not. So if your January was a none starter, that's ok, just know that February is the new January and it's never to late to start your health regime, or take up ballroom dancing; that decluttering your life one room at a time is liberating. Trust me, you'll be surprised at the things that you thought you'd lost or had forgotten about.
Decluttering or Year of the Fire Monkey - letting go of things/people/emotions who no longer serve your wellbeing! Either way, it works.
So to counteract this we make New Year's resolutions that few of us even attempt to keep!
I'm going to loose 50 lbs by the summer.
I'm going to the gym 5 days a week.
I'm going to spend less time on my iPad and read more 'real' books.
This January I was travelling for most of it and this left me feeling that I'm in limbo. It's already February and I haven't even had time to let my resolutions fall by the wayside. What's that all about! So, nope I haven't lost even 1/2 lb, I haven't been near the gym and I certainly haven't read even an ebook let alone a real book. What I have done, though, is for another blog; you'll just have to wait because some things can't be mentioned until the time is right... Will that keep you reading my blogs?!!
Due to everything I haven't managed to kick start I've decided to declare January a trial month and my year started on February 1st. Yes, I've stolen that from a post on FB but it sums up my January perfectly, so I'm going to run with it. This meant I was actually going to start decluttering my home room by room. I've been threatening to do this for about a year, but last year I had surgery in February and had to recover from that, so I used it as an excuse to avoid the junk that I've spent years hiding in cupboards and storing; in fairness to myself it was a valid excuse but that's not the point. As its a year since that surgery I decided that now I would declutter and clean out my life. As you all know I spent last year decluttering 'friends', people who weren't good for me emotionally, who pushed me too hard and weren't giving back as I gave to them (no, it's not about getting your love or care reciprocated but it is about feeling loved and valued). That's in the past though and the decluttering I'm doing at the moment is getting rid of physical rubbish.
OMG, how much shite do we actually collect?! As I'm going though our rooms I'm astounded at the stuff we've accumulated. Seriously, I've kept stuff that I have no idea as to why I kept it in the first place. So, first lesson learnt, if you do keep something as a momento for a special day, pack it into a memory box with the date and why you kept it. You still might get rid of it at a later date but at least you will know why it was important to you at that moment in time.
The only way to deal with a full house of clutter is to break it down room by room. If you look at the big picture then it's easy to feel overwhelmed and once that happens procrastination is bound to set in. I'm the queen of procrastination so over the years I've learnt my own way of dealing with things I don't want to face up to:
1. Bucket, sand and head, in no particular order but ostrich comes to mind.
2. Hide and disguise.
3. Man up and deal with it.
So for the last two weeks I've been working on the bedrooms and bathrooms. Car loads of rubbish have been taken to the tip, and many more bags of clothes, toiletries, shoes, books, bedding, to name a few things have been passed onto the lovely Josephine who cleans for me twice a week. She sends the things home and sells the rest, then sends the money to her family in the Philippines. These ladies work six days a week and are not at all well paid; they leave their husbands and children behind and often don't see them for two years. The least I can do is pass the things that I consider unwanted, onto her and her friends. Her dad wears Dicky B's old shirts for church, her mum loves my dresses and costume jewellery. And she arrives wearing a hair band or necklace that I've put in the bag, as happy as anything. So my decluttering is helping others as well as myself. It's a win, win situation.
At some point in our lives we do actually have to man up and deal with our clutter whether it's physical or emotional. Often the two go hand in hand, which isn't always easy. The great thing is that it can lead to a huge weight being lifted. We aren't blind to our junk but we can do a great job of pretending it's not a problem, that it doesn't affect our lives. Trust me, it does. Whether we want to admit to it our not. So if your January was a none starter, that's ok, just know that February is the new January and it's never to late to start your health regime, or take up ballroom dancing; that decluttering your life one room at a time is liberating. Trust me, you'll be surprised at the things that you thought you'd lost or had forgotten about.
Decluttering or Year of the Fire Monkey - letting go of things/people/emotions who no longer serve your wellbeing! Either way, it works.