Being late in the evening again and having had a long and busy day, I needed something quick to declutter. Then I spotted it: ‘the extra basket of washing’ that keeps being moved from ironing board to bed in the morning, and vice versa in the evening. I set my timer for ten minutes and took a photo…

You might recognise that frustrating feeling when you avoid putting things away because every cupboard and drawer is already full. I knew what was on top of the basket, as those items have been recently added. It was time to face what was lurking underneath.

The first item was easy – a towel – and because I’ve already decluttered the airing cupboard, there was actually room in there to put it away. The systems are working! The second was some bedding. This highlighted to me that bedding was an area that I seriously needed to declutter and made a note of that for the coming week. I couldn’t even fit four pillow cases in the divan drawer. I really don’t know what’s in there (that I like anyway).

The rest of the items in the basket were difficult ones; decisions that I just couldn’t make. As I only had six minutes left on my timer at this point, I allowed myself to go slightly over because I was typing this up at the same time. Every time I did manage to put an item away, it reminded me how much decluttering I still have to do.

I did quite well though. I was only left with four decision items and four odd socks (too new to throw away). I will go on a search for their partners tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep now and more decluttering over the weekend.

Thanks to those of you who are following me on my journey to a clearer home. It’s been 38 days so far which means I’ve done around nine and a half hours in total (assuming an average of 15 minutes a day). As some of you will know, I did six and a half hours on my day off last week, so overall it’s probably more like 16+ hours.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra