This statement has some truth to it, and sometimes I use it as an excuse for having so much. I had a busy working day today and then this evening I was faced with this stuff that I’d placed by the door to put in the garage.

If they are things that I’m not sure that we want, should they go into the garage? I decided to make some decisions on the spot instead of avoiding making them like I usually do.

The inflatable outdoor game set is something the girls bought a couple of years ago with their pocket money and it’s been hanging around in the garage and various rooms since. They don’t want it so it’s got to be a candidate for the charity bag (once deflated).

The exercise ball is a useful item to have in the house but not if no one uses it. I think I originally bought it for pregnancy yoga or something about 16 years ago. I just googled what you can do with it and it has multiple uses so I think we’ll keep that in the house. It’s good for exercise, posture and some people use it as a desk chair. I just need to find a home for it so that it doesn’t get in the way. I’ll set myself a target that if I don’t use it by the end of April, I’ll put it in a charity bag.

The ice cream maker (in the carrier bag) is missing its lid. I have no idea if the missing part is in the house or garage. I don’t remember ever using it – my husband may have made ice-cream with it a couple of times when the girls were small. I’m going to put it in a box in the garage with a label saying ‘if spare parts are not found by Dec 2020, please throw me away!’

I need to live with less

…but with my car boot already full of items that I need to donate, where do I put things now? It has to be the garage. Also, when charity shops actually open again, are they going to want the hundreds of bags that people will possibly drop off at the same time?

I read a really good article the other day that my friend sent me about minimalism, which is about committing to owning less rather than constantly decluttering, which I initially thought was the same until I read more of the article. It got me thinking that I need to part with more, and stop moving things from room to room for later sorting. I also need to get out of the habit of keeping things just in case.

Is ‘keeping things just in case’ so wrong though? At the moment it’s proving to be quite useful when we can’t get out to buy what we need, e.g. the table I’m using in the garage, the plant pots for my seedlings etc.

Lots of thoughts going around in my head at the moment. Is anyone else wondering what’s going to happen when we all emerge from our houses, heading for the charity shops armed with lots of bags of unwanted stuff? Maybe it’s just me thinking that it’ll be an issue, or maybe I’m just trying to think of excuses to not get rid of things.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra