This beautiful handcrafted rocking horse has been in our lives for about eight years, and today it left our house in true social distancing style. We carried it downstairs this morning and I gave it a quick wipe over and took a few photos as a memory. When the couple knocked on the door, we carried it onto the driveway and after they looked it over and agreed to buy it, they took it apart and put it in their car.

I couldn’t help feeling sad, and I think the horse looked sad in the photo too. I was the only one in the family that seemed attached to it, but the space it’s left in my upstairs hallway is going to cheer me up every day. It had taken up this temporary spot for over three months since we almost sold it at the very beginning of lockdown. Before that it had lived in the spare room for many years, being moving from one side of the room to the other and collecting dust.

An important lesson

Today I learnt an important lesson… that’s it’s okay to get rid of good condition items. We should be seeing our unwanted items as clutter even though they might have many years of life left in them. I always thought that we had to use our belongings until they were old and no use to anyone. This is not the case. Today, a little girl will be enjoying the rocking horse and it will be loved by her for a while until it’s time for it to move on again.

I’ve truly lived up to the my revised wording of my challenge today, creating space in the house. The £90 that we received today is of course my daughter’s as the rocking horse was a present for her when she was seven years old. She seemed happy with that and has plans to buy something for her room.

Other progress today

As we’d moved the rocking horse, I decided to clear some other clutter from the upstairs hallway which comprised of recycling, a basket of washing and other random items. I also vacuumed the carpet.

This space is now occupied by Monty Dog (one of my daughter’s first large stuffed toys).

I’ll never forget the day that my husband bought it. He was walking down the high street with his head poking out of the bag after telling the shop assistant that Monty needed to be able to breathe. Everyone in the house is attached to Monty, even though I’ve had to stitch his belly a few times over the years. I was going to throw him away the other day but I’ve been persuaded that he should stay. My daughter said that it didn’t feel right putting him in a bag, the exact same words that her dad had said when he bought him all those years ago. Monty seems happy on the landing; he’s no trouble there so I’ll let him stay.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra