The nursery rhyme ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ started playing through a charity bag as I brushed past it in the garage this afternoon. It made me smile and I actually did clap my hands and stamp my feet… because I could, and because no one was watching me in my cluttered hideaway. Is the rhyme going round in your head now? I had to put the radio on in order to get it out of mine 😂.

Making space

The reason for being in the garage today was to take out all the large boxes that are taking up precious space.

I spread them all out on the grass ready to flatten later and kept adding to it as and when I found anything else.

Removing the boxes from the garage left me a lot of space, so I started shifting items around but still keeping things in the categories that I’d started the other day. I was able to move the ten charity bags further back so that they were all in one place. I also took apart a broken wooden structure – it had clutter balancing on it and I just touched one box and it fell forward. I decided that it was time to get rid of it.

I continued to sort out boxes of toys and games, and added a few of the good items on Facebook Marketplace. I also managed to fill a rubbish bag during the course of the afternoon and finished by vacuuming the floor to make it look tidy. I must have spent about six hours in the garage today – there was just no stopping me. This is the space I eventually made…

The plan for tomorrow is to move the cabinet from our hallway into this space.

Recycling

My husband then helped me flatten the boxes from earlier that were all over the garden.

Unfortunately there was a lot of polystyrene in some of the boxes so I’ve had to store that back in the garage in one of the large boxes. I’ll just get rid of it slowly in the rubbish bags as I don’t think it can be recycled.

My husband and my youngest daughter then cooked dinner whilst I finished things off outside.

A full and very productive day today and to top all of that, my eldest daughter came back from an afternoon out with her friends and said that she really wanted to help tidy the kitchen and sweep the floor. This gave me time to write up this blog a bit earlier than usual.

I very rarely ask for help, but the funny thing is, I’m getting more help than I ever have done… and I’m very grateful.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra