I was looking at my ‘I feel happy when…’ list again earlier today, and I noticed an entry that said that ‘I feel happy when I see a tidy space’. I’ve been living with clutter for so long, that any glimpses of tidy spaces please me so much that I want more of the same.

I don’t know whether I’m making it more complicated because it sounds quite simple to create space doesn’t it? However, when I’m faced with stuff, I sometimes freeze on the spot.

My friend sent me a quote about how clutter respresents indecisions. That’s exactly it. When I see clutter (i.e. something with no current home) I think of it as something really difficult to deal with and either put it off or get annoyed with myself for not being able to decide.

Not anymore!

After yesterday’s realisation that I can separate myself from the clutter and witness how I am feeling instead of trying to fix things and attaching myself to the outcome, I decided to practise this method again today. I spotted a bag, that I recently put by the back door, and took action. It was stuff from the garage that we had put in a sealed box when we were doing the kitchen a few years ago.

Rather than saying ‘I am fed up with the stuff being by the back door, I said ‘this is clutter that can be sorted out’ and took the bag to the dishwasher and loaded it with items I wanted to keep, and put the rest in the bin or the charity bag. It was quite a quick process and I felt better seeing the space by the back door again.

Of course, I have to find somewhere to put the stuff that I found so I have a feeling that some might end up back in the charity bag if they start to get in my way. Here are a few of the items that I’ve washed so far.

They shouldn’t be difficult to find a place for. I remember finding an empty case for the barbecue tools in the garage somewhere. They now have a home!

Getting the others to make their own dinner

After work today, I needed to catch up on some course work for my coaching qualification ready for tomorrow’s catch up session. It was 6pm and I would normally have been faced with the dreaded dinner time stress. Instead I decided to do something different.

I was going to be making myself a fishfinger and lettuce sandwich a bit later but no one else wanted that. My husband and daughters agreed to do their own dinner. The girls said they’d cook something from the freezer and my husband had some salmon in the fridge that needed using today.

So, I spent some quiet time in the conservatory and caught up on what I needed to do without worrying about everyone else.

I was really tired after that and then my daughter reminded me that I needed to wash their PE kits for tomorrow. All done now and hopefully it’ll be dry by the morning.

Just need to sort out the kitchen and I can get some sleep.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra