I felt very positive when I woke up this morning – I’d had a good night’s sleep, the sun was shining and I knew it was going to be a good day. After some breakfast and my usual me-time, I started working on the spare room.

Most of the room is already packed up in large plastic boxes, but today I wanted to move them around into categories so that I could get a feel for what’s in there and what’s left to do. I also wanted to move anything out that didn’t belong in there.

‘Paperwork’ category

I need to spend some focused time this year organising my paperwork, but at the moment it’s all contained within boxes so at least it’s in one place. More recent paperwork is downstairs in the utility room in folders.

‘To be sorted’ category

These boxes need sorting out. They are a combination of mine and my daughter’s stuff. That’s a job for another day. We’ll probably watch a film or two whilst we’re doing it.

‘Photos’ category

These boxes contain many years of memories that need to be organised and stored somewhere. I’m sure there are also more photos around the house and in the garage. The last 10-15 years worth of photos are mostly online which will also need organising (but maybe not this year).

The rest of the room

Merging stuff with other half empty bags and boxes and putting them into the above three categories has reduced the number of boxes over in the other corner of the room.

I was still left with boxes and bags that don’t belong in this room. Some went into the garage as they are to be donated or sold and some things just needed to be put away in other rooms. I have a small section left to sort out during the week. It’s looking and feeling a lot better though. I wonder if my husband will notice that I’ve done anything when he’s working in there tomorrow.

Box of dressing up clothes

I don’t know why I’ve held onto this box of dressing up clothes for so long, as the girls grew out of them many years ago. I suppose that I thought they were worth keeping or selling. The funny thing is that when I went through them, I didn’t feel as attached to them as I thought I would (well done me!). Also, some of them didn’t look as good a quality as I remembered.

I’ve put them all in the utility room for washing and I’ll make a decision on them later in the week once they are clean and dry.

The rest of the day

I cooked a roast chicken dinner at lunchtime. Sitting in the ‘clear’ dining room felt so good. Even the girls said that it felt different, in a good way. I’ve kept it clear again today.

A funny thing happened this evening. I was pottering about and couldn’t find the basket of clean washing which had the girls’ uniforms in it and other items. I searched every room but actually couldn’t remember bringing it in.

It was dark outside being 11.30pm, but I went out into the garden to check if by chance it was out there, and there it was in the middle of the garden with the washing all folded up neatly in the basket. I really don’t know how that happened! I’ve probably just done too much multitasking today.

So, it’s been a long day but I’m really pleased with my progress (apart from losing the washing 😀). Hope you’ve all had a good weekend.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra