I woke up at 10.30am today and couldn’t believe how much sleep I’d had – I must have needed it. I remembered that someone was coming round to buy the chandelier that we took down from the hallway a few weeks ago, so I dragged the heavy thing out of the garage and left it covered up by the front door along with the box of glass lantern covers that fit onto each pendant.

When the man turned up, I uncovered the chandelier and you should have seen the look on his face! He didn’t realise that it was so big. Even though he really liked it, he said that he couldn’t put it in his home as it would take down his ceiling! I hadn’t described it very well on my listing which was my fault. He didn’t seem to mind that he’d had a wasted journey.

He kindly said that the listing didn’t give it justice and he gave some very good advice about how much I should have been selling it for and how to describe it. He said it looked tiny in the picture and nothing like a very large and heavy antique brass chandelier.

When I looked back on the photos I’d added, I saw what he meant. I’d been in a rush back in September when I originally listed it as being ‘available soon’ when it was still hanging in the hallway.

When the spotlights were installed in December and we took down the chandelier, I never went back to the listing and added close up pictures. I have now though and I was very grateful to the man for giving us the advice.

The way that I would sum all of this up is that I had no attachment to the chandelier as it was there when we moved in and not really to our taste. I couldn’t wait to see the back of it so was trying to sell it for next to nothing. Even my husband agreed today that we should have had it up for more money. I suppose I’m looking at it differently now. I still have no attachment to it though, and it’s still going to trip me up in the garage until someone buys it.

Sorting Excess bedding

I don’t know why I left the task of sorting out bedding until the end of the year, probably because I’ve been doing so much else. It had got to the end of the day and we’d had an early dinner. My husband had used most of the remaining Christmas lamb to make a lamb curry and it tasted so good.

I sat down afterwards and couldn’t work out why I hadn’t got around to clearing anything today. Then I realised that it was because I felt so relaxed in the study as it’s now tidier. I was lying on the sofa looking out of the window and the clear desk made me smile.

I wanted to do something today that would make my life easier. Knowing that our bedroom is one of the last rooms that I need to declutter, I walked in looking around for a trigger to get me started. I saw the bedding that I’d left on my husband’s desk that needed bagging up. It’s bedding for a double bed which I want to keep for when we eventually get a sofa bed in the study. This gave me the idea of taking all of the bedding out of the divan drawers in our bed so that I could sort it all out once and for all.

This would definitely make my life easier because I always dread putting things in the drawers because they are packed full and I have no idea why. I took everything out and sorted it into types and sizes. I got rid of sheets, pillow cases and quilt covers that had seen better days and only put back what we use on our bed. It felt so invigorating to have space in the drawers.

I then looked at what was left on the bed which included two vacuum storage bags. I used one for two spare pillows and the other for bedding for a double bed (as I have nowhere to store this until I get the sofa bed). Once I’d suctioned the air out of the bags, they fitted nicely in one of the drawers.

So, that’s it for today. I’m back to work tomorrow for the last 3 days of the year, but I’m hoping to get some clearing done during the evenings to complete as much as I can for my 2020 challenge.

I watched an old film this evening that I’d seen many times before called An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I love the film so much but my daughter couldn’t see why. I suppose teenagers these days don’t really get those old films that we know and love.

Time for a relaxing bath now.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra