The Great Cull

The Great Cull began a few weeks before this blog. Sadly I didn't think to take pictures!
The Bloke's family have a motto they live by "never throw nuffink away". They're English so if you need a translation: never throw out anything. And this philosophy seems to have seeped down through the generations to The Bloke. As a consequence for quite a number of years we have had a storage shed stuffed full of things that we are able to ignore in our day to day lives. Now this could be an advantage, whenever you need something you have it to hand right? Well having something to hand, and actually being able to find it during the one moment in the last decade you needed it, are two different and frustrating things.
So The Bloke and I had a stern talk and decided, if we hadn't seen it for most of this millennium, then we probably could let it go now. And with that The Great Cull began.
A month later and many weekends spent sorting the items, then washing the dirt and spiders off the kids, the shed is done. There is almost nothing left.  When we went through the boxes, we realized we had been keeping the craziest things. A box of home décor magazines...from the 90's, baby clothes, broken crockery, broken rusted out unidentifiable items, old suitcases (not even vintage cool) and so much more. There were also many things that bought back lots of memories and a long reminisce was had and enjoyed.
We all know it's cathartic to let go of the clutter in our lives, but it really is a difficult task. Now that the storage shed is sorted (and being let go, notice given, no going back), it's time to move onto the house. I kept waiting for the perfect time to have a massive cull, but I've realized I will never have the time, and so I have started small and frequent. One little space at a time. The trick is to really thing about the item and decide if you want it, or if it holds memories too precious to release, or you think you might use it one day, or it's just in the wrong place. Think carefully, but don't be too hard on yourself. I believe in de-cluttering in layers. First go the most obvious things, then once the shock of that cull has worn off, go through everything again, and even a third time. Then follow through immediately on either re-homing, recycling, or rubbish binning.

I've started with the kitchen junk draw, doesn't everyone have one?

The junk draw before the cull...

There were lots of things just thrown in here, that belonged elsewhere, lots of broken bits and pieces, and just plain old rubbish, out it all went, until I achieved this...

There will be more yet to go, this is just the first layer, but what a difference already. So remember, don't wait for that large chunk of time to get started, little but little will do the job just as well. Just start, and don't look back.