Day 3 - socks and tights

I'm some kind of superwoman, in a very narrow category. I don't run ladders in tights. I genuinely get confused listening to other women when they get a hole in their tights. It's not that I don't, it's just a very rare occurrence. Which is why my tights collection contains tights I've had since junior school. Yup, when I was 12 years old! The only reason they still fit is because I've stretched them so much over time but that's amazing, isn't it? My favourite pair were my best friend Hannah's that I accidentally picked up after games one Wednesday in 1997. Well, when I say favourite I mean for nostalgic purposes! I still used them for work as recently as the first half of my last pregnancy, in early 2015, that's almost 18 years of use.

So I gathered together my tights from their three locations; a bag in the back bedroom, one of those over door storage  holders and two plastic storage containers next to my work clothes. There were 74 pairs. I kept 13. The book says you have to handle every item, and it was amazing how many pairs looked ok but felt a bit tired. Maybe saggy at the waistband or bally at the ankles and it was only feeling each pair one after the other that subtleties became clear. I was left with a pile of about 20 pairs and I decided I didn't need that many. I kept 6 thick pairs in a range of colours for wearing with boots in winter. I then kept 7 smart pairs-3 nude, 2 grey, 1 navy and 1 black. I wear navy most often so will need to buy a new pair or two coming into the winter. 

What amazed me most was how the new sushi roll presentation means I can see all my tights easily, they won't get stretched and they all fitted in one small plastic box. My socks fitted in another box. 

The discard pile is as impressive as the 'after' picture. I put them in piles of 5 pairs so it was easier to count!

So that's over 80% of my tights discarded with no hesitation and already I can see how much easier it will be to find my stuff when it's purged and properly folded. 

Days 1 and 2-nightwear and candles

It's a strange book, this 'Life Changing Magic of Tidying'. The author is the same age as me but has 25 years of tidying, I would call it decluttering, under her belt. The book is full of lots of short sub chapters in each of the sections with quirky titles such as 'Unread books: 'sometime' means 'never'' and 'Empty your bag every day'. The book looks firstly at why you have a problem, explains you should throw out by category, then shows you how to discard stuff, talks about storage and then how this will change your life. By the second section - looking at how you need to discard first before looking at storage and doing this by category - I'd already started the process as I was so excited and inspired! 

So I cheated a bit. I started with nightwear (not a clothing category in the book but a clear category for me). The drawer I store pjs in was full, and there were a few things lying around my bedroom floor. The things I've found most useful in this method (aside from the idea to sort by category in the first place) were:

- 'does it spark joy?' - it was amazing how many pjs I've kept after previous decluttering sessions and I've still not worn them because either I don't like them or they don't fit quite right. It was so freeing to just put them aside.

- thanking items for what they've taught you. My biggest problem when clearing previously has been the fact that someone gave me the item as a gift so I feel obliged to keep it, or it cost a lot so I can't justify getting rid of it as it hasn't been worn threadbear yet. By just saying 'you taught me I didn't suit that colour' I felt I was able to put these items aside too. 

I got rid of 12 different items-11 pjs/nighties etc and a pair of slippers. I had actually thrown out two of my husbands old tshirts the previous day and I'm not counting them. Good progress! Plus the alternative way of folding is great but highlighted how mismatched my pjs are, a few nighties then a lot of random long and short bottoms. I've two tops I liked and kept but only one set of matching pjs. At present I'm wearing a nursing vest at night for easy breastfeeding so this works ok for now but I may be investing in new pjs sometime soon and discarding more! 

Day 2 I cheated again and didn't do more clothes as suggested as I didn't have time, so chose candles. I'm not a particular candle hoarder but had a display candle set for the dining table (which lived elsewhere to avoid toddler attacks!), a selection of scented candles and some coloured candles for display purposes only. Many of these came from The Pier, my most missed high street recession casualty - well, after Woolworths - or were gifts. I got rid of 11, another productive session and I now have a lot more room on the side of the bath!  

It was strange to get rid of engagement gifts that we've had for almost 8 years, but freeing too! I've put the white heart tea light holders into a drawer with tea lights as I will use them as dinner table decorations when we've guests. Rest will be used regularly.

A decluttered home

I got married when I was 23. I was still living like a teenager. There were piles of clothes and handbags on my bedroom floor. I was studying for my chartered accountancy exams and had piles of paper, files and textbooks scattered about. My husband had a massive house fire the year before and had lost everything he owned, apart from the clothes on his back and a few things preserved by the tumble dryer drum. When I (and my many piles of 'stuff') moved in to his two up two down, the house was full and honestly, 90% of it was mine. 

That's embarrassing. What's more embarrassing is that I allowed myself to continue living like this and moved box after box from that small house to our next home, most of it unopened in the 15 months I lived there. 

So I started reading homekeeping blogs and have managed to change my approach to homekeeping and no longer hoard new items but the backlog is still there. I've thrown out piles of newspapers and magazines, CDs, lots of clothes but there is still so much stuff. I have tried 10 minutes of decluttering a day. I have tried emptying a drawer and  sorting it. Nothing has really made any impact despite many full black bags leaving the house to find a new home in a charity shop or the dump.

Then I decided after reading another blog about the KonMari method that maybe I needed to take a look. So I bought the beatselling book, 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' by Marie Kondo. It has already changed my life. I'm not exaggerating. 

This blog will be about all the ways I find happiness in my home; cooking, cleaning, my family, interior design, even menu planning but right now it's all about this book. As I start to sort each category I'm going to blog to keep myself motivated. Expect lots of 'before and after' shots. And the 'before' is technically already an 'after' shot as I've been making a real effort to declutter for the last 4 years!