It really makes a huge difference to read all these great posts, and know I’m not alone.. thank you everyone.
A rather odd thing happened after my post yesterday. Within a few minutes, my decluttering mojo lurched into gear and I was thudding about in the office-cupboard once again.
One of the results of the past few years of stress is lots of working-memory problems. I was both shocked and thrilled that the stack of boxes I hadn’t dared open turned out to be empty. I’ll keep the boxes until the churning is finished and the proper decluttering is well underway.
I put the bubble wrap and other packaging in bags which take up far less space than the box in the kitchen. Dragged out a tub of small cars for sorting later. Uncovered three bags of play sand that I’d totally forgotten about. Maybe we can have a sand tray somewhere, but the potential mess worries me.
In another cupboard I found a couple of never-worn fleecy hoodies. I knew I’d seen them before and, right enough, there were some more in a box in DH’s sitting-room. Ashamed to say that this room has become a dumping-ground over the past few years. The hoodies are another example of me buying double. I did it with school uniform recently. Saw the clothes in the supermarket, liked them, bought them, put them in a corner for sorting later, saw them again in the supermarket a week or two later, forgot I had some at home, bought them, etc, etc......
Kids tried on the hoodies, one was too tight and will be donated. I wrote “ too tight for .....” on a piece of masking tape, stuck it on the hoodie, and it shouldn’t wander back into a wardrobe...
After all that, my one decluttered item is a hoodie.