Well we escaped relatively unscathed after the high winds, the leaves were the worst!!! We spent the evening listening to the house creak with the gusts and Treacle had a pretty bad night and we all went to bed with battery hurricane lamps as the power had been flicking on and off. Fortunately it didn’t go altogether but we had powered down all the computers and switched off as many of the electrics as possible.
This is Treacle this morning, very tired from her disturbed night!
I was reading an article in the paper yesterday regarding de-cluttering called “Swedish Death Cleaning”! No it is not as gruesome as it sounds but it is based upon looking at your items and thinking whether your loved ones would actually like the article and if not and you don’t want or need it then get rid of it, especially stuff that has accumulated over many years.
I have had experience of this when my mother was alive and she said that she dreaded clearing my Grandmother’s house out because of all her stuff (my Grandmother had looked after my Great Grandmother in her latter years and there was all her stuff in the house as well). Well my mother passed away before my Grandmother and my mother had a lot of stuff too which I had to deal with! Eventually my Grandmother passed and DH and I had to deal with it and it was a very, very big job.
We also had to have the house valued for probate and the lady who came to do it was a great help and gave us a great piece of advice; don’t keep anything just because of sentimental feelings, only keep it if you love it and it fits in your home at present. My Grandparents had some wonderful pieces of furniture but they were huge and fit their house perfectly (it was a big old Victorian house) but they would not fit into our little modern house.
Having had these experiences I think we have been very conscious of clearing things out every so often, especially when we have moved house. In fact when we moved into this home we fitted our furniture in and then things that didn’t go we sold.
So I am still going through draws, cupboards, wardrobes and all the other places that things lurk and sorting things and I do find it very therapeutic! There are two big areas which need doing, one is the attic and one is the room off of our garage, but they both need a good weather day to do them so I think they will now have to be done in the Spring. I can get on with other things though!!!
On quilting news, I am trying to finish Evalyn’s quilt, didn’t quite make it for her Birthday, and also the other things I am making for Christmas and also another thing I am trying to finish. The days seem to fly by and nothing gets done!!! Really do need more time or one of those Time Turners from Harry Potter!!!!
I hope your Tuesday is going well.
Hugs, Susie x
Hurricanes are nasty scary things. We are so happy that you didn’t suffer any damage. WHEW! How sad that your mom passed before your grandmum. That must have been very hard for her and for you, Susie. My youngest brother passed when he was 31 years old and it just about killed my mom. And now she’s with him in Heaven. I think about them being together now and it makes me smile☺
You never know what to toss and what to keep and once it’s gone – it’s gone forever.
Sue’s last line is very telling…once it’s gone it’s gone forever! After having spent a month cleaning out my grandmother’s home after my uncle died (17+ tons went to the garbage dump that I wrote checks for the dumping fees), I never want to have to go through that again!! Of course, when my dad passes, it will all be on me to clean out the house/garage/storage unit…just thinking about it exhausts me! We would all be smarter to get rid of crap before we go, but we seem to get so attached to stuff that it owns us rather than us owning it!! Glad the hurricane wasn’t worse for you…winds are damaging enough.
Very important not to impose a huge tidying job on our children – however please ask the kids before getting rid of things that are part of their childhood. My mother suddenly decided to move about 6 months after my father died and living abroad at the time I couldn’t go help her. She got rid of a lot of stuff that I would dearly have loved to have had. My brother managed to rescue a few things but a lot went to some friend who “helped” her clear out. I know we should not be attached to things and I am very happy to have a good clear out from time to time myself but all the same I always asked my children if there is something they would like to have before it goes to charity.