So DH and I began the decluttering on Saturday and I will say that probably January in Derbyshire is not the best time to spend several hours in our garage which is, in effect underground!  It is actually underneath our home but it is very cold as well as the weather being cold too.

The Big brown door behind my old Jeep is the entrance and as you go in to the right is the storage room off the garage which we had built to put all our things in so Eldest’s car could go in the garage at the time.  Our home doesn’t look very big at the front but it goes a long way back.  The small window on the left is our dining room, the window on the right is our sitting room.  The top windows in the roof, the left is Eldest’s room whch I camp in as my sewing room, the right one is Youngest & Partner’s room and our room is at the back with our dressing room and the bathroom window looks out on to our pathway.  The kitchen and our den are also at the back looking out into our garden at the back.

I, of course, did not get any pictures of the decluttering due to being very cold and trying to get everything completed in the room off the garage.  We did, however get rid of a lot of things and actually took most of it to the charity shop and then the rest to the tip.  We also tidied up the room so it looks very neat and tidy. The main garage needs a tidy up too but that is a DH and The Boys jobs as it is all their “stuff”!!

Next weekend we have one and half days to do things in, so we are going to continue with the attic.  We have already done quite a bit of decluttering in there but can still do some more.  The aim is to get this all done and then bring the boxes of things I have saved from the Boys childhood and other keepsakes of ours back from our storage unit (which has all the compere equipment in) sort it all out and then store it in the room off the garage and the attic.  It is this year’s project and will be done throughout the year. 

I also need to go through things in each room as well and get rid of things we do not need, want or use.  I go through our book shelves twice a year and get rid of books that I have read and do not want to read again or books that I no longer want to keep.  Our den, which is our office is another room which gets a regular decluttering and I did it not long before Christmas so I can tick that off as being done.  I need to do the kitchen again but I also did do a declutter in there last year so may just need to have a quick look to make sure nothing has slipped through my net.  The understairs cupboard is another job and the dresser in our dining room, but again I think it is mostly sorted. 

This was the sun rise the other morning when I went out with DH to visit one of the companies we work with!  It was stunning.

The dressing room in our bedroom is another room which needs re-doing again and I have tried to stick to the rule of one thing in, one out which has worked quite well.  I am also going to go through the sewing room and have a sort out in there too.  The Bathroom does not need much doing to it but always worth a quick look and I did our outside shed at the end of the summer so know that that is all done.  Hopefully I will get a few pictures as I do things.

Friends have asked why I am doing this and keep doing it and although it is a big thing all over social media, it is mainly because I had to clear my Parents and Grandparents homes out when they passed away and it was the biggest job in both homes!  In fact my Great Grandmother had lived with my Grandparents for quite a few years before she passed away so there were, in fact, two homes in one and they owned a big Victorian home which they had moved to in 1930 and not moved again, so there were 64 years worth of living in there!  My mother had always said that she dreaded clearing out Grandma’s house but sadly she died first so it was left to me to do both homes.  My parents had moved into our family home in the 1960’s so there was 24 years of living there and again there was a lot of things that had never been sorted. 

I am therefore determined to not leave that sort of mess for our Boys and their other halves to deal with.  They will still have to do the clearing but at least they will not have to got through millions of things trying to decide if they need to keep them or not and what they actually want of our things.  It took DH and I three months to do my Grandparents home and took me a year to do my Parents home, as I was still living in it.  I would urge you, if you have not done this, to definitely think about doing it.

Next Saturday evening we are helping at one of the swimming gala’s that our Club are competing in and we are hosting, so DH is compering and my friend Sue and I are doing the results as usual.  It is over in Bingham, Nottinghamshire where DH used to go to senior school, so going home for him!!

Have a wonderful week you lovely lot and keep warm. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Coco in the sewing room on the chair I have in there and stool.  She loves sitting on it.