5 weeks to go…

5 weeks until we pull up stumps and head down the coast.

Here’s what my living room currently looks like: 

 
Inhale. Exhale.

My plan to systematically sweep through the house and approach this monumental task by breaking it down into logical steps hasn’t gone too well over the last two weeks. I just can’t do it. I can’t make a plan and stick to it.

This is something I’ve known about myself for some time now. Why did I expect things to be different?

Silly Meg! *smacks hand*

Hubby’s anxiety is going into overdrive and we’re both really overwhelmed. The girls are being their usual selves and cavorting like puppies all over any progress being made, upending boxes and spreading the resulting discoveries liberally throughout the house.

It’s kind of intense.

Still, small victories have been made. Hubby took a carload of donations to a charity depot last week: 

 and I’ve been chipping away at other discards a little at a time.

My new approach is to go back to pottering about with a few tasks on the go that I flit between as my attention wanders. It’s not as systematic, but I’m getting a lot more done. Alongside cleaning and sorting, I’m applying the KonMari method to my own stuff with the goal of packing what’s left as I go.

I already went through my clothes once six months ago, but I still managed to get rid of another bag and a few pairs of shoes. I’ve been re-embracing my gothic past and DJing at a monthly club again (which is SO MUCH FUN!!), so I’m really not sure what my particular clothing style is all about anymore. Thankfully, Marie’s method of asking each item “Does this spark joy?” does work like a charm: even if I rarely wear a particular item of clothing, I love looking through my wardrobe and being thrilled by what I see and feel. I’m calling that a win.

The next step is to tackle books. In order to do this correctly I had to fish out the last few boxes with books in them from my back room: 

 I had a little help. ❤️

Many treasures were discovered during this process, including more craft supplies: 

 
blasts from the past: 

 
and the first book I bought about tatting, which led to a lifelong obsession with yarn crafts: 

 
Check out all these gorgeous lace edgings! I adapted a lot of these into chokers and trimmings for accessories back in the day: 

 
Now I have to pool all the remaining books and magazines together and work out which ones bring joy into my life and which ones I’m just holding onto for the sake of it.

I’m so glad I’ve spent the last year or two actively working on my hoarding tendencies. I’m so glad that I’ve persisted with The Making of Mediocre Meg even when I felt like giving up and submitting to entropy. Now that it’s crunch time I’m in a really good headspace to make the most of this opportunity. While I’m still keeping the things most dear to who I am now, I find myself gleefully letting go of so much stuff – it’s more the logistics of discarding large quantities of crap that is the main thing getting in the way this time.

It’s a good place to be.