Moving House

I’ve not been blogging recently because we have just moved. It should have been plain sailing. We were merely giving up a rented property and consolidating our chattels into our house in Suffolk, where we have spent most of our weekends and many of our holidays over the last ten years.

Moving house is supposed to be nearly as stressful as bereavement or divorce. With no buying and selling involved our move should have been a breeze. But it wasn’t. We had to rid ourselves of a whole houseful of goods and chattels.

First, big items went on eBay – no problem. But it is the small things that take the sorting – kitchen kit, curtains, electrical apparatus, clothes and shoes. It is amazing how much clutter you can collect over the years – especially if you have plenty of storage space and no incentive to get rid of it. Much of the stuff had hardly been used. We found we had four toasters.

Decluttering requires an absolutely ruthless approach. Both of us were reluctant to bin things which we rationalised that we might just possibly need at some future date. In practice, I believe we felt some sort of strange sentimental attachment to all sorts of things we had used in the past. We have just about sorted things with the help of: neighbours who took some of the better items for themselves and their offspring; the bric-a-brac stall for the village fête; various charity shops; and our local council’s tip. But it has been tough.

However, I think we have learned our lesson. We shall not hang on to stuff just because we might possibly need it sometime in the future. If in doubt, we shall throw it out. Well that’s what we say now. The real test will come when we have to move from this house.