This is a not edited much repost because – surprise, surprise – two years on and nothing has changed.
We have a lot of stuff; we have always had a lot of stuff. It didn’t matter in South Africa when the Hub had a warehouse attached to his office: we stored everything there and our home looked lovely. It’s not so great now that we live in a three-bed council house.
Part of the problem is that we hang on to things we might need later on, like every plug from every defunct appliance we’ve ever owned. Bear in mind that it is a legal requirement that every appliance sold in this country must come with an integrated plug – hanging on to those plugs is like letting our older children leave home but keeping their feet in case the next one I give birth to needs spare toes.
Okay, that’s ridiculous; but so is hanging on to twenty-five years’ worth of electric waste.
Having built and filled – and filled, and filled – our garden shed many years ago, the stars finally conjoined one day to give us sunshine, everybody home with nothing to do, and me in a we can do this if we only gird our loins and get on with it mood.
I needed to empty the shed so that I had somewhere to store the clutter from the kitchen which had to be emptied before they gave me a new one. The clutter in the kitchen came from the hall when I painted it. The clutter in the hall came from the lounge when I painted it. The clutter in the lounge came from my inability to tie the Hub to his chair and never let him shop. I didn’t have the heart to put the clutter back into the lounge because I was able to see every wall for the first time since Spud was born. I have been shuffling utter crap from room to room for the whole of my married life, and that day I decided it must STOP.
We finished up with several piles:
- For the council tip (if we ever get there)
- Recycling (how many fly blown cardboard boxes do we really need?)
- Freegling (a wonderful system that allows you to offload your crap onto other people before collecting yet other people’s crap to replace it)
- Charity (people who sell crap to those not clever enough to get it for free)
- To sell (to pay for my broken nails)
- Might come in handy at some point if the Hub can hide them from me (he did; it didn’t)
We moved the stuff in the house that we really wanted to keep, into the shed, where it will no doubt stay for many years, until we get our next sunny day. The kitchen isn’t quite cleared but it’s getting there. The hall isn’t quite cleared but it’s getting there. The lounge – well, you get the idea. I’m doing my best and if it sometimes feels as if I’m holding back an avalanche with sheer will and a roll of bin bags, at least it gives me something to blog about.
Now I bring you back to the present: our old shed is rotten and held together only by the crap the Hub managed to stash away two years ago. We bought a new, bigger, better shed. It arrived last month. It is still in its boxes, going mouldy, because it hasn’t stopped raining long enough to erect it.
Crap: the gift that keeps on giving me a headache.
Sheds: the last great hope of my staying married.
Rain: the divorce-maker.
Anyone got a giant marquee they don’t want? I could give it a good home.
Ohhh! You didn’t throw out the mouldy MDF, did you?
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You want it? It’s yours! 😀
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I can relate to this in sooo many ways – different ways but you know! Hell!
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Like you, your posts improve with age. Viv ducks!
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Viv, my duck, don’t you think you’ve been nice enough to me this week without throwing in compliments as well?
xx
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The Hub’s self portrait has a certain je ne sais quoi.
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I hope you get to assemble the shed today…. It’s actually dry here, at the moment.
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We have to do it over several days so we need guaranteed sun.
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Good luck – given our weather so far this ‘summer’ it’s going to be hard to several good days in a row!
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Maybe next year 😉
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It’s a great likeness 🙂
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“they might come in handy in 2027” …… I have a lot of things “saved” too. I can relate! And, of course, when the time rolls round to use the saved part, I’ll never find it until AFTER I buy a new one. : )
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Oh the irony…think I’ve got a lot of that stored, too 🙂
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You can ship it all to Bulgaria..I have an enormous barn with only a few sticks of wood in it but as we shall have to oust the dishwasher, fridge/freezer, washing machine and microwave, those few bits of wood may well have some company but there is still room for your rubbish(sorry I meant goods)
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Thanks! Can I ship the Hub along with it? 🙂
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I feel your pain. We accumulated “stuff”, and then we inherited “stuff”…so we have a basement full of “stuff”. I am not sure, but I think it may have reproduced some on its own, too. I need to get rid of it, or I fear it may creep up the stairs…
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Thank goodness we don’t have a basement 🙂
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My system for throwing out junk is simply to re-pack all storage spaces more efficiently, ensuring that no nook or cranny is left unfilled. One day every storage space we have will explode under the strain. I doubt if the planet will survive.
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Don’t worry – the explosion will eventually reach this house and when it does, matter will hit anti-matter and none of it will matter.
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My hubby loves his stuff, I have had my share of storage units. The old shed really looked like it was bursting at the seams, I had never seen that before. You guys have a lot of fun together, it is very sweet.
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Sweet…hmm. He doesn’t call me that when I’m nagging 😉
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We’ve been renovating in the last year and a half (ok Himself has been doing the actual work) and since I’m still recovering from all my broken bits and therefore not using my little sewing room, all of the junk from the whole house has ended up there “temporarily” until we get around to sorting it.
This means in reality that it’s not going to be done until I’m back on both feet again and can tackle to job alone,…
…. I’ll then just present Himself with the various piles of “dump”recycle”sell” etc and threats that It’s all going into his home office unless he gets rid of it quick LOL
I’m the sort of person who can ignore the mess for a certain amount of time but one day out of the blue it will annoy me to the point that I start on a Spring Clean rampage.
Strangely enough I’ve noticed this never happens in Spring time. (I think I must have left my cleaning clock in another time-zone some how).
Well done on getting this done! AND we want before and after photos of the kitchen renovation too yes?
As for the weather.. oh ouch, NOT a happy topic here in the Netherlands this summer either! (I use the term “summer” very loosely here.. you understand completely why LOL)
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Girl power!
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Thanks for the reminder. 😦 I have a spare room and a garage to clear.
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Have a word with Kiwidutch – she has a good system 😉
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Saving for a rainy day or a sunny day. What’s the difference? Looks like you all had heaps and heaps of fun, Tilly. Love that “charity” definition.;)
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Very funny. I think the first photo is the best. So much space. You will be able to find many child toys should your sons discover how to make fire. Dianne
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Since Maria married and moved out, we have been using her bedroom as a storage room. It’s a sight! Lol. But you seem to have so much rain. Too bad!
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Move from a three bedroomed house to a converted garage…you WILL declutter!
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Don’t think I haven’t thought about it!
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It sucks.
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😀 🙂 😀
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When I have a sort ut one pile has to be ‘bonfire’ – I love a good bonfire 🙂
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Don’t think my neighbours would like that idea – we are so close, I can answer their phone when she’s cooking.
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maybe not then. One time, when we had a huge pampas grass next to the oil tank I was advised that the best way t cut back the grass was to set it alight. Maybe not. I dug it out and removed it instead….
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…a wise decision 🙂
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We have an identical shed. We have a cunning plan: to park a skip on the drive and put the shed, and its contents, inside. But we’re not doing it in the pouring rain.Thus it will have to wait until we have our own heatwave.
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Next decade, then?
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Great post. I intend to never have this issue, despite the fact that I do. On my career break I intend to make at least one trip to the tip/recycle every week. I hope to have no possessions by this time next year.
It’ll be great.
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It’ll be a pipe dream 😉
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I think it’s a shame that you couldn’t shed yourself of all this stuff.
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when you hear traffic reports of ‘a shed load’ I shall think of Tilly…
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…I bring it on myself, don’t I?
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No loft? My loft is a lifesaver. As is a ruthless attitude. When I have the energy. 😉
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No loft? Technically, that’s true, if by ‘no loft’ you mean ‘stuffed to the gills so that we’re all in danger of being crushed in our beds’.
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I think Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter have the right idea – separate, but adjoining, residences. I’ve told my hub he isn’t allowed to die before me, ‘cos I’ll be livid if I have to clean out all the crap in the garage (which resembles a second-hand fishing and sports store)
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I have to go last so I have the pleasure of chucking it all out/giving it away/selling it!
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