that time of the year

It's that time of the year.

It's January which means decluttering mode- I thought this was an Australian thing at this time of the year because it is our summer holiday time and we clean out getting ready for a new year and a new school year.

But I have been reading some of American blogs and they are at it too, so it must be a new year thing everywhere.

So what have I done?

I totally cleaned out my walk in wardrobe in my bedroom, I got everything out and started again, I don't think I have ever done that before in 9 years of living here.
I usually just tidy up and declutter clothes.

I also moved a chest of drawers from my room and turned that into a craft storage area to replace my craft trolley.
The drawers have more space and look neater, don't you think?
This of course led to a big clean out of the study, ready for the new school year.

We cleaned out all the cupboards under the bookshelf, this was a big job as I had been avoiding my photo album cupboard for a couple of years now.

Aahh, that's better!

I decluttered The Girls clothes big time.
She gets so many beautiful hand-me-downs that I tend to keep them most of them, the problem is that she goes to get clothes to put on and they all end up on the floor and then one of the boys clean them up by shoving them back in the cupboard or into the dirty clothes basket, so the clean clothes end up getting washed and all these dirty clothes end up in the cupboards and not washed.
So I took her down to just a few outfits for home and a few for going out.
So now she can't make as big a mess and it is easier to clean up.

I still need to do my sewing cupboard and the linen cupboard and go back over the little boys drawers, they need a good declutter too.
I also want to get into the dress ups, they all need a good wash and pruning and I am thinking about new storage for them.
I have several ideas floating around but I might need VCH's help.

Yesterday we decluttered the front Veranda.


I am afraid it had become a bit of a dumping ground for things that didn't fit into the house.
We washed all the dress ups and took the dress-up cupboard up to the shed.
I have advertised it on freecycle along with the rocking chair that I bought 15 years ago when I was pregnant with B1.
I don't really have space in the house for it anymore and I don't want to see it wrecked by sitting on the veranda for years on end, I thought it best it went to a good home, particularly as we now have a smaller front veranda due to our parents retreat.

 

The linen cupboard is on today's list!
(this is what happens when children put stuff away)