Cleaning and Clearing Follow Up

This blog post is a little longer than normal, so I thank you in advance for reading it to the end.

There was about two weeks in between my clearing part of my bedroom and the local charity shop coming just over a week ago to pick up all I was donating to them. It ended up being five black bin bags of clothing and bric-a-brac items along with two boxes of books. I had told myself not to clear any more things out until they had been because there was no more room behind the sofa where I was storing my donations to put anything else.

But, I couldn’t wait ...  Two nights before the collection, I pulled fifty more books off my bookshelves to go.  Fifty!!!  I had about a hundred and sixty-five books before clearing these fifty, so I dread to think how many I had in the boxes that have recently been collected!  Maybe I should have counted them before they went. I’m estimating it at over two hundred books altogether with those I still have on my shelves, the fifty sorted to go and the ones that have already gone. 

*The yoga mat in the above photo is an old one, I’ve kept my newer one and the Christmas crackers were my housemates

The Friday night after the collection, I cleared the hanging section on my wardrobe and now have another black bin bag of clothes to donate.  The shelves which have more clothes on will be done over the next week.  I’m really impressed with how ruthless I’m being and especially how much I have got rid of so far.  I’m still very focused on continuing and completing the clear-out and then I will tackle the reorganisation.  I’ve already had a few ideas but am just noting the ideas for now and I’ll reorganise properly when I know what I’ve got left.  

Since I did the first section of my bedroom, I’ve had better deep sleep (thank you Fitbit Blaze) and I feel calmer, less anxious, more positive and hopeful.  I also had a friend find me on my personal IG account who I’d looked for from time to time but thought he didn’t have an account as I couldn’t find him.  Turns out he has an account but uses a user name not his actual name and it’s a name I wouldn’t ever guess.

So a few days after starting my clear out one friend has got back in touch with me, another has found me on IG, my deep sleep is a bit better and my anxiety is feeling much more under control.  I think the latter one is why I’m so determined to continue clearing because I couldn’t carry on as I was.  I needed room to move and breathe and I couldn’t do either with all that I had around me a few weeks ago.  

I now have two big black bags of clothes to go, a couple of carrier bags of bric-a-brac items along with a couple of piles of books to all go.  I have started to reorganise my room a bit, although I’m aware that things may not stay in their current location.  I’m organising a bit as I go at the moment because I’m trailing where things may end up being and also so that the space is as clear and liveable as it is for now.  I’ve also treated myself to a few new things for my home.  Things like; some firefly lights for around some shelves on my bookcase, some cushions for my bed, (something I’ve been wanting for a while) and today I got a new grey fleece throw for my bed or the sofa maybe.  I’m not quite sure where it will be used yet.

I am still very motivated to continue with the clearing but again I have too much waiting to be collected and my next day off when they collect is in five weeks!!!  I’ll just have to be patient until then or maybe I’ll end up taking some things to a charity shop myself in the meantime.