Wednesday 7 January 2009

Decluttering for fun and (no) profit

It's coming dangerously close to the time that I'm supposed to be escaping the UK but it still doesn't feel like I'm really going. The main reason for this is that I'm still waiting for my work permit to arrive and I can't book my flight without it :o(

Despite this, I've been furiously clearing the flat and my office, putting things into storage, and culling the things I really don't need. I am incredibly impressed with my ruthlessness even if I say so myself!

So far I have taken two very full car loads to the charity shop, though this was problematic as I was being turned away due to overflowing stock rooms! It makes me think a large section of the community can't be that affected by the credit crunch if they are getting rid of their stuff for free after getting lovely new shiny Christmas presents...

I've brought in bag fulls of various belongings to work (bags of fabric, toiletries, clothes, stationery, butane (!)) to foist them off on my friends, and another friend came round for dinner this weekend and left with a giant box of houseplants, baking ingredients, and ornaments.

It's extraordinarily liberating. Apart from the stress of having to do it to a deadline, I'm finding the whole process of house clearance good for the soul. When I started to tot up the actual value of what was going it became too scary though and I had to have a sit down and cup of tea. But then it was pointed out to me that I should just consider it a big charity donation and not worry about whether I'd have to re-buy everything I'd just given away. Anyone that knows me will realise what a big step this is for me. I am a hoarder, and a miserly hoarder at that.

The office is a whole other ball game. Six years-worth of photocopied articles, notes, books, out of date software, mystery cables, the list goes on. Whilst I kept all my photocopied articles from my PhD as I still work in that area, one of the hardest things I had to do was recycle my old university notes from my undergraduate course back in 1995-8. As I still work in archaeology I found it really difficult to think that, although I'd not looked at them since, that they might come in useful for planning my own teaching in the future (though was I ever really going to be teaching about Ancient Western Asia or European Prehistory?). Still, in the recycling sack they went. I've just filled my third...

As one of life's collectors I'm finding, surprisingly, that I'm really enjoying a life without "stuff". I'll be starting again with a clean slate (well... two full suitcases), and I'll be desperately trying not to buy. I'm finding it therapeutic, but not so much that I want to be doing it all again when the time comes to return!



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