10 Things To Shed

Believe it or not, I actually like de-cluttering and re-arranging. I should also mention that I can't stand messiness - it makes me grumpy, impatient and I tend to start blaming other people for random things that go wrong. Sometimes warning shot is usually fired at Richard when I feel messiness building up but that usually goes unheeded and then I blow up and start a full scale clean up of everything all at once. Other times, I just make a long list and enjoy the satisfaction of crossing things off as they get done.

I came across a list in a Coles recipe magazine today. Its coming from an angle that I don't usually work from   and I'm not sure if it will be all that effective for us but I thought it was a good list. Here are the 10 Things To Shed...

1. Old cassettes, records and videos. Yes, I think its about time I throw out the two Milli Vanilli cassettes I have. 

2. Books you'll never read again. I actually don't have much work to do here because I never collected many books and used the libraries instead. So, the ones I do have, I really want.

3. Anything you have spare of, from potato peelers to egg timers. But what if one of them breaks down? By the way, my spare kitchen timers have been put to good use - one of them is used to time a time-out and the other is for timing TV watching time. 

4. Receipts and tax records more than seven years old. Well, nothing I can work with there since we've only been here 3 years. 

5. Worn-out rugs, cushions, towels, sheets and doona covers. This one is going to be fun. Old, grubby tea-towels are on my target list. 

6. Posters you've had since childhood. WHAT?! NKOTB have to go? But what about the prized Indiana Jones poster on my old bedroom door - I had to fight my brother for that one. Someone also gave me a framed canvas poster of the Romeo and Juliet movie with Leonardo DiCaprio that I've never really liked - thats still around too. 

7. Instruments you never learned to play. I have one violin, one cello, one piano, one recorder, one ukelele and two harmonicas in this house. I have learned to play them all but I don't have the time to. 

8. Sports equipment that is never use. We don't have a problem there :)

9. Half-burnt down candles, dried up glue sticks, old greeting cards. OK, at the risk of letting you all know how cheap I am, I have to say that half-burnt birthday candles should be alright to hoard. I have actually used the same birthday candles for Aaron's, my dad's and Adrian's birthdays. Aaron's and my dad's birthdays were celebrated here in Australia but I took the candles with me to Malaysia for Adrian's birthday in December. Too bad I forgot to bring them back again. 

10. Magazines older than 12 months. Oops! We are so guilty of this one. In fact, if I got rid of all this, we would suddenly have a lot of extra shelf space.