KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Deepest condolences to you and your family GQ.

So sorry GQ, my condolences, I hope your memories of your nan will see you through this sad time.x:grouphug:

Deepest condolences to you and your family GQ.

Thank you, all.

As a family, we are readying ourselves to absorb the contents of one two-bedroom bungalow, two small outbuildings and two sheds, one large one very small, into our respective homes. With some overflow to charitable donation and some items, regrettably, having died in storage.

Definately deceased is one mostly plywood small COD-wardrobe combo, which was bought by my parents in the 1970s (secondhand) and which eventually ended up with Nan. The bits which aren't ply are woodworm fodder. We will ensure that the mirror part of this unit is homed/ recycled.

Cousin and her hubby are confident that they can take the big shed, plus the corrugated iron roof of the little lean-to shed, and make use of them at their home. Some garden and general tools have also gone. The lawn mower has been promised to a neighbour, once we've finished clearing the bungalow and the garden has been given its last tidy-round.

Small appliances are being given here and there within the family, although most of them cannot leave the home until the clearout has finished. Clothing and footwear are being shared. There are some slightly humourous finds already, such as a pair of 'new' slippers, totally unworn, belonging to my late Grandad, who died 17 years ago. They are now going to be used by his son, my Dad.

Of the paperwork, some items need careful consideration as they relate to family history and have been in Nan's keeping since the death of her own parents in the early 1970s. Others are things which don't require much thought, such as old brochures and such like, which can hit the recycling stream without angst.

Plans are afoot to get the older family photos copied and shared among the extended family and, importantly, labelled. Whilst the people who know these faces and on which occasions the photos were taken are still here to tell us who they are.

The bulk of the furniture cannot be absorbed into other people's homes and will be offered to charity, once having eliminated such items as the worm-eaten COD-wardrobe combi.

Fortunately for all of us, this is not a hoarded home. Nan was not materialistic and didn't like a lot of Stuff. Yes, there are knick-knacks and ornaments, many of them gifts from family over the years, but they are a minor part of the whole.

As I was saying to my parents recently, every single thing has to be taken out of there in the next few weeks, whether we sort it immediately or sort it slowly. Countless decisions will have to be made. What to do with towels and teatowels and bedlinen? The crockery and saucepans? The bigger appliances like the washer and fridge-freezer and cooker?

The cacti on the windowsills and the planters outside. The bird table and bird feeders, the buckets and mops and all the stuff of a household.

One blessing is that Aunt lives about 50 yards away and has a completely empty garage, so some things can rest in there whilst the final stages of the sorting/ rehoming project are completed. A life-long villager, she knows a lot of people and is able to get some things to suitable homes by asking around on the grapevine.

As with all council tenancies, the landlord will have to serve notice on the executors, which is a 4-week notice period, then the keys will go back to them and the property can be allocated out to someone else in need of a home.

We'll still visit this little cul-de-sac, as other relations live on it, but it will be beyond strange to see other people living there. There are pictures of me and brother and cousins on that lawn in our prams, with Mum and Aunt as young women in their twenties, and then another generation, and then another, the babies of the early1960s now in their fifties.

I hope that the new people will love that garden, and will relish the lilacs by the gable end, which were truly glorious in 2016, but I won't miss raking moss out of that lawn..........:)