The countdown begins....

Rather than wake up in cold sweats screaming out to nobody in particular ( DH is a very heavy sleeper!) I thought as we are approaching the final month before we move, it MIGHT be more practical to actually have some kind of plan......

Well here it is: get rid of everything! or if you prefer the new age term to 'declutter'....a ruthless gem of Zen wisdom, cluttered house, cluttered mind. Or is that Martha Stewart....hmmm not sure but whatever it is, until this very day I had scoffed at all those reality shows where they piled stuff into skips...I always wanted a back shot of the owners tearing the house apart looking for that 'something' they had ruthlessly tossed aside. I have a love of history, of sentimental 'stuff' eg, grandma's silver serviette holders, her sewing machine etc. However one look at the quotes I received for interstate removals for all our gear had me stuttering for over an hour and feeling as though I had been slapped in the face with a wet fish. So I am making an earnest effort to harden me up.

Plan of attack: get started early on a caffeine high and start somewhere 'neutral' where 'heavy' decisions won't have to be made, I don't think I am ready for that just yet......and go hard before I pass out in this heat (we are in the wet season up here and bathroom is 36 degrees and 90% humidity......and to think I used to steam my face on purpose when I was young)

9am. Post coffee buzz saw me crouched on all fours sorting through all the stuff under the bathroom sink. Sheesh, what was I thinking? Had I been reading armageddon stories? I am ashamed to say I threw out 2 garbage bags and still have a couple of months worth of toiletries.....*ahem*

10am. Quick stop for a gloat to hubby about how tough er how ORGANISED I am and a drink. Then turned to the kids bedrooms......

Not quite as simple as it sounds......as I have pointed out I am a notorious horder....still have the notes we passed around in school ( think ....'I love Bon Jovi!!' 'oh yeah, he's soooo hot' lol )....the kids first outfits, even the first rose DH gave me..... Every time I make an effort to 'go through that box once and for all' it ends up with me sitting on the floor with a glass of red, surrounded by old photos, laughing through stabs of nostalgia....and the box being put hastily away before hubby notices in the morning. The trouble is it seems I have bred a litter of pack rats!

Getting ruthless meant that any broken or now unloved toy or Tshirt that was now a 'belly grazer' had to go. I marched into my son's room full of enthusiasm, only to have him spy me (damn, must have ruffled that bag, had waited until he was engrossed in his play) and come screaming in, launching across the room, 'Noooooooooooo, thats my Faaaaaavourite', when I had hastily picked up a dusty one legged Ninja Turtle which had been bought from the Op shop for 20c 2 years ago. And so it went, yep you guessed it. ALL FAVOURITES. Even the 2 sized too small head gets stuck and savages his ears when you take it off lycra swim shirt.
It was obvious to all, new tactics were needed. More devious, ruthless, sneaky mummy tactics. Mwa ha ha ha.

Stay tuned!