Approximately 230 days to go!

The Before and After Shots

The kitchen… My least favourite place in the house, mostly because it feels the most cluttered. So I was dying to get stuck in there. I knew exactly what appliances and utensils Kyle’s forgotten we own so it didn’t take much to fill a bag of things without needing to ask my dinner-cooking husband’s permission. For those interested, he didn’t even notice things were missing when I asked him two weeks later.
I promise these pictures are not the same, as there are about three things missing in the "after" shot.

And yes, I got rid of more than half our spoons eight months early because we never use spoons!
I’m extremely proud of this cutlery drawer.

Now, enter our computer room! This room consists of 80% cool things Kyle has bought and never opened and 20% of Simone’s paperwork that needs sorting. This room is going to be extremely slow-going for several reasons. Paper doesn’t take up a lot of room but sorting and filing does take up a lot of time! So, I could spend 3 hours sorting and throwing away paper, and the before/after photos will have you squinting until you have a headache. It’s the nature of the beast but something that needs to be done. I’m procrastinating doing it… can you tell?

There are “but it’s cool” items floating all around this room, which is another reason why I’m avoiding it.

Yet another mild disappointment here (although the reflection of Kyle in the TV checking his watch amuses me). No matter how empty I get this shelf, I won’t have permission to get rid of it until maybe a couple months before we move. Why? Because it’s hiding cables that Kyle can’t stand looking at. And that includes the Watch_dogs box which is completely empty.

I donated a lot of clothes, handbags and scarves this month; I know, it’s hard to tell. If you look closely, you’ll see the right-side of my cupboard is no longer a vertical pile of things I never use. It now all hangs nicely.
My wardrobe is the evidence of my lack of goal-setting this month. Which brings me to one of March’s goals: clear out that top cupboard of CRAP. I wear about 20% of the stuff in there so it needs to go!

At first, I enjoyed saying yay or nay to books, until I started taking them off the shelf. Books on a shelf look cool! So, I filled a single box and then left the rest of the shelf as-is. Not much more to say here except that several of the decorations are now gone which I’m extremely proud of. We only want to take the truly sentimental things with us to Melbourne when we go.

Ah... this shelf. Did I promise to have this shelf gone by the end of February? I can’t remember. Anyway… oops? The stuff left on here is hard! Wedding memories, letters, art and journals. I have solutions in my head for some of this stuff, it’s just all going to be a work-in-progress for a while.
Things I’d like to point out, some of which I’m proud of:

• Yes, that’s a box of chocolates. Received at Christmas time, I plan to re-gift it at some point and the temptation to eat it is far from me.
• The plastic packet of Magic: The Gathering cards have now neatly been sorted into collection card boxes I bought off Trade Me. I later found two more boxes of cards in another cupboard… so I’ll be buying another collection box this month (if I remember).
• Yes, those are pink fluffy handcuffs in at the bottom there. Received by Kyle for his 21st birthday before we ever met. They’ve never been used 😉

This shelf has started to become the “temporary shelf”… a place like purgatory where things go before we do the final “yes/no” challenge. I’m trying to stop myself from using this shelf in that way, but life seems to have other ideas.

And lastly, my proudest moment of this month (which I can only take 10% credit for).
The stuff on the left is my mate Freddie’s stuff. As a favour, we stored his PC and other things for him until he got settled in his new place. All that stuff went away this month and now the area looks tidy again! Now, March is going to be quiet in terms of after-hours work for me, so I have the freedom of setting decluttering goals for myself. This corner here (called the server corner as of now) is at the top of my list. You watch this space. Next blog update, that desk will be gone. Those boxes on the left will be gone, and there will be a sole laptop sitting on the floor until just before we go.

The Personal

This month had a lot of disheartening moments and a lot of backward progress… Believe it or not, I omitted some photos this month because the rooms/cupboards look worse than they did before. But such is life! The good news, however, is that one of my late-night real-work projects was pushed out to March, having left more weekends in February to declutter!

Right at the beginning of February, we said goodbye to Freddie, one of our close-circle friends who is now also moving to Melbourne for work. We’ll see him when we move in October, which is a delight! But it left a larger hole in our friend group than we expected. If I’m being honest, the friend circle hasn’t fully recovered, as Fred would have been considered a glue-friend (a friend that keeps other friends together). The evening of Freddie’s move involved a birthday party for a mutual friend… that was attended by several other mutual friends. Needless to say, the atmosphere that night was sombre.

It was a good reminder of what it will feel like for my friends when we leave. Being the ones left behind is a heart-breaking thing. One of uncertainty, loss and emptiness that takes a while to heal. It’s like pulling a decent-sized plant out of the ground, knowing that the grass will fill the spot again, but it takes time to look and feel ‘normal’ again.
Friends, please take some time to read my friend Lizelle’s post about The unexpected side of moving overseas.

As the one moving, I know I’m in danger of being so caught up in my new life that I mistakenly think keeping in contact with those here isn’t that big of a deal. I mean… I wasn’t really that important to them anyway, right? It’s an easy trap/thought pattern to fall into. After more journaling and talking to friends about how they’d like to be kept in contact with, I feel I’ve set myself up for some success when moving. It’s just up to me to follow through with my intentions.

Our current friend group will fall apart when we leave. Even though there’ll be one more glue-friend left, there won’t be that many people to keep together. There’s nothing I can do about that, other than hope something good comes out of the change. After all, God never wastes a hurt.

On a lighter note, I have officially started putting things into boxes. Two, in fact. They’re tiny boxes, but boxes nonetheless. The less things I have to say yes or no about, the better and more equipped I am to relocate. It’s progress, even though Kyle doesn't enjoy noticing his decorations disappear off the shelf one by one.

And lastly… but very importantly, I’ve completely revaluated what’s necessary to bring with. I was way too conservative in January and, chances are, I’ll probably take a second look over things I decided to keep later on this year. What changed? Well… I saw the size of the apartments we’ll be able to afford in Melbourne and PANICKED! We ain’t gonna have room for much, son!

This has given me a greater focus about what is truly necessary, and it’s meant a lot of books are going to Minton down the road than previously planned!