Liesbeth's new project: decluttering

As you may know, quite a bit has happened at my home in the past two weeks. It was time for it, I've been living in this house for seven years and had reached the point where everything started to annoy me. So I searched and found a man who could renovate everything for me, moved Poes Disco to Jet (Disco doesn't like renovations) and moved myself to yet another house (I don't really like houses without a working bathroom and full of workers). And now, two weeks later, the first part of The Mission is done and for the next one and a half weeks, I will spend every free hour with a paint roller in my hand. And, I'm starting a new project, namely… drumroll… decluttering. That’s right.

It's a bit difficult to explain since you don't know what my house looks like, but let me give it a try. I live on two floors, with the upper one having slanted walls from front to back. It's very cozy but you lose a lot of space with it. In the past years, I filled the entire upper floor with cabinets to store all my clothes and shoes, and it had become quite a crowded situation. Now I would like to have a workspace at home (to write little pieces for you, you know) so part of those wardrobes had to go. In one weekend, I moved ALL my clothes and shoes from upstairs to downstairs so the workers could get in, and now the entire upper floor is empty and it is quite a party, I want to keep it that way.

I am overjoyed walking around my empty and spacious and oh so large upper floor, conveniently forgetting that there is a million cubic meters of junk downstairs that once came from above. I don't want that stuff anymore. Get rid of it. Yes, okay, it's all my beautiful clothes and shoes but oh my house is so spacious without those things! It's not very realistic to throw away EVERYTHING but this is where the decluttering is going to happen. Decluttering is the opposite of collecting: I am going to get rid of everything. Everything. Or well, almost everything. A lot in any case. As mentioned, I am currently in a guest house and have a suitcase with clothes with me, and even those clothes I haven't worn all of them. People really don't need that much.

First, I am going to paint the entire upper floor. Once that is done, I will drag the junk from downstairs to upstairs and start on the lower floor. And then, I will critically examine everything and clothing items that I hardly wear must make way. You should know, I am quite a hoarder and find it very difficult to throw things away, so this is going to be an incredibly therapeutic process. But I am really looking forward to it. Out with the old, in with the new, and when I return from Brazila brand new house will be waiting for me. Speaking of starting with a clean slate, bring it on 2015.