Happily, I have now sold, donated and passed on enough of my books to completely free up the bookcase from the bedroom. You have no idea how happy my new more streamlined bedroom makes me.
I put the bookcase onto Facebook Marketplace for £10 and it was snapped up in two days. It was only when the lady came to collect it and handed me the crisp new tenner that I realised that the bookcase had only cost me £8 about three years ago at a local car boot sale. So pretty good value, three years of use and then a two pounds profit. 😀
I finished sorting out the bottom cupboard of my living room bookcase the other day, and the books that I did decide to keep from the bedroom bookcase have ended up in there. It very satisfying to have all the non-kitchen books in one place, well virtually in one place there are a few decoratively dotted around still ... but you'll never cure me of that!!
I think I mentioned last week that Alan had bought me my Christmas presents while we were at Dunelm, he was determined to get them nice and early this year ... and they are already in use. He bought me a microwave, a new electric kettle and a few pieces of green tableware.
I saw and fell in love with some handmade green bowls, so I chose the minimum that I thought I could get away with ... and then Alan persuaded me to get the larger plate too. Which I guess with Christmas in mind, and perhaps needing a plate of sharing nibbles, was quite a good idea.
They are quite a bit greener than this photo shows them, but the light in my little kitchen corridor is terrible today. The rain has not stopped since last night, and I have had to have the light switched on just to be able to see to type.
What are you getting for Christmas this year, a want or a need?
Mine ... unusually for me ... is definitely a want, as I already had my white crockery, plus some of my retro pretty plates that luckily match in beautifully with my new purchases.
Sue xx
I have a stash of books that are in a box pending. They are non-fiction and ones that I do not really refer to nown but I have no doubt that if I let go of them I will suddenly want them - so I will give them a few months and if the box has not been opened they will go to charity or Ziffit. I like your new china, we bought most of ours in the 90's and have had it for years now (Rosenthal Thomas Loft) a bit of an outlay at the time but it goes on and on and is still replaceable if we should break anything and.... I still love it.
ReplyDeleteI was at the stage of 'split second' choosing whether to keep or get rid of books, yes ... I am being ruthless in my final round of decluttering. We do still have all the white plates, bowls and mugs that used to live in my cupboard but now they are on Alan's top shelves ... he has a MUCH bigger kitchen than me, and many more cupboards.
DeleteOur bookcases are in serious need of sorting but it's far more fun to buy books from charity shops than organise the ones we already have!
ReplyDeleteNever mind Jesus, December is all about me - and my birthday! xxx
I've not been into a charity shop for ages, but when I did the bookshelves always called me over before the rails of clothes ever did.
DeleteIt was very rude of Jesus to hijack your birthday month wasn't it, especially as we all secretly know he wasn't even born in December!!
I love those handmade bowls. I am going to decamp a load of books to the staff bookcase at work and will not bring more home!
ReplyDeleteThere's just something so tactile about them, I'm enjoying my meals much more especially my bowls of pasta.
DeleteI don't really want or need anything that I can think of so I don't have a Christmas wish list. That makes me lucky when I reflect on it!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for a Christmas with no gifts, but Alan would have hated that. So finding something that I needed as well as wanted was perfect.
DeleteThe dishes are so beautiful. I have a thing for dishes and have to really stop myself from buying more. I have just 3 places I keep books and most of them are Easton Press classics and some cookbooks. And some decluttering minimalism books too. I had 2 Nigel Slaters which were so pretty but I never made anything from them so I gave them to the Friends of the Library to sell.
ReplyDeleteYep, I love dishes and jugs ... and have quite a few, although my collection of jugs and bowls that just 'sit' there being decorative has now all gone. I could read Nigel's writings over and over so his books will never be leaving home.
DeleteBooks--a love-hate relationship for this former librarian. I have soooo many, mostly from my storytelling days when I needed them for source material, background for stories, and other reference. So many are old, out-of-print and have some value.I am selling them slowly after giving about 200 to another storyteller.
ReplyDeleteI realy like those green dishes, green being one of my favorite colors--indeed, these days it may have topped yellow as my favorite, as I seem to keep adding green to my house.
I find that I am not a minimalist, but more of a maximalist, LOL. I have a lot of stuff, but I try to keep it organized and am regularly sorting and sending things to the thrift. Yesterday it was the china cupboard and the linen closet that got a good sort. I removed a dozen green and red glass punch cups from the china cabinet but that was about all; it's still stuffed full but I keep place settings for at least 12 people because of my large family. The linen closet downzsized by several sheets, pillowcases, and other things, so lots more space in there.
As for Christmas, well, I seldom get a gift from my husband, mostly because he gets brain freeze and can't figure out what to get me. Occasionally I tell him if I really want something but usually I'm fine with no gift. I am blessed enough already, really. Although I would never turn my nose up at a piece of sprakling crystal.
I can't imagine having the space to be able to store space settings for 12 people, not that I would ever have to. But if we were to throw a party Alan now has the white china that we shared out between our homes all in his cupboards so I guess we could dish up for about 10 for a buffet at a pinch. Not that we ever have that many visitors.
DeleteWhat I’ll be getting for Christmas is perfume and other personal stuff. My family know that I’d never want practical housewares as a gift for Christmas or birthday.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm allergic to perfume it does limit what Alan can buy me as a surprise present. He stocked me up so well with the body moisturising creams that I can use last year, that he doesn't need to buy me any this year. He is always VERY relieved when I come up with something that I really would like for Christmas.
DeleteThe green dishes are lovely. I hope you enjoy them and all of your gifts. I have no wish list for things. Most of what I wish for cannot be bought.
ReplyDeleteThe pots are all being used, well except for the large plate up to now. That is definitely not what i would eat off regularly, but it should come in handy at Christmas. It's good not to want 'things' isn't it.
DeleteMy husband's told me what my Xmas present is.......he's getting me a top of the range treadmill! It's an all singing, all dancing model, and has a screen so that I can 'walk in many places around the world', although perhaps not Venice, I might drown!
ReplyDeleteI freely admit that I need to walk a lot more than I do at the moment, but as I have a problem with my balance, I'm very nervous about walking outside.
So, he's cleared out one side of our double garage, and is going to put the treadmill in there for me to use, which hopefully will help with my back, hip, knee and ankle pain, and as there are handles, I should be able to walk better and faster than I do normally. Our son will be coming around here a lot I think, if the weather's bad, he runs, but is not fussy about running in the rain!
From me, he's getting additions to his Japanese Saw collection....don't ask!!!!
You might want to consider getting a rubber mat for under the treadmill. Absorbs vibrations, sounds, and helps protect the machine from dust, pet dander, and perhaps even moisture.
DeleteA coat hook nearby is handy if you're cold to start with and then shed layers as you warm up.
~ skye
That sounds like a big gift and one that should be very useful. Alan had a treadmill for a while back in Wales, he used it about half a dozen times and then it was great for drying wet dog walking coats on!!
DeleteA good tip from Skye about a mat for under it, Alan's came with a rubber mat for just this purpose.
You have done really well in getting your books slimmed down. Me not so much.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Christmas. It is getting close so I guess I will need to think about it.
God bless.
It was actually such a relief to get rid of one bookcase and have room for the books all together at last. Christmas is sneaking up sooooo fast!!
DeleteThat china is lovely and perfect for Christmassy meals. xx
ReplyDeleteIt would be a teeny, tiny Christmas dinner served on one of the plates for sure ... which would suit me just fine.
DeleteThere is an absolute peace and indefinable feeling about moving out a piece of furniture that you no longer need. (Unless you have a Spousal Unit who sees a space and immediately wants to "fill it with something"!)
ReplyDeleteYour new china is really, realy lovely, is it the Amalfi range? In which case I see it is available in white . . . oh dear, is immitation still the most sincere form of flattery?
The china hasn't got a name, it just says Dunelm underneath it ... proper posh eh!!
DeleteIt's lovely that your bookcase got a lovely new home....and a profit to boot! Alan has bought you some very useful Christmas gifts this year too. At least now you won't have to go round to Alan's house to use his microwave if it's snowing outside ;)
ReplyDeleteWe don't usually buy each other gifts anymore, but G has, just this week, paid for a new pair of shoes for me because my older ones have holes in the soles. I have bought him a new dressing gown which he knows nothing about so we both have 'need' and not just 'wants' for Christmas.
This is exactly what we do, wait until we're out and about and see something that we really need (or want) and then buy it for each other and call it our Christmas or birthday present. I am buying Alan half a dozen new shirts to go with his new made to measure suits. Then that's him togged up for business meetings, weddings and funerals for the next 20 years.
DeleteMy word he will be smart! :)
DeleteWhat lovely dishes! I'm looking for a similar for 4 for when my kitchen is finished (no Dunelm in the US or I'd be there like a shot). My plan is for streamlined everything so, if I ever entertain more than that number, I'll ask them to bring their own! The decluttering is so rewarding - I recently donated an artificial, lighted tree, that my late husband could manage to assemble/disassemble, through Buy Nothing, and it was taken by a lady who is organizing Christmas for a family who needed a bit of a boost. My goal is to live in a space that doesn't overwhelm my thoughts, and where there is only the minimum for my family to dispose of when the inevitable happens. Not maudlin just practical.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good feeling to know that something we no longer need or want to have in our homes, is going to someone who can make really good use of it isn't it. No, not maudlin at all, practical and perfect ... and exactly what I am doing.
Delete