Diary of a Parson's Wife
A Holy Clear Out! But it can be a struggle, as Polly Zipperlen has discovered.
Advent often feels like a time of purging and this year’s annual clear out is long overdue. Having lived in the same vicarage for 10 years, we have missed the enforced de-clutter that naturally accompanies moving house. So, while Marcus has been cycling across Europe on Sabbatical, I thought to seize my opportunity to rifle through all our belongings and have a good old purge.
Knowing myself to be a natural hoarder, I thought to ease myself into this unnatural state of de-cluttering and started with all household items with holes in. This should be a no-brainer, but apparently not. I did manage a cotton tea-towel in the first week, which although mainly in good shape, had been eaten by a mouse at some point. This went on the compost pile. Perfect, my first item thrown away, no longer cluttering up a drawer, and not even to landfill. Although, I momentarily lamented its loss as my go-to tea towel for wiping down the kitchen cupboards.
Next came the T-Shirts and jumpers. Two items of clothing that had once been T-shirts actually made it to the bin, a cardigan made it to the dining room and is now acting as an antimacassar on the easy chair that the dog sits in when no one is looking. But at least it saves the chair’s upholstery from turning into a dog bed.
Next came a linen/cotton Breton top that I love, and which is actually in good shape, apart from the multitudinous holes when it blew off the washing line and caught on a nearby rose bush. This proved too much to discard and it found its way back into the wardrobe. Fast-forward three weeks and I had completely forgotten about the holes, which are actually more prominent than decent, but there it was, peeking out underneath a pair of dungarees, met by horrified exclamations of some house guests.
This level of success extended to the bookshelves, where my favourite novel, Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice, being almost unreadable in its state of disrepair, has found its way to the bedside cabinet to be read once more. Being determined to part with it, I have decided to replace it with a more intact copy and to preserve the gaudy 70s cover in a frame. I don’t think this Advent decluttering lark is working!