Yesterday was a day of disappointments. Not earth-shattering things, but just quite a number of them.

Our cat managed to get into a rabbit cage and killed the father of this cute family pictured - he looked much like the mother rabbit on the right. Disappointing for my son, who has started breeding these Netherland Dwarfs. Boo-hoo

A huge window which hadn't been re-secured after it's look-alikes were moved to begin construction of my new glasshouse blew over in the wind, smashing down on a pile of other windows, breaking several. Sigh

I'd JUST got to the really good part of my new book to find 50 pages missing...a printing error. Doh!

The garden has been mocking me with all the jobs I haven't gotten done in the last month or so - especially the harvesting that needs to happen before we get frosts, and the planting that should have happened before it got cold. Sigh

The lady who asked me to hold a desk she wanted to buy from me changed her mind but didn't bother to let me know. Ah well.

During the night there was a huge crash from the kitchen....my darling husband dealt with it....discovered this morning that the glass lid of my favorite casserole dish had been knocked off the dish, which was resting on the stove, by a cat and smashed all over the floor. Took me 3 or 4 years to find that replacement lid in the first place, after the original broke. Sigh. That will teach me to go to bed without doing the dishes, just this once, since we got home at midnight.

And so on. As I said, nothing earth-shattering, but when a day is filled with a procession of these little disappointments, it's easy to become discouraged! And doesn't the enemy like to use these little bumps in life's road to shove a few more darts at our minds and hearts?
"Hah! Why did you even bother getting out of bed this morning?"
"See, nothing ever goes right for you!"
"If God REALLY loved you, this kind of stuff wouldn't happen"
"You're so behind, it's all your fault. And you'll never catch up!"
"You are such a failure! If you'd only.....you could have prevented....."
"And don't forget, you don't have any money to buy another....."
"What's the point? Why keep struggling? Why don't you just give up?"

And suddenly, a few disappointments can become the tipping point that spills over into frustration, anger, blame (towards self and/or God and others), depression, sadness...even suicidal thoughts, especially if it feels like these kinds of things seem to happen all the time....

And yet....
"But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us...." (2 Cor 7:6)

God loves us, and loves to encourage us, and there is no better place to find his words of encouragement that in his Word!

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear [sisters], stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (I Cor 15:55-58)

God never promised there would not be troubles, trials and disappointments in this world - in fact Jesus specifically warned that there would be: "I have told you these things that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

Therein is the contrast - yep, this world is full of troubles. Things can and will go wrong. But we can take heart from the fact that Jesus has overcome this world - and this world is not all there is! It is but a temporary situation, a temporary dwelling place, until that wonderful day when Jesus comes back, and we get to dwell with him in glory forever!

Romans 8:28-39 is a must read passage if you're in need of encouragement! Here are some highlights...
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.....What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?......Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?.....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us....nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God!" (Emphasis mine)

God loves you and me sooooo much! Neither the troubles of this world, or the lies of the enemy will ever change that. The Psalms are a great place to find encouragement too. Psalm 10: 17 assures us "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry."

I thank God that, no matter what each day holds, he loves me, and is with me. There may come disappointments and trials, but he is with me always, and will never leave nor forsake me. None of these things can truly take me down, because even in days filled with disappointments, there are always blessings too, if we have eyes to see them.

Yesterday, our new neighbour was finally able to come and say hi, and we enjoyed some interesting conversation with him. My son was blessed with an extra day's work in town. The baby my daughter cares for here slept well at nap time, and was particularly happy the rest of the day. My husband and I were able to go out for dessert and a movie last night. And then there are the many blessings of a warm fire, food to eat, family and home.

Put in perspective, yesterday's disappointments were really nothing. Or perhaps they were something - an opportunity to practice the right point of view - of seeing life through the eyes of faith and the lens of God's Word, so that when the really difficult trials come along, we already have the right habits and understandings in place to help us through those trials.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." 2 Thess 2:16-17

And remember, one day soon...
"He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things [will have] passed away" Rev 21:4

Amidst everything else, I only managed to find 6 items to add to the give aways - a video, a DVD, and 4 things from the kitchen drawers which I cleaned out. I actually pulled out each drawer, emptied it, cleaned it, and then put things back better. I even cleaned out the inside of the cabinet where the drawers go - and found a couple of small items I'd been looking for that had fallen down the back of the drawers.

Tomorrow is a whole new day....and His mercies are new every morning!

Michelangelo is famous for several things, among them some amazing marble sculptures. He is famous for saying "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." When Michelangelo looked at a block of marble, he saw within it the sculpture it could become, and then chipped away everything else until what he had imagined was revealed.

Maybe we need to make like Michelangelo - instead of looking around our homes and seeing all the clutter and confusion, perhaps we should pause and imagine how our home COULD be; how we would love it to be. And then simply chip away at the rest, removing what does not fit, until we are left with a place of peace and beauty.

I ended up needing to take last week off from my 1000 things decluttering, due to having relatives staying, and also caring for a toddler. So this week I'm taking up where I left off - doing 5 days a week instead of 4 will soon catch me up.

Today I sorted out our box of computer-related cords, and also a box of games. I found 20 items to give away - 3 DVDs, 8 card packs, 1 set of dominos, 1 mouse, 1 webcam, 1 internet cord, 1 wireless internet booster, 1 set of cordless phone chargers, 1 temperature gauge, and 1 plastic kitchen container set.

When I sorted out the box of computer-related cords and stuff, I used a tip I'd seen recently to use toilet roll tubes to hold each individual cord. I placed them so both ends of the cords can be seen, making it quick to identify which one is wanted without lots of rummaging and messing things up. The before and after photos are below.

I also found 11 more items to sell - 9 books, 1 game, and 1 set of jigsaws.

I have also moved 5 books and 1 video that were previously in the for sale pile to the give aways.

The weather has been absolutely foul, with very heavy rain, so I'm not currently able to put things out by the road. When it fines up, there will be lots of good stuff for people to pick from!

Do you know what strikes me when I look at the photos of the things we have been giving away? It really IS just all "stuff"! Clutter. None of it is important.

Have you ever noticed that if you sweep a messy floor and then scoop up the small pile of dirt and bits and bobs into the trash, it doesn't take much room in the bin - but spread out on the floor, a small amount of trash can mess up a whole big area?

It's like that with stuff - take a box full of unnecessary clutter, and toss it in all directions - instantly you have a whole room looking messy and unpleasant. Conversely, gathering up a box full of clutter and getting rid of it can transform a messy room into a much more pleasant place.

In this second week of my "Letting Go of 1000 Things," I have given away another 174 items, and earmarked 99 to sell, bringing the grand total of items let go of in the last two weeks to 839! There are still 6 weeks to go - be interesting to see what the end total is. Will it get harder to find 20-30 items a day to get rid of? We will see!

My youngest daughter was "sure" that she would never get rid of anything. "No problem," said I, "But don't forget you have to tidy your room before you can go stay at your friend's place these holidays." She cleaned up her room on Friday - and found that she did, indeed, have quite a lot of things she doesn't use or want.

I spent the day on a general tidy up of the main living spaces, and together with my daughter's discards, I threw out some things - grand total 65 items to give away, including: 3 photo albums, 1 CD case, 1 hot pad, 5 items of clothing, 1 hat, 1 pair of shoes (brand new), 5 ornaments, 1 headband, 1 fur collar, 2 mini books, 2 hair accessories, 6 pieces of jewellery, 1 wallet, 1 radio, 1 bucket, 1 stamp album, 2 bamboo boxes, 2 hat boxes, 6 audio CDs, 1 CD rom, 3 DVDs, 11 books, 3 bookmarks, 1 moneybox, 1 bell, 1 gift box, 1 music box.

I also decided to declutter one bookcase - this one is "my bookcase" - the one where I keep books of most interest to me, including gardening books and magazines, housekeeping, parenting etc books, and books I've been meaning to read/preview and find a home for. It has been overflowing for some time! I prefer bookcases to only hold as many books as comfortably fit on the shelves, not stacked 2 deep.

So I cleared the shelves.......

Much better! I still need to go through the gardening magazines, keep what I need (I find these particular magazines an even more valuable source of info that my books), and let go of the rest, but time did not permit today.

42 books and 10 DVDs added to the for sale box.

In the past, I've always found the best way to motivate family to get on board with what I'm doing is to NOT force them to take part or get rid of anything. I just carry on lightening the load in the parts of the house I am primarily responsible for, talking to them along the way about what I'm doing and why, and how much easier it is to clean once there is less stuff to deal with. Before long, they usually realise that it's also easier for THEM to clean up their own rooms if there is less in them, and they start decluttering their own stuff. On Thursday of the second week, one of my daughters decided to clean up her room, and in the process she brought to me a box full of stuff she doesn't want any more, a box full of things she didn't think belonged to her, and a bag full of trash.

Between my daughter's decluttering and my own, this day we added 48 items to the give away pile: 8 pieces of clothing, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 stamp album, 1 musical stand, 1 jewellery container, 1 baby front pack, 5 videos, 1 DVD, 14 books, 1 ornament, 1 bag of beads, 1 book marker, 1 wallet, 1 bracelet, 1 stencil set, 1 inflatable ball, 1 bottle warmer, 1 Christmas stocking, 1 bag holder and 4 educational posters.

Unfortunately it poured with rain all day and I wasn't possible for me to put things out by the road. The school term holidays begin tomorrow and last two weeks, so I will be boxing up give-aways for now, and probably at the end of the holidays I will have a "free yard sale" in my garage. It is not wise to put things by the road during the holidays as some of the teens who hang out at the skate park across the road would take things and make destructive messes with them.

Here's another small quote from "In Celebration of Simplicity" that I've been mulling over:

Often when we read books or instructions on decluttering, we are told to ask ourselves this question:

"Do you love it and/or use is?" and if the answer is yes, then it's a keeper.

Now, I tell people to use that question too, and it's one I ask myself. It's a great first step, and will weed out quite a lot of the dross.

But I have found, going only on this question, that there is usually still way too much stuff left...though of course to be honest, we usually let that question mean "Do I use it now or anticipate using it in the near future?" - if we stuck to only what we do use NOW, honestly and forcefully, we'd get rid of a lot more stuff!

However, maybe we should be also asking ourselves "Do I want space and freedom MORE than I want THIS thing?"

What do I mean by space and freedom?

I mean space in our physical surroundings - so that shelves are not overflowing and difficult to dust, piles aren't stacked everywhere, things aren't slowing us down and tripping us up. It's easy to find an item you need when you don't have many items, and they're all where they should be, easily accessible without moving a ton of other stuff first! Relaxing!

I mean space in our minds - minds free from "shoulda, coulda, oughta" thoughts - the cleaning you should do (because it's done - and it doesn't take long when the clutter is gone), the projects/books/movies you could do/read/watch (because you let go of most of them - you wanted freedom more!), the nagging, unending feeling that there's a ton of things you ought to do, if only you had time (because now you DO have time, but all that remains are the actually important, and you can get them done easily). Peace!

I mean freedom to be and to do all that God intends for you. The ability to have a regular quiet time. Time to dress up for your husband occasionally, or plan a special date. Time (and energy!) to play with your children, read them stories, or go for a walk and stop to smell the roses/chase a cricket/lie on your back and look for cloud pictures. Time to enjoy homeschooling your kids, or to get creative organising those (few) things you chose to keep. Availability to help with a meal for someone who is in need, have a coffee with a friend, earn a few dollars using your gifts and talents from home. Blessed spaciousness and freedom!

Do you really want ALL those DVDs and videos so you can watch them again one day - or do you want the space more?

Do you need to keep ALL those books on the shelves, or do you want the space and freedom more?

That craft project you started 6 years ago, and mean to finish one day - how much do you REALLY want it? Or do you want the freedom more?

Those "useful" gadgets in your kitchen - do you want to keep all of them? Or could you get by with less - and enjoy the added space, and the ease of getting something out or putting something away that would result?

The clothes stuffing your closet and drawers - do you need to keep them all, more than you need to just chose enough to cover your body each day, and enjoy the freedom instead?

All those little bits and pieces stuck into drawers, piles, baskets - those bits and bobs you mean to sort out and put away properly...somewhere....what if you spread it all out in view, gave yourself 5 minutes to pick out anything truly essential (the chuck key for your husband's essential drill, for example, or the only key to the shed) and then just swept the rest into a bin and tossed it? Do you want to spend those hours trying to sort and find homes for all that stuff - or do you want the freedom more?

Me - I want the freedom more!

Now, for those of you who can't even comprehend letting go to that extent just yet, I do understand! I think it's a process, something of a layer-by-layer thing, to get to the point where you're just ready to let go. At least for a lot of people. And that's ok. Start by identifying what you really love and/or need, and eliminate the rest.

But for some people, you just need to get where you're sick of living this way - of running in circles, overwhelmed by stuff. To where you glimpse a better way - and you WANT IT MORE - more than all that stuff. I had a friend like that. A lovely lady with the biggest heart, she had gone through a lot of struggles - but the thing really overwhelming her was the state of her house. She had clutter and stuff everywhere, and no idea where to even begin. She also suffered tremendous dust allergies, and every time she decided to do something about it, she'd no sooner get started picking stuff up, than the dust would start off the allergies, and she'd end up in bed for 3 days, too sick to do anything. She finally got to a point where she was willing to do anything to be free - and I stepped in to help. I got her to sit in another room while I scooped up and roughly sorted everything in one room at a time - taking things to her in groups for her to decide what to keep and what not to. She was so ready to let go, she would just tell me to bin nearly everything. We kept her kids essential current clothes, favourite toys and books, and pretty much tossed everything else. Most of the games and DVDs went, with just a handful kept. Anything ripped, torn, stained or damaged was history. All the stuff stored in the garage for "one day" was tossed.

It took one week to work through her house. At the end of each day, I loaded donation items into my van and dropped them off at the Salvation Army. Meanwhile, we boxed or bagged up trash, and piled it outside. At the end of the week, we borrowed a large truck (I'm talking an industrial truck, not a pick-up) from my husband's employer and we took 2 truck loads, piled as high as we could get it, to the dump. As we got each room cleared, we arranged the remaining furniture, making up beds, setting the kept items out nicely. When the kids came home the day we finished the boy's room, they had been apprehensive, but were delighted to find they had SPACE and could enjoy their things - we had set up an art desk for the older boy, with all his supplies laid out nicely. Instead of blobbing on the couch watching the tv, the boys spend HOURS happily occupied in their now clean, nearly empty room. And the same thing happened when we got the girl's room finished too.

And best of all, with all that stuff gone, it was now easy to clean her house - and my friend began to do just that every day, never again allowing herself or her kids to just leave things lying around. She knew what it was like to live the other way - and she wanted freedom more!

Most notable was the dramatic improvements in the kid's mental, emotional, academic and social well being after we emptied the house and created physical space and freedom!

Stuff? Or freedom? I want freedom more!

On Wednesday I gave away another 41 items, some of which had come from decluttering my bedroom the day before. They included: 1 mirror on a stand, 1 basket, 2 sunhats, 1 letter older, 3 books, 6 DVDs, 7 videos, 10 CDs and 10 audio cassettes.

I also identified 47 items to sell - 8 videos, 1 book, 1 advent calendar and 37 readers, but I have a feeling most of these are going to end up in the give aways too.

I have family coming to stay from this weekend for 5 days, so I'm currently tidying up, including some basic decluttering as I go - but after they have left, I will go back around and make some deeper choices. I definitely want freedom more than all this stuff - even the "good stuff"!

I read in a book recently how freely giving things away does, among other things, build community. After one week of putting things out for people to freely take, I'm already seeing some examples of how that can happen. Various people (teens and adults) have made comments to my kids when they've seen them here and there: "What's with the free stuff outside your place?" or "It's so cool that your mum is giving things away - I got a really nice top and a good book!" and so on. I've had a number of people tell me "What a good idea." More people seem to be smiling at me. A few have thanked me. Now, I am not in any way doing this to seek glory or even good will for myself, but it is nice to think that the things I don't need can bring a little joy to other's lives.

As I'm sorting through things, I'm finding and releasing a lot of "good books" that I'm never going to get around to reading. But one I'm definitely keeping - in fact, if I had to pack to abandon my home in a hurry and could only take two books, they would be the Bible and this wee gem - is called "In Celebration of Simplicity: The Joy of Living Lightly" by Pen Wilcock. I can't tell you how many times I've read this book over, and yet every time I am encouraged and struck anew by some truth. In this book, Pen takes the making of bread as an analogy to living a life of deliberate, Biblical simplicity, and using each of the ingredients in a loaf of bread, talks about different aspects of the simple life. I'll come back to this book again in the coming weeks, but let me quote a short passage by way of introduction:

Hmmmm....joy....lifted burdens....spaciousness....a light heart. I could do with more of those, couldn't you?

The more I think about, learn about, and study the concept of "Simplicity" from a Biblical perspective, the more I see it as truly something imperative to living the Christian life. Jesus had essentially no possessions, and while we often excuse our own over-abundance by saying "Yes, but we have families and aren't called to itinerant ministry" I don't think that means we're supposed to get and hold on to so much stuff we're unable to minister right where we are!

Come on, be honest...how often have you avoided inviting someone over for a meal because you're ashamed of your chaos? Are you too "busy" trying to deal with your clutter to go play a game with your kids, make a meal for that new mother from church, or write a letter to an elderly friend or relative?

If Jesus speaks to your heart of a need, are you able to say "Here I am Lord - send me" or would your honest response be "Well, I'd love to help, Lord, but first I need to clean up the living room/unearth the bathroom/catch up on the laundry/find the bills so I can pay them..."??

In the immortal words of Jim Elliott, who gave his life to reach the Aucas: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

All this stuff we surround ourselves with - it's JUST STUFF. None of it has any real lasting value; most of it doesn't even have much present value! It can, however, hold us back from the things of eternal value.

Ready to let go? I am!

On Tuesday, I put out 20 more items -  8 items of clothing, 3 pairs of footwear, 5 mini-glasses, 1 book, 1 decorative bucket, 1 plastic container, and 1 molded wallhanging fountain thing that's been on the outside of our house since we moved in. Together with left overs from last week, they proved very popular - when I went to bring in the remainders at the end of the day, only 2 magazines, half a dozen plant pots and a couple of pairs of footwear remained!

I've identified a few more things for sale, but not advertised them yet, so will include them in tomorrow's total.

On Thursday I cleaned out my office, replacing our somewhat awkward computer desk with a corner unit I spotted outside the thrift store when dropping off a parcel at the couriers. It was a real find - I've been looking for the right desk for 5 years! Funny how when you start releasing stuff, the things you actually need seem to appear. PTL! Some neighbours, however, were sitting outside a nearby café, and when they saw me picking up the desk called out "I thought you were getting rid of stuff - not collecting more!" LOL Can't get away with anything in a small town!

As I cleared out the office, I put aside 32 items for giving away, including 3 various CD/DVD carry cases, 24 computer games, a bag of beads, a pottery mouse, a cross stitch kit, a devotional book, and a jar.

I also created a poster to add to the board outside, of 4 items for sale - a motorbike, a wardrobe, the old computer desk, and a popcorn maker. I added another 3 books to my bag of books to sell as well.

These things would have been put outside on Friday, but it rained all day long. On Saturday morning (today as I write) it was still raining. I checked the forecast - and it shows rain for the next week. On the one hand, I'm so pleased it's raining - we've been suffering a drought for the last three months. But at the same time, I want to get rid of this stuff. So I got my husband to help me move a small, heavy "shed" from the paddock to the top of the drive, so I can put things that would otherwise be rain damaged in it, and I went ahead and put out things on Saturday - something of an experiment, as weekend there are often a lot of kids at the skate park across the road; we didn't want them taking things and being stupid with them. It went well most of the day - until a certain group of teens did just that, so from now on I'll stick to putting things out on weekdays when school is in session.

Meanwhile on Friday I had sorted out another 266 items to give away - 236 plant pots plus 1 piece of fabric, 9 items of clothes, a rag rug, a bike helmet, 10 books, a picnic bag, 1 flexi tub, a potter's wheel, a chest of drawers, and a lidded wooden box. Later I added to it another 8 items - 5 pairs of shoes, another helmet, a tennis racket, and a decorative wooden wheelbarrow.

So totals from the first week: 488 items set out to give away, 78 items for sale. Considerably ahead of the initial goal for the week - even if one discounts the 236 plant pots. Hmmmm.....we really do have a lot of extra stuff we don't need!

I love books! I am a voracious reader, and so, for the most part, are my kids. There are so many good books out there - and homeschooling is the perfect excuse to collect a good share of them! But I've come to realise a few things over the years about books:

1. Unless you own a mansion with a huge library space (and two maids to dust it!), at some point, one has to set a limit as to how many books one will keep! And reasonably, the number of books should be limited to what sensibly fits in the space available to safely keep them. That means on shelves, not stacked all over furniture surfaces and the floor! I own 6, six foot tall bookcases (about 2 feet wide each), and decided some years ago to limit our book collection to what fits on those shelves.

2. But more than that, if one is going to allow room for new additions to the collection (inevitable in a book loving family), then one needs to regularly pare down the collection to LESS than comfortably fits in the space available, and have a rule that when new ones come and exceed the available space, some old ones have to go.

3. There are some really good books out there - and an incredible amount of junk! Be very selective!

4. Just because it's a "classic" doesn't mean you and your family will actually like it. And what good is a book you dislike so much you never finish reading it?? It's not that important. Let it go!

5. Reading tastes change over time, and with the ages of the kids. And that's healthy. Just because it used to be a family favourite, doesn't mean you need to keep it forever. Thinking you'll want to read them to your grandchildren one day? Set a limit and keep only a few really, truly enduring favourites. Say 12, or 20. No more! 

6. If you've read it, and it's not one of those books you're really excited about reading again, let it go! Let's be real - only very special (to us) fiction usually gets re-read. Non fiction needs even more selectivity - something that is a very useful reference to a favourite topic is worthwhile, if you use it. Something you think "might come in handy one day" isn't.

7. No matter how much you want to think otherwise, I promise you, you are NEVER going to read ALL those books to your kids you think you will, nor are the kids going to be interested in ALL the great books you've collected for them. And even if you do and they are, you can NEVER collect enough books to keep ahead of the reading appetite of a 10-20 yo! So stop trying. Get them a library card. Or maybe 3 (to different libraries).

8. In the end, I think the 80/20 rule applies very well to books - 20% (that's 2 out of every 10) books you own will provide 80% of the total value and enjoyment. The rest will provide very little. Or none at all. Now if you can identify that 20% and cut out most of the rest, you'll have a lot less clutter!

On Wednesday I worked on emptying some more boxes of books and stuff. I found 125 items to put in the give away box - including 9 folders, 1 scrapbook, 8 books, 1 birthday card, 7 magazines, 4 coasters, 1 bowl, 1 basket, 1 decorative tin, 1 heart-shaped container, 35 postcards, 30 holiday greeting cards, 25 plastic animals, and an armchair. Yes, I could count the postcards, greeting cards and plastic animals and just 3 items, but it's kind of fun to count them up and see just how many items I've giving away, don't you think?

Here's what today's road-side set up looked like.

Didn't take long for nearly everything to be snapped up.

I found and advertised another 55 books for sale too. It can get a little overwhelming with lots of book sales happening, so I won't list any more after these this week, so I can get them all sold and mailed off first.

On Tuesday, I started clearing out some stuff that's been waiting in my living room for me to deal with. I also emptied a couple of boxes that have been stacked in the hall. It didn't take long to find a bunch of stuff to give away. Tuesday's items total 37, including 1 bag of quilt batting, 1 small whiteboard, 1 devotional book, 1 camera case, 1 bookmark, 1 cutlery stand, 2 pieces of fabric, 1 lace mat, 1 scarf, 2 folders, 1 twin pack of new CFL bulbs (I accidentally bought screw in ones instead of bayonet), 1 pack of recipe cards and 23 books.

I also identified 21 books to sell, and by the time of writing this have sold 19 of the 24 books so far advertised for sale.

I've half-filled another box with recycling, and added more things to the trash bag.

Also removed from my house on Tuesday - 34 books returned to the library, and two items returned to a friend.

Things are starting to look less cluttered already!

So far, due to the first real rain we've had in 3 months, I haven't been able to put boxes out by the road, but if it clears up this morning, I will do so. I wonder how long it will take for things to go?