Making space

We have decided that this is the year that we have a big clear out and try to get rid of as much of the stuff that we have been hoarding over the years as we can. As chief hoarder, I am making a start in my room.

 
Magazines
For several years I had an obsession with buying magazines. Any new interest I took up, I went out and bought the relevant magazine/s  - family history, sewing, crafts, textile arts, quilting, photography, cooking, bird watching and on . . .
 
I got a lot of enjoyment out of reading the magazines and learnt a lot. The problem was – I could not throw them away. I felt the need to keep the magazines, just in case I needed an article again. And being organised by nature I also had to keep every copy in a file, in order and carefully labelled, so I would know where to find them. But of course I rarely did find the same article again and the sets of magazines just sat on the shelves looking very useful, but in actual fact being totally useless.
 
Eventually a year or so ago, I stopped buying magazines. (One reason being that I hate going into WH Smiths – an awful shop.) I set up subscriptions for the couple of magazines that I really wanted and stopped buying them. But what to do with the collection. They just stayed put.
 
Today I cleared them out and what a relief. Empty shelves and less clutter. It’s a good start.