Cleaning, Rearranging, Throwing Away

[poliphilo]

I cleared out one of the sheds. Then I filled it again- only with different stuff. In between the emptying and the refilling I took its picture. This rough stone floor is 100 years old.



It's an emotional business, having a spring-clean; you keep stumbling over reminders of the past. The things you're being reminded of may have been jolly or not jolly, but either way they're long gone and irrecoverable and therefore make you sad. For instance I found a scrapbook I didn't know I had (I thought Joe had it) full of pictures of the kids at all ages. I got horribly sentimental over that.

My collection of books by G.K Chesterton had been dispersed all over the house. It's a side effect- and a small triumph- of the spring-clean that they're all now back together again. I bought them thirty years ago- one by one from second-hand dealers- and though I later got rid of hundreds of books when money was tight I always held onto these.  Time was when I was an acknowledged expert and used to write articles for The Chesterton Review. 

There's lots still to do, and the house looks worse than it did yesterday, but now we've started we'll finish. You know what?  In a funny sort of way I'm enjoying myself.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I know that melancholy brought on by spring cleaning only too well. Spring cleaning is hard!

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

I share your pain and - occasional moments of nostalgia - as I'm going through a similar process myself.

[aellia.livejournal.com]

You are braver than me. I still have rockets made from toilet rolls from over 30 years ago and all the other memories of childhood. I'll let you know when I start on my clear out
Hugs
x

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Yes. I've been having constant sentimental moments because of going through my mother-in-laws photos which we inherited when she passed away in September.

Is that red brick dust on the floor and wall of the shed?

Cleaning up and disposing of excess stuff is something I find very satisfying...once I can motivate myself to start.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's why we resist it.

But it feels good afterwards.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Nostalgia is bad. I try to avoid it as much as possible. The thing is to live the life you're living now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I find anything to do with the kids hard to get rid of. :)

*returns hug*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I went through my mothers photo collection a year or two back and annotated everything. I want the next generation to know who all these people are.

Yes, that's brick dust.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

"In a funny sort of way I'm enjoying myself." I call that the "boomerang effect. You start out doing a job you loathe, then it gets interesting, and finally as you start to see results it becomes enjoyable. Like you, I re-consolidate sets during the spring clean, and sometimes uncover articles that have been missing since shortly after the last one.

spring clean

[(Anonymous)]

I agree about your 1st para. I am very sentimental and nostalgic about photographs, artworks and things made by my children. I find it hard to throw anything away and if I start a 'life laundry' thing I end up sitting on the floor reading old poems or textbooks of the kids.
Should the spring clean be re-named the winter clean, though?
Jenny

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's perhaps the best thing about spring cleaning- having lost or forgotten things turn up.

Re: spring clean

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's an Autumn-clean. The trees are shedding and so are we. :)