Presence not presents.

One part of my life which hasn't worked over the last 3 years is mess and clutter.
I am a bit of a hoarder by nature and I am pretty sentimental about keeping stuff from years past.
But it got out of hand.
With 6 people now living in the same house, there are heaps of 'stuff'. Everywhere.
As a family, we don't have a lot of money. We live in a nice house, but we're cash poor. So how come we have so much stuff??
Clothes drip off the banisters and are discarded on the sofas. There are socks thrown haphazardly into the corners of rooms. Shoes clog the hallway. Each member of the family seems to own at least 4 coats. That's 24 coats!!

How has this happened?

Some of it is frivolous purchasing. Admittedly I am suckered in to the beautiful bargains I find at the NCT sale twice a year. I have lots of clothes from my pre baby days that I love and am determined to fit back into at some point.

Some of it is presents. We have been gifted with my beautiful items. But most of the time, gifts get repeated. Which means lots of the bags, the scarves, the purses and the hats. I don't mean to appear ungrateful, for I am very thankful for all the gifts we have received over the years. But I sometimes wonder whether it's presence we really need and not presents.

My house is busy. With teenagers and toddlers it gets loud and frenetic. And as a reflection of this, I prefer to live in a clean home. I find that balances the atmosphere. There is more peace.
I like it when all my things are nicely organised. Each sock has it's friend. Every jigsaw has it's puzzle pieces.
It isn't like this and I am tired of spending my life trying to get it that way. I feel I deserve more down time now and still live in a house where there is cleanliness and a certain order.

As we are currently leaving our beautiful home and moving to European pastures, albeit for only a brief visit and as I try to avoid coercive parenting, I thought one avenue would be to purge. We've had car loads go to the charity shops and car boot sales.

My aim is to have absolute minimality in the caravan. To own but only the basics. And to return to simple

Wish me luck!

4 weeks to go

Today I put a deposit on a caravan. I am delighted. It has taken us almost a year of research and searching to find it and it is perfect. We deliberated between a campervan and a caravan for a long while and settled on a caravan. Here's why:
We can't afford a campervan.
Oh, and we think we'll have more freedom and space in a caravan.
The layout was obviously important. We wanted an area of the 'van to be dedicated to the children. They have a bunk bed with a table and chairs and most importantly for them a door.
Most importantly for me is a shower with a door.
That and our 6 ft by 6 ft bed for me, Drew and the babies.
We pick it up on Sept 1st and I am very excited.

We are packing (I am packing) furiously. We move out in 10 days.