There's alot of it about -further variatons on a theme.

Hardly was the virtual ink dry on yesterday's musings on my sad failure to declutter, than the Friday Five popped up at RevGals...on the self same topic. Since I then spent the rest of my day off trying to declutter picture files on the computer, I'm coming in late, as part of my sermon-evasion-process.

Sally wrote
Making the most of our resources is important, I have been challenged this week by the amount of stuff we accumulate, I'd love to live a simpler lifestyle, it would be good for me, and for the environment I think...

With that in mind I bring you this Friday 5;

1. Are you a hoarder or a minimalist?
I'm a kind of accidentail hoarder. Hard put to it to say why or how much of my junk appeared, with no particular yearning to keep any of it - but there sure is alot of it about.

2. Name one important object ( could be an heirloom) that you will never part with.
Well, you know,that's a real struggle...When the floods were rising, Hattie Gandhi lovingly moved all her musical instruments upstairs, so that they had a better chance of survival if the crunch came - but I honestly couldn't think of anything that I cared about that much. I have a rather lovely carved Indian box, with a "secret" lock - in which I keep things to encourage me on a rainy day - but that's quite a new arrival in my life, and though it represents some special things and people, I'm not actually that attached. I think, books apart, it could all go without too much distress - perhaps a ring or two of my mother's, and the silver bangle that came from Bangalore...I don't know, honestly.

3. What is the oldest item in your closet? Does it still fit???
Hah...There is a midnight blue evening dress from Laura Ashley that was new for my 21st birthday party - a couple of years ago now. Not the sort of garment I need every day for some reason, so I've no idea if it actually fits (though I fear its unlikely) - and only worth keeping if HG might want to wear it. Note to self: ask her, next time she's home.


4.Yard sales- love 'em or hate 'em ?
They aren't quite so much part of life in the UK - but I obtained most of my children's toys at the toddler, pre-school age from NCT Jumble Sales - so I guess that means that, where there's a need, I'm ready to leap in and rummage with the best of them.

5. Name a recycling habit you really want to get into.
This will sound smug because we're actually pretty good at this. Cheltenham has doorstep collections of paper, glass and tin cans, while we can recycle clothes,cardboard and plastic at assorted local centres.We compost madly. I wish someone would come up with a way to recycle those polystyrene trays that seem to be an essential feature of so much supermarket packaging - it's nearly all unwanted packaging that ends up in our bin. Why do they have to do it? Surely they see it's just making existing problems worse for the world.

Bonus...I realise that, in all my recycling, I'm completely ignoring the question of books. I find these so hard to part with. Even the rubbishy read-once paperbacks might be just the thing if I'm ever stuck in bed with flu...and all the shiny titles I buy for work, once read need to be there as reference books, don't they? When we moved to Privet Drive I was hugely brave and sent 14 boxes of books to fresh woods and pastures new - but I suspect that I've amply compensated for their loss in the last 3 years. Now all I have to do is find time to actually read the new acquisitions that gaze at me reproachfully from most flat surfaces around the study. They aren't allowed to settle on a shelf till they've been read, you see - so if you don't hear from me again, it may be that the leaning tower has finally engulfed me.
Should I seek help?