Cleaning up and keeping it clean

Has it been that long since I've last visited my blog? I can't believe my last entry was December last year. And it's now March!

So apologies to you, my dear neglected blog. I promise to be more faithful. (Or at least, I'll try...!)

Anyway, a lot has happened in between the last blog entry and this one. For one thing, the family is back at home. As in THE homeland. To make the long story short, hubby was asked to service some local clients, and so we all went back en masse and said goodbye to Lah Lah Land, if you catch my drift.

How come I wasn't this happy when I was packing?!

It was a stressful few weeks leading up to the big move. It was a happy thought that we were going back home, but then again, it's another cross-country move...and after I took a good look at all the odds and ends we've accumulated in the past couple of years staying abroad, well, suffice it to say that I got tired just trying to organise everything in my head. And it was even more stressful to try to fit in the last few years' worth of your life in about seven super-sized freight boxes. No wonder expats tend to give away really good stuff before they move back home. I totally dig that now.

So the next phase after packing everything is...unpacking. That was even more dreadful. After cramming as much stuff as we could into the boxes - about 60% of which is comprised of my sons TOYS (dear Lord, does he really have that much???) - I had to personally sift through them and put them back in our old house. Which, by the way, holds most of the stuff we left behind last 2008. Two household's worth of stuff to cram back into one home. And as if to add insult to injury, we decided that now would be a good time to renovate the house, after portions of it fell into [slight] disrepair.

Holy effing cow. I'm getting tired again just recalling the details.

I ended up packing most of our old stuff into large boxes. That included usable clothes, toys, magazines, DVDs/VCDs, books, etcetera, ad infinitum. Some I gave away to our carpenters (especially the baby stuff like cribs - one of them had a toddler who could still use it). Some of them I gave away to my nanny (so sometimes I have to do a double take when she comes in because she dresses like me at times, hahaha). The rest, I plan to donate to charity, because majority of them are really in good condition. I just don't have the patience space to keep them now. So if anyone wants to organise a garage sale or is planning to donate to some charity, do let me know. I am very interested.

Today, I see the term "spring cleaning" in a whole new light. Because after this very stressing move, I cannot STRESS enough how important it is to look through your things at least twice a year.

So now, I have a new resolution. I vow to go through the family's stuff every so often and dispose of the things that just collect dust. You really have no idea how much usable space you have until you take out the stuff that's just sitting there. (You know what I'm talking about...you know that bag that's staring at you from the back of your wardrobe, waiting for the next time you feel like using it? Yeah, that's the one.)

When was the last time you've peeked in your wardrobe? I beg you, please, declutter. It's for your own sanity.

*Photos courtesy of Getty Images.