Looking after ourselves
Reporting in @Dimity @pinklollipop15 @HenryX with the latest inroads.
Oh, Dimity, going through files like that can be so heartwrenching, so many thoughts related to our sense of personal value around revisiting those times, which of course happens: the memories just awaken in response to sighting the things from our pasts.
50% - that's really well done, because I can imagine the amount of paperwork you might have. I love books, so having to move books on (sounds better to me than saying 'get rid of') is always a sad thing, no matter how important it is to get it done. The speed with which study books go out of date is increasing isn't it.
You've taken very commendable steps toward reaching your goals. Well done! I hope you can devise a way to find resolution or closure with those things you're grieving. 
Thank you for your kind words too about my photo losses, it is difficult, but I think I've come to a point of acceptance with it, rather than the enormity of the emotional pain I used to feel at having lost the reminders.
To answer your question about what I'm going to tackle next, I had no idea, and I was about to write a response to you much earlier today to say that. then I had to put the washing away and I decided right there and then that the wardrobe shelves needed sorting! So that became the next step.
I'd done the Marie Kondo thing with the wardrobe over a year ago, but it really did need a tidy up and a removal of things no longer 'sparking joy' or even useful to me. I finally tossed the footwear that is not good, or safe for me to wear anymore, there were a few tears over that because with the foot problems I have, I buy several pairs at once when I find something that works, and wear my shoes for years. They become friends almost. I had hoped that the health issues I'd experienced after falling a few years ago would dissipate, but they have not, and with the spinal stenosis, the importance of supportive footwear has been made clear to me. Mind you, I have worn mostly flat shoes for most of my life, so heels are not the issue, just pretty sandals and shoes I enjoyed wearing.
While I was at it, I made a couple of drawstring bags to hold the newer shoes and to keep them protected whilst in the wardrobe. A tip I saw on a Marie K series.
I haven't finished in there yet, but it's a good start, and I tidied it all up before walking away for tonight, so I can still sleep with out the pressure of having to do something instead of sleeping.
The plan right now is to continue with the wardrobe tomorrow. But, I have lemons in the fridge that I might just have to make into Salt Preseved Lemons because the last jar I made is almost used now, or I might decide to make up some Lemon Butter, or even Passionfruit Butter with the frozen passionfruit juice (minus seeds) I have from last season. My mind is sometimes really, really unpredictable about what ideas it's gonna have from one day to the next. When I was at Uni, (mature aged single parent with school kids) I had to timetable every minute in an effort to make sure things got done, now I make lists of things I want to do, and still don't always keep to it.
It might be my minds' way of keeping me interested in life.
Dimity, what did you choose to work on since your last post? or did you rest and recover? So sorry your Pink Grapefruit preserves aren't setting, I've been having troubles with some jams too and I'm pretty sure there's been some changes with the way sugar is refined or something that has an impact on cooking results. I can't get toffee to, well, toffee-fy!
I have some JamSetta on hand in case jam making becomes difficult, and had to resort to using much more of it than usual with my last lots of apricot and strawberry jams. It's troublesome because sugar is used for it's preservative properties. It's a long time since I had a pink grapefruit, hope you can still enjoy them somehow.
I hope whatever plans you, and those reading along, have in mind are coming to fruition in whatever ways you choose to make that happen.
Back again 
@Dimity Thank you for your suggestions about shoes, I will look into that when the next need for footwear arises. I haven't made rice pudding for the longest time, so didn't really think about the homogenisation of milk being an issue! I have something of an aversion to it since it was an unappetising all too regular food throughout childhood. We were much poorer than I ever truly understood until I reached adulthood. There was little to do with extended family, they lived interstate, so I learned from surrogate mothers along the way, and from reading.
The abandoned for whatever reason, project items, be they paperwork, fabric work, whatever, are some of the most emotionally affecting items to make decisions about, aren't they. We must do our best, I think, to separate what we see as our personal values, achievements, failures, or expectations, from the item, so an assessment of the item can be made with our current understanding of our selves and where we are in life, and where we might be going to be travelling forward to, also.
I've been gradually shifting the sewing/ craft/ teaching books from the book shelf to the garage box where I can decide on their future in a few weeks or so. The first decision was whether to keep them or not, and although they are still of value to me, they will not ever be used by me again, so keeping them would be contradictory to the current decluttering plan. Recently, I took on a challenge to make some baby clothes for a charity requesting them, so took back some books, then, the charity project fell through, so now I need to return them to the garage. Both funny and sad at the same time.
I sorted some of my jewellery last night, and I was surprised at how detached I was from some of the pieces. Some still sparked that joy, and I'll keep those pieces, the others I will try to find new owners for. Some bits went straight into the bin. It's a job I've been putting off for too long.
The clothing sorting went well too, I was able to remove the garments that no longer fit me and put them into a sewing recycle pile - I'll endeavour to use the fabrics and make a wearable garment, maybe a dress or a nightie or 2. The winter coat I have loved for so long, but has not fitted for too many years, but I could not relinquish due to memories attached, has gone into a charity pile along with some other garments that I won't bother to upcycle 'cos I don't like the fabric anymore.
Dimity, your garden sounds delightful. Flowering plants are so uplifting, I hope you're getting lots of joyous moments from seeing your cymbidiums and dendrobiums in flower - such beautiful blooms (I looked them up to be sure I knew what they were given my memory isn't what it once was.) I miss my garden delights, but not the work it once was. The fuschia bulbs I have in a pot bloom once a year, this year I only got 3 flower stems from them sadly, but the perfume is glorious. I do get to use the parsley and leaves from my bay tree in cooking though. With the change in weather, the chillies are looking like they may produce also.
Every item assessed and every decision made is another step on that pathway toward your goal. Working at a coffee table sounds really effective and my back is wishing I had not decided to clean the bathroom today! It starts with my eye catching 'just one thing' and goes from there. There's still a shelf in the wardrobe I will have to attack in the coming days too.
I trust your projects are moving forward in their own ways @pinklollipop15 @HenryX and anyone else reading along.
The long term goals of decluttering sometimes seem a bit insurmountabl @Dimity . Sometimes they feel so overwhelming. Sometimes sad and sometimes uplifting. The whole process is an intricate tapestry of interconnected physical, spiritual, emotional, financial, and mental experiences, feelings, hopes, dreams and realisations.
I don't clean and tidy because I like to do it, I really dislike doing it, but I do like the sensation of a clean, tidy space to live in. There is a reason I put in the effort and that is because if I let myself become lax and don't do the things that I know need to be done, and more time passes and I don't get it done, the untidiness becomes compounded.
That ongoing compounded untidiness or clutter, then becomes a major imposition on me, taking up more time and effort to do than it would have taken had I done the small things in the first place.
The gathering or collection of items over time, things I might need or use is a separate matter from the 'do what needs to be done when it needs to be done' sort of idea.
This past week I have sorted storage spaces, culled the no longer relevant to my life, and decluttered, dusted, tidied, and cleaned. Then I boxed the items for moving on, and binned those not good enough to reuse.
I still have a significant amount of my sewing to contend with though, but that will be an ongoing situation as I find storage containers for various things and make up the fabrics into new clothes (having culled my wardrobe so extensively, there's not much left in there!).
I'm very tired, exhausted in fact, but it's a good feeling to have gotten this far. I was forced to adapt to physically doing less than I would prefer to do due to my spine and injuries, to get the best results from my life, I needed to accept that my physical prowess was not, and never will be again, what it used to be. That was difficult, and that assessment, combined with smaller spaces for living in, has evoked a need for me to be more mindful of what brings me any spark of upliftment - thus does my decluttering journey continue.
Good fortune to those of you who are forging your own paths whatever they may be, and where ever they may lead you.
