Day one of the big declutter

I am exhausted!! I started my mammoth chore of decluttering the kitchen today. And my goodness it was a mammoth chore too! My utility area is the space that not only houses the washing

machine but also houses all my craft supplies. These consist of clay, clay tools, acrylic paint, water colour paint, chalk pastels, oil pastels, paint brushes, canvases, art paper, tiles, jewellery making supplies, beads, shells, pebbles, glue, tape, felt, thread, wool, etc etc etc. I tried oh so hard to get rid of the stuff I haven't used for ages but I'm so so rubbish at getting rid of things. I'm such a hoarder and it pains me to throw things away. Especially craft things!

Anyway, the space above the washing machine did look like this (shameful photo):

Gosh it looks awful.

Now it looks like this:

Those two boxes need sorting still but at least I can now see what's there.

I forgot to take before pictures of the main kitchen but here are the after pictures.

It really was a tough job. I emptied out cupboards and cleaned the shelves. Threw away out of date flour that had been "saved" to make play dough with. Struggled to decide what needed to go and what needed to stay. And then I sat on the floor and sobbed. I sobbed because I find de- cluttering really hard. I want a lovely minimal simple house but I really struggle with throwing away things that I "might" need or which have sentimental value. So what I did today was a huge achievement. I managed to get two archive boxes of stuff to sell at the next boot fair and THREE bags of rubbish!! Three!! So, although the kitchen is not yet finished... It is much much better than it was and I am now feeling OK to carry on.