Rain Stopped Play once again this week on the veg plot and grazing for the cattle. Today is actually dry for a change. But there is no way we can let them out or even dig over the plot. It's been like this since September and the next fifteen days forecast is for more rain.
So we decided to do some de-cluttering this week. The front room (Computer room) is full of boxes of books. Some we will keep and the rest can go to a charity shop or a car boot sale to raise some money for holiday to Portugal later this year. This year we are planning on visiting Lisbon and the Silver Coast instead of the Algarve which we have visited twice.
One day we plan to live there very soon. Seriously. We have had enough of the British and Irish weather. We want a place in the sun. A smallholding within walking distance of a village and with public transport and a pub or ten. Oh to have a social life rather than living like a hermit. Maybe even get to see some live music.
That's another thing I have been doing this week. Learning myself how to speak Portuguese. I discovered a wonderful word this week: Cerveja. Yes it's Portuguese for beer! Anybody else de-cluttering at the moment? I can't believe how much stuff we keep that we never use.
That's me sat typing this blog wearing my striped jumper that my brother gave me for Christmas. I bought him a book about collecting antiques and their value. Can't you tell we are both in our Fifties?
Here's an appropriate song for my de-cluttering:
Good old Fleetwood Mac. I love Stevie Nicks.
So we decided to do some de-cluttering this week. The front room (Computer room) is full of boxes of books. Some we will keep and the rest can go to a charity shop or a car boot sale to raise some money for holiday to Portugal later this year. This year we are planning on visiting Lisbon and the Silver Coast instead of the Algarve which we have visited twice.
One day we plan to live there very soon. Seriously. We have had enough of the British and Irish weather. We want a place in the sun. A smallholding within walking distance of a village and with public transport and a pub or ten. Oh to have a social life rather than living like a hermit. Maybe even get to see some live music.
That's another thing I have been doing this week. Learning myself how to speak Portuguese. I discovered a wonderful word this week: Cerveja. Yes it's Portuguese for beer! Anybody else de-cluttering at the moment? I can't believe how much stuff we keep that we never use.
Here's an appropriate song for my de-cluttering:
Good old Fleetwood Mac. I love Stevie Nicks.
I have some friends who moved to portugal a few years ago and the main thing they stressed was you have to learn the language otherwise you become isolated from the community, they found the locals were very helpful and keen to help them learn, I think you have made a good start, we had a major de-clutter when packing to move there are a few boxes in the barn that need going through things of no use to use here, I dont tend to collect nick nacks so no danger of me filling the house with them, :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Dawn,
ReplyDeleteWhere about's in Portugal have your friends moved to? Been looking at a site called: Pure Portugal on the Internet. We have read that it's thirty percent cheaper than Ireland and the UK and most importantly, you are blessed with gorgeous weather. I am trying to learn Portuguese but it's very hard to remember at my age or am I just numb? Don't answer that? Our houses are full nick nacks. Must do some selling or donations to charity shops - big time. Thanks for the advice.
Dave, I spend half my time de-cluttering and the rest of my time cluttering. I shall put your music on and declut
ReplyDeleteHi Gwil. We are human wombles. If there's a car boot sale or antiques fair or a book shop or a flea market. You won't see us for dust. At least with You Tube we don't need to collect records no more. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDave, I go to junk sales rebuy my old stuff, mainly books. Sad ain't the word for it. Moth eaten old foggie, that's me.
DeleteWe are addicted to car boot sales Gwil. I think we must have been Jackdaws in a previous life. Never bought back anything, yet! Thanks Gwil.
DeleteWe decluttered when we came here, and then during the years of storage much of what we did bring with us became damaged when boxes leaked. Not to worry, we seem to have filled the house back up again, but with equipment rather than unnessary stuff. Hope you achieve your dreams of living abroad. But you will be living in a different culture, so it will not be exactly the same as living in the UK, that is what we have found out. It took us a while to adjust, but we love the quiet country life, and now have a better social life than ever we had in the UK.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts on moving abroad Vera. It will be great fun and something to do filling up a new house with stuff we collect on our travels.
DeleteI have read that forty percent of people who move to the countryside, go back to the towns. Rural isolation is not good for the mind or soul. Especially if you have no basic amenities like a shop , community centre, church or a pub.. Thanks!
I always like stevie nicks' fringe
ReplyDeleteYeah it's a good one John. Did you ever see Fleetwood Mac play live?
DeleteAll I know is, cheva de porte is key( I cant spell that...), other than hello, good morning, good day, good evening I cant speak any more. there is a drink called ginja (pronouced ginger) that is made of cherries. Blows my head off and gives me terrible hang over. I love the food there especially all of the sardines and peri peri chicken cooked on BBQ's in the restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI love getting rid of stuff less to dust.
When people complain that they need to move house the first thing I say is get rid of ass much as possible. This normally happens after they come back from holiday. If they want to live like their hotel room, the answer is get rid of pretty much everything. Lots of stuff is actually like a visual headache for me. Sell everything I say! lol
Thanks for that Sol. I think the older you get the more you need sunshine to cheer you up and to take away the aches and pains.
DeleteVisual head ache is a good description of all the clutter we collect, especially books.
I am sure we could all sell something to raise some money for our future plans. Thanks!
***I meant AS not ASS lol sorry!!!***
ReplyDeleteYou must have quite a collection of books if you can finance a holiday from their sale. When I moved from the big house my book sale helped pay for the movers. Two houses later, I'm back to not having enough shelf space. It's a mania. Good luck with the clearance!
ReplyDeleteMy surplus books won't fund our holiday Shawn. We will hopefully sell some cattle to finance the trip, we usuallly do.
ReplyDeleteI never understand why I keep books that I will probably never finish reading or even read again. Think it's time to go through the boxes I have saved. Thanks!
I've been de-cluttering the house, but it is the outbuildings that REALLY need sorting out. I asked David what would happen when we couldn't get through the doors (soon) and he replied he would probably have to build another shed! No hope for him I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteGill
Men can not live by shed alone. I know a Dave who collects sheds and shipping containers. Somebody offered us an old bus the other week. Imagine that for a greenhouse. No hope for us either. Thanks FID.
DeleteI've been decluttering the workshop but need to do the house as well. With three kids we've accumulated so much stuff.
ReplyDeleteHi Kev. Been thinking about your lambing shed. What about a shipping container? Charity shops are a great way of de-cluttering kids and our stuff.
DeleteI'm decluttering too it's an ongoing task in my house at the moment. If I can declutter I can then decorate in spring.
ReplyDeleteHi Dawn.
DeleteIt also makes me re-paint rooms and have a good tidy up and get through winter. Good luck with the decorating in spring.
I de cluttered in a big way 3 years ago. I try to keep purchases to a minimum and not build it up again. I like the freedom that it brought with it. I love that fleet wood Mac album.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel. I love rummaging around flea markets and car boot sales. Managed to not go to a carboot sale yesterday. Fleetwood Mac were/are great. Did you ever get to see them?
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ReplyDeleteSorry don't know what happened there. I meant to say that I'm de cluttering as we're thinking of moving too. This relentless rain's enough to make anyone up sticks and go where there's a bit of sun. ;-)
DeleteP.s I love Stevie Nicks too.
DeleteHave you been watching 'Bargain Loving Brits In The Sun' on Channel 5 Deb? We also religiously watch 'A Place In The Sun' on Channel 4. Good weather means a lot, especially if you live in the countryside. Here's to a great summer where ever we are. Thanks!
DeleteWe can't get Channel 5 on Sky Dave, but we do watch similar programmes on the other channels.
ReplyDeleteThe sun's been out all afternoon here, hooray!
You can get Channel 5 and regional ITV and BBC channels if you look up the frequency number on the Internet Deb. I think you go into Services on your Sky remote and put in the number. Any tv engineer will know the numbers for the channels.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, but we get the ITV's on 'other channels' but not channel 5 for some reason.
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