Hello special people and welcome to my forty-first blog!

A few weeks ago, I started clearing out my cupboards, my clothing ones, that is. Anyone who knows me relatively well will know that I love (or perhaps used to) retail therapy. I have always been a bargain hunter/sale sort of girl. So, sadly over the years, I have never bought the best quality clothing. For me, it has always been about quantity. Biannually, for many years, I would hit the Woolies sale. I would spend about five thousand rand, be completely over the moon, armed with plastic bags (that was then) and return home. I would phone Rich and gush that I had just saved him so much money. Every time, his patient reply would be, “But Hayles you have spent x amount, so you have not saved us anything.” This flummoxed me for years and years, and as you all know I am a very intelligent girl. It is only fairly recently that I understood what he meant.  Needless to say, I am now quite circumspect at sales, if I go to them at all. Some positive steps!

My point is that I have always struggled with moderation. That M word again, remember a previous blog, and this has impacted my life in a myriad of ways, over and over again. The fourteen slices of bread eaten whilst at varsity in res after a 3 course (res style) meal, my almost inability not to finish a whole bar of chocolate or packet of sweets or bag of chips. It has not always been about food, though. My penchant for the odd pair or dozen or 30 pairs of jeans. My love of bubbles, but not just a glass. The 36 chicken kebabs that I ask the boys to cook on the braai to feed our family of 5, as well as a large pack of wors (barbeque sausage). The many pairs of poor quality shoes in my shoe cupboard.   The trillions of hand and body creams that clog my bathroom cupboard. The 4 pairs of True Religion jeans (they were the ones to buy a while ago) that I bought at the outlets in The States back when we could travel. I have also never been an organized person in my personal home life, and my untidy draws, closet, bathroom cupboard bear testimony to this. In fact, I am frikking untidy. I do not put lids back on properly and my many foundation-stained handbags are legendary.

This struggle has improved more than exponentially over the years and for this, I have my favourite person to thank (do not tell him). He is the one that buys quality stuff, he is organized, and his cupboard is tidy, mostly. He has shoes that he bought more than 10 years ago, and they look like new. His suits are impeccable and his golf clothing too. So, he has taught me, leading by example. He quickly realized that this was the only way to manage this aspect of my personality.

Anyway, returning to the cupboard cleaning. I filled a few huge bags with clothing that I had decided to throw out, not because it did not fit, but because I had not worn them for a good long while and I did not need them. It is actually quite disgusting how much stuff I have, really. I gave them to Helen, my housekeeper to give to her family who are really struggling financially over this time.

How could I improve all this? Some reading and research later, and I have some ideas.

Physical decluttering

1. I am trying to take a few minutes a day to work on one area of the house and to declutter it, for example, my make-up draw. I believe that this will become a habit and part of my daily or alternate daily routine. Gotta be realistic here, guys!
2. With my pile of paperwork, I am starting at the top and finding a place for it, and really trying to not pu it back on the pile.
3. I have started asking myself a couple of questions when I am going through stuff. Do I really need this? (a hard one for me as I have always said “but I want it” and then kept it or bought it, see previous blog) Do I really love it? (also, difficult, as I love so much, but now I am starting to think, well perhaps someone else would love it and use it more). If the answers are no, then the item gets tossed or hopefully given away.
4. I try now to find a place or home for things and to put things neatly back in their place Flip this is not an easy one for me.
5. I read that one should find an hour to declutter as many things as one can, and then to count how many things you have binned or found a proper place for. I really hope to find an hour to do this soon
6. I am employing delay tactics. If I want to buy something, I sit on it for a while and see whether my passion for said item wanes. A stunning top I have seen or a dress that I would love. I am hoping this will work.
7. I struggle to toss things that have sentimental value, my Dad’s old sweatshirt, Muz’s cardigan, that tee bought in Monaco, so what I do is to sit with the item and remember, and if after this I still want the item, I keep it. Otherwise, I give it away. Quite a deep one for me.
8. I am trying to make a tiny bit of tidying part of my daily routine.
9. I am also not concerning myself with perfection, just trying to simplify things. My kitchen is less cluttered, and this makes food prep so much easier. Such a big step in the right direction for me. It is and will be an ongoing journey. I really want to, and need to, stay consistent.
10. I am also going to ask my boys to help me if I really am undecided about giving something away. They are definitely a lot more ruthless than I and certainly more dispassionate.

My mental  cluttering

1. Subsequent to my Covid story, I now need to make a list of what is important to me in every aspect of my life and to declutter the rest. It is about being true to myself and my family. I am also investigating a planning system that works specifically for me. Not a walk in the park for me.
2. I am going to be ruthless about saying no to new commitments and seeing requests as potential commitments. I need to guard my time. I will decide whether something really brings me joy and value, and if it does and is worthy of my time, I will do it.
3. My digital life also needs to be decluttered. Emails, social networks, online reading, and watching. They are important for my nutrition business and website and my brand, but I definitely need to filter and prioritize them.
4. I absolutely love people and socializing, back before the rinderpest (I mean Covid), and am not sure whether it will ever be as it was before. What we need to do is not to go out or entertain four times on a weekend. It is so much fun but is exhausting and eventually will not serve us. This also means I can have more to declutter.
5. I also need to keep looking at my daily routine and tweak it to maximize my time, allowing that time for self-care, rest, and relaxation. My business life is getting busier and busier and I need to be super organized with my daily routine maximizing every minute, but still allowing myself “Me Time”.
6. The clearing and decluttering of my mind when I wake up in the middle of the night or the early hours of the morning is a work that is definitely progressing. I now seem to be able to get back to sleep more often and that is definitely a step in the right direction.
7. On an ongoing basis, I will continue on my journey of eating with intent in a simple and decluttered manner. I am really pleased with my progress. My recent wakeup call has been such a great lesson learned. I only have this one body and this one life here on earth and I plan to fuel this body in the best possible way that I can.
8. As I have mentioned before I have partnered with a nutrition supplements company and am already feeling the benefits of the whole-food nutrition supplementation that I am putting into my body. This has also meant that I have tossed out all the old vitamins and minerals that were clogging up my bathroom cupboard – decluttering that space. That felt really good. I now have the correct supplements to take every day and it feels so organized.
9. I also believe that goal setting is the most important aspect of all improvement and personal development plans. The decluttering and organizing of my mind is paramount and key to all fulfilment and achievement. I know my whys, but they need to be properly

I wish I could say that my cupboard is empty and totally tidy now, I wish I could say that I only have ten pairs of jeans in my cupboard. I cannot.  I cannot. I wish I could say that my diary is organized to the last minute. I cannot.  I wish I could say that I am sleeping right through the night and that I do not waken in the middle of the night worrying about how I will fit everything I have to do in my day. I cannot. There are still many areas of my life where there is definite excess and fantastic clutter and lack of organization. What I can say with sincerity and utter honesty, is that I am taking many baby steps in the direction of decluttering my life. i am starting to enjoy having more organization in my life. as they say in the classics, “Slowly, slowly. catch a monkey.” I am excited and it will be a great journey. Watch this space! Look forward to hearing about your decluttering!

Tip number forty

Whatever you do, always try to do your best, be your best, live in the moment, and enjoy as many moments of your day as possible.