Decluttering

Only a few days to go before our flight to Bogotá and the house is slowly emptying of rubbish. We've got our 4 suitcases pretty much packed, although Elena needs to buy a bigger one. A big pile of "stuff" is waiting to go into the 30 sq feet of storage, including my wet-suit. I'm hoping I won't need it in Colombia. My brother is kindly looking after my bikes. I'll try to ship them out once I've seen the state of the roads around Bucaramanga.

I've done 10 trips to the dump lately, and all the guys working there know me. I've started to get the hang of which stuff goes in which skip, but at times, it gets challenging and you have to hope they don't see you sneaking stuff into the general waste. The charity shops have had shocking loads of books, CDs and plenty of clothes.

Freecycle has been both frustrating and useful. You offer things (for free) and many people respond. When you reply to one, they often don't bother responding. And then you need to get them to turn up on time! Still, when people do come, it's great to see things cleared.

Selling with Gumtree has likewise been hit and miss. Dining room table and bedroom dresser went within hours. Other things just aren't wanted.

Biggest headache has been selling the MR2. I put it through the MOT, I dropped the price, but I guess a high mileage sportscar is not in big demand when the roads are covered with snow.

Starting to get really excited about reaching Colombia now, not least for a break from moving 13 years of accumulated junk. I hope the decluttering will prove cathartic. I'm sure many other people would benefit.