Thanks for the tips - I've prioritized some of the bath products in order to try and get through them and in actual fact 'clearing out' the make up was one of the things I found easiest - the biggest concern when I was doing that was that I was going to throw so much out I had none left - apart from nail varnish, I don't wear 'real' make up often at all. Clothes weren't too hard to thin down on either - I started with the 'does it fit?' and anything that didn't and I stood little chance of getting back into any time soon, went straight in a bag. On the second pass, I asked, 'Do I like how it looks on?' and if the answer was no, it went in a bag. There are still a few things that I haven't worn in forever, but if the right occasion came along I'd like to have them on hand, so for now at least I'm keeping them.


They're good suggestions for the gifts too, some of which I've sort of put in place already. I think part of my problem with the guilt is that I feel like I'm being 'wasteful' by not using/keeping/wearing things out but I just need to face up to how things are and if I don't want my life cluttered then I have to put aside the 'wasteful' guilt feelings and get rid of things that aren't of use.

Although books are an issue in the sense of just how many I've got, I'm actually fairly content with my current way of dealing with it - I went through and found all the ones I had been given and wasn't going to read and passed them on to either friends, listed them on GreenMetropolis or gave them away according to what types of book they were (condition/size/genre). The ones that are left at the moment I would at least 'like' to read, so even though there are too many of them, it's okay because some of them I can already see they will be 'read once and then can go' and others will be kept. I guess what I'm aiming for, after all, is not an empty home but a home that is filled with things that I want to have in it and not cluttered with things I don't want that are impairing my quality of life.