How to De-stress Your Life

After Christmas, I check every ornament and string of lights. Any damaged items are fixed before being stored for another year

On Tuesday 6 January I dismantled the Christmas tree and took down the hanging decorations. Before storing them, I checked each ornament for damages. One Santa and one glass ball each had a loose attachment string which hubby subsequently glued. I tested the Christmas lights; all four strings were in perfect working order. I carefully placed everything in the box and with the tree I packed them in the spare room cupboard. Next Christmas, the grandchildren and I will take them out of storage and set them up for another festive season.

I place the decorations in a cardboard box and with the Christmas Tree,store it in a spare room cupboard for anther year

The next morning I decided to tidy my personal wardrobe which had become a little messy during the holidays. (I tend to scratch and toss to the back, dig under the pile of clothes, and push that out of the way. Anyone relate to this? Mmm...)

Shelf by shelf I removed the clothing items and placed them on my bed. I examined everything to see if any hooks, buttons, or clasps were damaged and fixed wherever necessary. Whenever I read women’s magazine articles which state you have to “de-clutter/de-stress/de-muddle your life by tidying your space, there is always an instruction to go through your clothes, cupboards, office drawers, kitchen shelves and THROW out anything you haven’t used in the last year. Well, I have clothing that I wore after my first son was born thirty five years ago! I keep thinking I’ll just keep this and maybe next winter / summer I’ll wear it. This week, I ruthlessly threw out everything – well, everything except the cheesecloth dress my mum bought for me on the Greek Isles in 1985, and the little black number I wore in the nineties and which is too big for me now. Perhaps next clean-out I’ll sever the ties to that bit of past history in my life. Everything I didn't use anymore, I placed on a pile for Emily. She checks through them and those that she or her daughter, Erica cannot wear, she sells in the township for a little extra cash.

Perfumed shelf-liners and fragrant sachets are an essential item in my wardrobe!

I line the shelves with perfumed shelf liners. Then I re-pack the shelves. I stack my casual tee-shirts and shorts together.(for home and gardening) Then I stack my good tee's with my denim knee pants and jeans. (for going to the shops, hairdresser or nail salon!) The lingerie resides with lacy camisoles and sleepwear. In between the latter, I place scented linen rolls and sachets. (I love a fragrances and these scented sachets and liners are a must in my wardrobe) My sports gear, towel and socks are on the top shelf. At the very bottom, I have a few lightweight pullovers, a lightweight track pants and some sports towels.

In the hanging section, I use colour coding. For instance I hang a pink camisole or blouse and beige pants on a pink hanger. A white pants and blue top goes onto a blue hanger. I have plastic double hangers for these combinations (see photo) but I have covered coat hangers for the knitwear and other tops which need a little more pampering. For example, a red knitted top goes onto a coat hanger covered in red. A white crochet jersey/cardigan goes onto a white hanger and so on. I don’t knit these coat hanger covers; I buy them from a pensioner who augments her meagre income in this manner. I buy the plastic double hangers from street vendors at traffic lights in the city. As can be seen in the photos, although I’m neat and tidy I’m not painfully so. I'm quite happy as long as things are in their right place, I’m able to see them at a glance and retrieve them without items spilling out onto the floor. I must admit, when I go back to my cupboards and see everything stacked/hung in an orderly fashion I feel a sense of contentment.


Now for my office...