Clear out

Over the last month or so as we have visited my Dad's house filled with his belongings but him no longer there and I have started to prepare my Grandparent's family home and my Grandma's retirement flat for sale I have been thinking a lot about belongings and the attachment we have to material things.

I am a material girl. No doubt about it. I love clothes, household items, linens- you name it I adore being surrounded by things that mean something to me and look beautiful. I don't have expensive taste but it all does add up even if you buy on sale. 

I love being the person that always has the baking dish you need. Or the spare phone which can be borrowed if yours breaks.... I have decorations for everything but I really do need to cut down.

I have difficulty parting with my belongings. Even when they are worn out, damaged & past their best. I have so many clothes that I haven't worn in years- partly because they don't fit me any more and also because I sacrificed at the time to buy them and so don't want to now feel that item is redundant.

I have realised that keeping these items around me isn't good for me. It makes my life feel clogged up and I am living in the past. I want to move forward and thinking about our future.

So that said this year as we were doing the tidy and clean up for our festival letters I let go of a lot of clothes and shoes I have been holding on to for a long time.

I bought these gorgeous shoes in Spain with my friend Diana and they are actually a size too big- my feet were swollen in the heat when I bought them. They look great on but I had to put insoles in them so they would fit.... they are years old and had to go.

The second pair down have sentimental value too. When I lived with my flatmates Diana and Kate in Uni we all had these shoes... we had bought them separately from the shop and we all all had the exact same shoe size! It makes me smile when I see them lurking at the back of the wardrobe but I don't think I have worn them since Uni! We also had a pair of Oasis heels the same but Diana lost mine in the sea on the way home from a night out in Spain on vacation! oh the days of student life!

I damaged these shoes 7 years ago! I was s'lightly' ill on my 23 birthday in Ireland with Kate and Diana. (they made me drink Baillies!) I have worn them since but they were never the same since that night!

I love my Birkenstocks... I bought these just before I went to America in 2006 to spent time with my fabulous 4 friends who I went to school with in Florida in 97 and 98. We had such a good trip in New York and Rhode Island. My Mum and sister also have white Birkenstocks. They are just so good in summer. I might buy myself a new pair as these are too worn down on the back heel now.

I LOVE this evening bag but a lot of the sequins are now falling off and it has make up in the bottom of the bag- it looks pretty tatty. Time to say goodbye!

This was last year's white bag for summer. It has jean blue stains on the bottom of it where it has rubbed against my hip. Such a shame as I coveted that bag- I even blogged about it. It was from Gap and I loved it. But I have a new model this year from Linea.

Such cute flip flops but they are just too worn... I have had them for 10 years- that makes me feel so old!

So I have culled back my shoes. These are the only heels (apart from a few pairs of wedges) that I have and I have thrown out a lot of my pumps too. So no more 49 pairs of shoes.... maybe only 30....ish!!!

 I will be looking for good summer pumps in the sales (but only 2 pairs!) and also for 2 pairs of autumn winter pumps later this year but for now I feel good that I have made space.

And with this post I can keep the memory of my shoes.... when I get round to doing my blurb book!!