Today I have put two items of clothing which my children have outgrown and worn out into the bag for the clothing recycling bin at my local Waitrose. I already have more children’s clothes sorted out ready to go and will take them when I next go into town.

Living with much less stuff is one of my goals. I feel that it will simplify my life in several ways:

• I won’t spend so long looking for things in my chaotic house.
• Having lots of stuff does not make me happy
• A cluttered house makes a cluttered mind.
• It is pointless keeping things which are of no use to me but could be extremely useful to someone else.
• Keeping things for sentimental reasons does not help me to remember the people who they came from. I can hold on to their memories without holding on to their stuff.
• Having lots of stuff makes me appear successful but does not actually make me successful – the opposite is actually true.
• I am not my stuff

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris