An overland bird safari, and my favourite four-step decluttering process!

My husband Paul and me

 

Hi everyone!

 

We had guests stay for a long weekend and they took us on a gannet trip on the Sunday. It was invigorating and fascinating! We had the best guide in Wayne, with a mere 45 years experience taking the safaris.

It’s so good to be a tourist in your own town :)

(Wayne’s Instagram is here with some beautiful and historic photography - he even met David Attenborough in 1982 and spent the day with him as he showed him around the gannet colony!)

 

Cutie gannets. They build their nests from mud and seaweed, and bury their egg in that. Both the male and the female gannet take turns standing on the nest, keeping the egg warm with their thermal webbed feet. So dedicated!

 

At the bottom of this cliff, on the beach, is another gannet colony. You can see them if you look :) Plus, there were seals hanging out by the gannets too. They looked like big grey rocks, until you saw one move that is.

Peeking out above the clouds you can see Mt Ruapehu which is 3-4 hours drive away. Mt Ruapehu is an active volcano... we have all the fun here in New Zealand I tell you!

So that was our weekend, and this week I have been tidying and organizing our house, because, well, it's not tidy and organized at the moment. My most recent 'success' was our shoe closet. Yes I have a shoe closet! It’s a double width storage space in our laundry which is the perfect place to house our shoes - mine are here on the right and my husband Paul’s are on the left.

 

 

 

I had a clean-out and a tidy up, throwing out one pair of favourite well-worn summer wedge sandals, and donating a dozen other pairs that I just don’t wear anymore.

It feels SO GOOD to have all my shoes neat and tidy, with space for every pair. Before I did this I had a pile-up at the bottom 🙈

But as you can see I still have plenty to wear. Those pairs I decluttered weren’t worn anyway and now I have breathing space. Isn’t that always the way? It can be so difficult to contemplate getting rid of things, but when you do my favourite four-step decluttering process it is so simple, and even dare I say it, enjoyable. Especially afterwards, but during too.

Here’s my process:

1. Take everything out of a space.

2. Clean/dust the space and make it nice.

3. Put back only the items that are your nicest and best, the ones you enjoy the most, the newest and most special etc. Be guided by the size of your space when you decide what to put back.

4. Look at the items left over and decide that you are happy to donate them to someone else to wear and love, since you don’t. You will feel so light and joyous once they are gone. I always feel happier when I do this and I’m sure you will too.

Let me know what area you’d love to have the fairies do for you, and then jump in and start it! I am going to do my plates and dishes next.

xx Fiona

PS. If you need more inspiration to simplify your home and have it feeling so lovely and free. with space to live your dream life, download my newest book here and get cracking. '100 Ways to Declutter Your Home' has all my favourite tried and true practical and inspirational tips, reminders, suggestions and ideas on how to have fun streamlining your possessions.

Any improvements I want to make in my life have to be FUN and EASY, and this book follows the same principles. Otherwise I just won't do it! I don't have children of my own, but I reckon I would have made a great mum, from my experience cajoling and convincing my inner toddler to get with the programme and go for my desires, even though she is screaming and kicking and would rather be sitting on the sofa with a book...

If this sounds like you, you might enjoy this book, and my others as well!

You can find them all here on my Amazon author page.

 

(If you use my Amazon links I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much if you choose to!)