After a lifechanging diagnosis a week ago, Mrs J's plans had been turned upside down, then put on steroids. What had been planned for the future was now going to be accelerated into 2 weeks. It was time to declutter and get the house in a good state to have a nice, tranquil place to recuperate.

"It's called Swedish death cleaning."
"Getting rid of things before someone else has to" - Mrs J

Sevan arrived to find Mrs J's husband ripping up carpet and moving furniture ahead of an electrician coming the next day to rewire the house.

"Don't move things by yourself"
"He'll end up moani..." - Mrs J
"I'll moan anyway" - Mr J

First up was to move boxes and bags filled with books to the car. Mrs J admitted to being an avid reader and having hundreds of books and she'd even read quite a lot of them. Her friend's son was going to open vintage shop, so all except the favourites would go to him to be sorted through. With the first set of books packed and moved, it was time to do something new.

The first floor rooms were filled with a lifetime's worth of belongings and these too would need to be ruthlessly donated. Furniture would be collected and everything else would be scooped into bags and boxes and moved to the dining room for sorting later.

The last task for today was to empty wardrobes on the first floor that were due to be replaced as part of the big reset. Eight large laundry bags, filled with coats, dresses and jeans, were hauled up to the master bedroom and left in a big pile to be rehomed somewhere else in the house.

As Sevan left, the car had vanished, along with the books to be given away. That's one thing off the To Do list for Mrs J.