So there I was, formulating a post in my head about spring being in the air – the birds were tweeting (for real, not on Twitter), I was no longer wearing my Michelin Man coat, I was thinking about getting my summer dresses out… And I step out of the office this evening and it’s snowing. “What happened?!” as my two-year-old nephew would ask (most recently when my sister had IKEA boxes and various bits strewn across the floor).

Regardless of the weather, I still have that spring feeling. The days are getting longer, I CAN hear the birds tweeting, there are crocuses popping out all over the place… And I have sunshine in my heart! (That was something that my German supply manager would always say. Don’t I have any expressions of my own?)

Most of all, I have a manic desire to sort through, and get rid of, STUFF. I’ve given at least six big bags full of clothes to charity (and was only attacked by gypsies en route once), I’ve taken books to the English library, I’ve sent off CDs and DVDs to music magpie, I’m using about five types of conditioner, serum, shine spray etc on my hair every day and moisturising liberally to use up all my random products, and I’ve even gone through my basement, a dumping ground for everything I didn’t actually need but couldn’t bear to get rid of at the time. And I aint done!

Ever since I started working six years ago, I think I’ve been enjoying that phase of my life when I have a decent income and no major obligations to speak of – no house with a mortgage, no car, no kids… It’s been satisfying to be able to buy what I wanted when I wanted it.

But suddenly – just in the last few months – I’m past that phase. Somehow physical possessions don’t give me the same pleasure anymore. DVD box sets of films that are anyway often playing on TV, books I never get round to reading, clothes I hardly ever wear, ornaments and souvenirs… they’re just clutter, taking up space and collecting dust.

I still have lots to get through, but with every bag of STUFF I take away from my flat, I feel that little bit lighter. That little bit freer. And the things I’m left with will be what I really want to keep. What’s really meaningful.