Clearing out

is taking place right around me. It's disturbing.
Our friend P.... phoned yesterday. Did I know anyone who might be interested in some quilting materials? C...., who lives in the same convent, thought it might be time to give some things away.  Naturally I know a number of quilters, rather a lot actually. It isn't that I quilt myself, just that we have the same passion for colour and shape and more. (I have never seen the sense of cutting up pieces of fabric just to sew them back together again...but then I am allergic to sewing needles.)
She is bringing C.... over tomorrow with the materials. I'll put the kettle on.
The Senior Cat muttered he would go out to the shed. He loves P... but "sewing" of any description is not his idea of fun. His father may have been a tailor but the Senior Cat does not sew. Instead he is clearing out some things in his beloved shed. My  BIL turned up the other day and moved some things. That made clearing out a few things essential. It still won't be nearly enough. 
But it has made me think that I may need to begin thinking about this clearing out business more seriously. Over the past few  years I have quietly removed some things belonging to my mother. Middle Cat and I have no use for them. Our brother threw up his hands and said, "I don't want any of that stuff."  Middle Cat's youngest took a lot of things around to the local charity shop. They were very pleased to get them. 
The problem is that there are other things there. Things we don't use but that I have been reluctant to give away. The sort of thing you think "might be useful one day" and, unlike other people, I won't have the funds to buy again.
Yarn is not a problem. There are young people I know who will happily use it. (They get through an incredible amount and it almost always goes to charity.)
Books are a problem. I don't want them to be simply dumped at the charity shop.  Some are simply too valuable in one way or another for that to happen.
And still there is all the clothing and other detritus of life. I need to work on this. I don't want to "de-clutter" or go "minimalist" or do something zen like. I just think might be necessary to leave less of a mess for other people to deal with.
So P...'s friend C.... may be doing all of us a favour by saying she needs to give some of her materials away. They can go and make what I call "useful clutter" somewhere else.