Living on a narrowboat for most of the year, we have become very good at minimising the things we need to live. We have a rule that if we buy something new for the boat, something else has to go. The result is that although it is a small space, we have everything we need to live, and is does not look cluttered.

So why is it that moving house this week, we have so so so much stuff? I cannot believe how many boxes I have unpacked. And I still have rooms full of more boxes, and a garage packed to the roof.

The trouble is that we have lived in large houses for years and years. I believe that people fill the space they live in. Whether it is a small narrowboat, or a mansion. Over time cupboards get filled and spaces get occupied. Our new house is still big but not as big as the one we had in Scotland. We probably should have got rid of half the stuff when we moved out, but we didn’t. So now we have boxes and boxes of things we do not need. I estimate four or five times too many glasses, four times too many mugs, five times too much linen. And don’t even mention the shoes! We have hundreds of DVDs that we never watch, four sets of crockery, a chesterfield sofa and chair we don’t need, boxes of stationery from the loft. The list goes on.

So the next couple of days are about getting lounge, kitchen and two bedrooms ready for use at Christmas. Then I will methodically do the rest of the house, room by room, box by box. That will leave me January to work my way through the garage. Charity shops will be deluged by me, as will the local tip.

The real question is whether Mandy and I can be more disciplined in the future. I’d like to use that narrowboat rule on the house. One thing in and one thing out. I certainly don’t ever want to see this many boxes again!