Ever since I retired at the end of 2011, I have said I need to start cleaning out my house. But the problem is I have one spare bedroom where I stashed all those boxes of essentials when I left teaching. You know that ‘I will need them some time in the future’ so they never get tossed away.

Then because I had a huge personal library in my classrooms, I also have a back shed with about 4 bookcases full of children’s books and teacher references. I did donate some of them to schools around the world through a non government organization NGO. I also have lots of games and jigsaw puzzles stored in there.

Lastly I have another spare room which is supposedly a third bedroom that is now my office with my computer, filing cabinet, a couple of desks and some bookshelves. I did clean out the filing cabinet and got rid of two drawers relating to teaching stuff. Those are now full of family history files and folders – not colour coded yet but sorted slightly into certificates, pedigree charts etc.

Then of course there is the floor of that office – when I can see it. I did get it clean once or maybe twice but I tend to drop things on the floor and forget to then sort them out and put them on shelves or in the cabinet.

Dad is an amateur historian who has bought so many books related to Tasmanian history which he used when he was on the Nomenclature Board in Tasmania. He also used them when looking for cairns on top of hills when he used to go bushwalking with the Hobart Walking Club. But as he is getting on in age, he is now starting to get rid of some of his books. I must get my hoarding from him as he also has an office with filing cabinets, bookshelves, desks etc.

So I am now inheriting many of his early Tasmanian books and I now need to find space to put them on my bookshelves.

Readers: Have any of you had luck at cleaning out your office or family history stuff? What is the best way to do it?