Vide grenier

The first offer on the house has spurred us on. It's too low to accept at this stage but would still give us enough to be able to continue so it's all systems go! We now feel we know the bottom line price and we can search for our French house on that basis. The possible buyers are now considering whether they will increase their offer, they have indicated they do not have a place to sell and would be willing to delay if necessary.

Having had an offer which we would be able to accept if nothing better turns up has given us a new incentive to continue the clearout. Dinner last night was delayed for us to clear out the small kitchen attic. We haven't yet uncovered any forgotten antiques but spent a nostalgic few hours sorting through our assorted (mostly) rubbish. Although it's difficult to get rid of things(being hardened hoarders) it is also a cathartic exercise to throw away what is clearly rubbish (who needs two broken kenwood chefs, minus bowls?). I have no intention of taking up camping again so our collection of old fashioned ( and probably leaky) tiny ridge tents really has to go but TC insists we must keep the big tent for now- I do hope we don't end up living in it!

The heap waiting to go to the dump is definitely bigger than the heap which needs to find a home which is a good start. We definitely need to have a toy sale - train set , farm, playpeople, games , jigsaws, soft toys- and Christmas is not far off.

We also have a collection of old violins and several other old, and for the most part worthless, musical instruments - and what the hell do we do with great grandads sousaphone( minus mouthpiece) which lurks in the back corner of the garage.

The task of clearing out still seems mindboggling, there is so much to do. We're off to Norfolk to see our daughter this weekend. She has tiny house but it does have an attic so time for her to store her own treasured memorabilia ( eg all of her school exercise books!) or make the decision to let them go. She will also be getting a supply of empty jam jars (don't say I'm not generous) so there's another empty cupboard.

We will give ourselves a small pat on the back for the job so far but we can't forget there's another attic and it's bigger!