During home clearance, Colette Sheridan finds that memories from a long time ago come pouring back.

As she cleans out the house where she grew up by the service of Waste Removal Leicester, Colette Sheridan is flooded with fond memories.

IT IS NOT AN EASY TASK TO CLEAN OUT a home that over sixty years has served as a temporary or permanent residence for six individuals.

We are striving to maintain a certain level of ruthlessness while still showing proper reverence for our past, our most prized possessions, and the things that serve as a poignant reminder of our departed parents. It is a really difficult request.

I find that I have concluded that I should keep a straightforward painting that was done on a tile. It depicts a person in a currach pulling up to a shore with two thatched cottages in the background. It makes me think of going on vacation with my family to the western part of Ireland. It gives me a sense of ease. Even while it is not a work of exquisite art, it is nonetheless a lovely keepsake that conjures up images of bygone eras.

On the other side, I toss out a book that contains stories about Thumbelina. In all honesty, not one of us is going to go back and read it again, and none of us has young children.

It doesn't cost very much to tell a fairy tale. There is no use in becoming nostalgic over novels like that.

That is not to imply that we are hoarding just things that have some kind of practical use. There are some things that you just can't get rid of, like the dog-eared copy of Full and Plenty: The Complete Guide to Good Cooking by Maura Laverty that belonged to my mother. This book was published in 1960 by The Irish Flour Millers Association. It's a timeless story that must be told in many Irish homes.

It's not just a collection of recipes lying around. A ballad set in an Irish wheatfield serves as the introduction to the book with a yellow and blue cover. O breeze, ripple gently the yellow-tipped spears. Our little ones, caught in the rush of the years, need growth that is stored in the wheat's golden ears, which are all mother-ripe now with smooth grain. The second stanza reads as follows: "Breathe gently, O breeze, on the grain-heavy ears,/That drank long and deep of spring rain." (You can shove it up your nose, Nigella!)

I think that women who had recently been married in the 1960s or later purchased this book as they prepared to take on the arduous work of house clearance Leicester, feeding their children and spouses, and doing so while paying attention to nutrition and providing information on decent cuts of meat.

"Long ago," there were not very many people who followed a vegan diet (as my mother referred to any time before the 1970s). Neither were women creating bread that was devoid of gluten. Back in the day, people had less complicated dietary requirements. Who could have predicted back then that one day we'd be the kind of individuals who get skinny soy lattes from coffee shops every single morning? Who could have predicted that the usage of single-use plastic wrapping for food would contribute to the degradation of the environment?

A recipe that my mother had taken out of the newspaper and pasted into the pages of Full and Plenty may be found there. (She was wonderful at collecting newspaper clippings and sending out pieces to family members that had suggestions on everything, including how to erase red wine stains on carpets.) Anyway, this excerpt is a recipe for an apricot and almond flan that the author advises making over a holiday weekend, and it can be found at the bottom of this section.

Even though the recipe contains directions on how to create short-crust pastry, it also, happily, proposes taking the easier route and purchasing a package of frozen short-crust dough instead of making it from scratch. (Not that our mothers were the kind to take things easy; on the contrary, they like to cook everything from scratch.)

An advertisement for John Player cigarettes can be seen on the reverse side of this recipe page. The advertisement has an image of a sailor with the word "hero" embroidered on his cap. What an innocent time that was! Smokers, who put their lives on the line - do you believe it?

I was cleaning out one of the numerous bookcases in the home when I came across a little publication called Humble Beginnings. It was a collection of poetry written by 21 young poets from Cork who were all under the age of 21. It was released in 1985 as part of celebrations marking the passage of 800 years since Prince John 1185 awarded a charter to the city of Cork.

After looking through the index of writers, it was discovered that the anthology included poems written by Pat Cotter, who is today recognised as a distinguished poet and serves as the director of the Munster Literature Centre. Pat is characterised as a student of the arts at UCC in the biographical notes that are included in the book. He had already been published in The Irish Press, Cyphers, and Poetry Ireland Review at that stage in his short life.

Pat writes the following in a poem named "Blue Petals, Green Peppers," which was included in the book that was published in 1985. The poem is headed "Sometimes I suppose all that we have is our dreams and our memories."

However, even in the most inhospitable of cells, some memories are worth fighting for.

And I live on/in your company even though you have me trapped here, in/the bosom of your diffidence, in the cradle of my yearning.

As I dig through the remains of the house, my mind is racing with recollections. The process of cleaning it out is slowed considerably as a result. It also highlights the necessity of living a more modest lifestyle, collecting fewer goods and getting rid of things that are no longer useful.

At least three separate record players, all of which are obsolete even if you still had vinyl records to play on them, have been brought to my attention recently.

It's important to have a low profile as you move through life. When it comes to the dangers of accumulation, all of us should benefit from adopting a more Buddhist perspective. There is no more room in the skip.

Indeed, doing house clearance is a great way to bring back memories but it's also a reminder to live more sustainably. The excessive consumption of resources, including products related to food, can have detrimental effects on the environment. Let's all do our part in reducing waste and choosing sustainable options when it comes to our meals. Join the movement towards a greener planet and opt for plant-based meals whenever possible! It would also be a great idea to hire house clearance experts like Midlands Waste Clearance Leicester when clearing your house. Midlands Waste Clearance offers environmentally friendly waste disposal options and can help make the house clearance process easier for you. So why not give them a try? Invest in a greener future now!