Down Mulberry Lane

Whew! A New week begins!

I decided to tackle a couple areas I have been ignoring.  I just feel sick walking into them, they are so full of stuff!  I can't use the stuff, because I can't get to the stuff.  Last year, I took much of our clutter down to the basement and that has been slowly disappearing, for which I am thankful.  After we had our kitchen fire, I boxed up much of the house and stuffed it upstairs and outside in the garage and outdoor mudroom.   It was time to tackle those areas.

I cleaned out the garage a couple weeks ago when Dh was on his trip in Maryland.  Today, I began the upstairs declutter/unpack.  We have one room which has the ping pong table, the foosball table and a sitting area for me to read.  This entire area (as large as a living room) was filled with boxes and clutter.  I also have a smaller area, probably 8 by 10 that my computer sits at upstairs and I will be cleaning out that area as well. 

In working with the clutter, I decided since I'm going through everything... why not a bit more?  I cleared two shelves off in Paige's new bedroom.  They no longer house craft items and magazine boxes.  I still have the bottom shelf to clear, but as of yet, I have no where to go with it.  She is thrilled with two more shelves to put her toy treasures on.  (her room is rather bare of Paige's identity, it was all boxed up after the fire).  On her top shelf we filled with  stuffed bears that had been boxed away since the fire.  We found the shelf too small for a few larger bears and she was more than willing to let them go (so I quickly took advantage of a 3yo's reasoning that the bears were too big and won't work in her room and I bagged them up to pass along to someone else). 

Her second shelf filled rather quickly with two boxes of legos (found among the upstairs packing).  And a basket filled with her dolls and small stuffies.  She gave up a sock monkey that I made for my oldest when she was a twit.  She says he is too funny, I don't want him.  LOL.  She also got rid of some bunnies (says she liked bears better). 

To help me deal with all the boxes, I moved the foosball table in front of the ping pong table.  You can't play either game at the moment with all the clutter, so moving them to immovable positions seemed OK and gave me more space to work with.  I sorted and boxed items to reasonable sizes.  The boxes are all stored in front of my bookshelves (an incentive for me to clear them out!).  I have about two laundry baskets deep and high to deal with.  My goal is to take a box and deal with it each day.  More would be better.  But I don't want to overwhelm myself. 

So today's purge:  one large bag of stuffed animals and assorted clothes;  two bags of magazines to go to the library; one box of monkey socks...33 pairs!; and one small bag of garbage. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Untitled Comment

8:17 AM, October 21, 2008 .. Posted by chimicole

Good job you've got going there! I get so disheartened even LOOKING at the clutter that I cannot even think where to begin! LOL!

It's getting better thgough.....

Blessings~
Julie

Untitled Comment

9:23 AM, October 24, 2008 .. Posted by Daisyblend

It feels soooo good to get clutter cleaned away, doesn't it? I even felt that way about my yard when my mom came over and mowed, bagging up all the leaves (the best cover material for her "humanure" toilet and the rest went in my garden)... the yard looked so tidy. My biggest problem when decluttering, maybe you can relate, is that when I go to clean one area I realize that before I can move certain items to their designated spots I have to declutter THOSE spots. I decide to start there but find that half that stuff has to go elsewhere and THOSE spots are taken, too. It helps to have ONE empty space, just ONE! It usually ends up being my dining table. It's like that little puzzle game where you have little squares to move and one empty space and have to shuffle them all around to get them into their spots. Not a piece could move without that one empty square. Anyhow, may your decluttering be blessed!