Friday, June 19, 2009

Downsizing my life

A good friend of mine is moving into the room that was, until very recently, my office. My office had workspace for my hobbies, storage for the remnants and spare parts of computer builds, cabinets full of retired PartyLite gear(not mine) and other detritus associated with an office.

It had also turned into the "put it here and deal with it later" room. Later never came. After years of no "later", the room was full. Now the room is empty, and everything is boxed up and in the way.

This however, is not a problem. This is an opportunity. All of this accumulated crap is going to get sorted, organized, tossed, or donated. All of it. Some of it will have to go into another room, which means that room needs the same treatment. Half of my house has to get sorted and downsized. I'm going to carry that over to the other half.

Too much stuff. It's gotta go.

I have well over 1000 movies, including at least 100 or so that suck. They are going to the used movie store.

I found a box of kids' toys that should be in the girls' room, not in storage.

Boxes of clothes have gone to Goodwill.

My office is empty. No longer my office.

The new office, my former guest bedroom, is now pulling double duty, which means it has been completely cleared out.

Our downstairs family room has stuff from the former office. I am working on that, a few boxes at a time.

Our storage room, an over sized closet with the Christmas decorations and cat litter, is getting a complete overhaul. Good-bye, stuff-I-haven't-seen-in-years.

Two large closets are getting cleaned out. One is already empty. Its contents went to Goodwill. The other is getting repurposed as our pantry. More food, bought in bulk, less crap we never use.

My basement is going to get turned into livable space again. Every square foot will have a purpose that doesn't include "clutter".

There will be pain, there may be tears, but, in the long run, it will all be worth it.

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