I’ve been up for forty-five minutes. Rico just came wandering out of the bedroom and headed for the kitchen where he proceeded to bark at his empty water bowl. Easy enough to take care of that. At least he wasn’t barking to go out. Now he’s settled down in his favorite spot.My winter rant has been for us to de-clutter our den. Funny how that works. In order to de-clutter the den, we have to make room in the garage so we can store the “I can’t possibly throw that out!” stuff. Or the “We’ll call the auction guy over to look at this because it might be worth something,” stuff. And then there is the steadily growing stack of “If it’s not in front of me, I might not be able to find that important document which I might need to do our taxes,” stuff.
When we had the whole interior of the house painted in September I boxed up 6 crates worth of “things”. Funny how that is. I/we haven’t seemed to miss whatever is in those crates. Which, by the way, are now stored on the shelves in the garage, just in case, you know “we might need that.”
Today, we are planning to take a dozen cans of paint left over from the last time we had our house painted, a dozen years ago, to the recycle center. Good thing, because we need the space in the garage to store that den stuff I told you about.
Or we could just do this:
This morning as I was vacuuming the house, I was in my husband's office with all his guitars and musical items plus a whole lot of other unnecessary things that he just can't seem to part with. I always think it is good to de-clutter and if you accidentally give away something that you might need down the road, then go and buy it again if you really need it or want it. I knew of a blogger once whose dad had passed away. He and his brother put things in storage that they thought they would want or go through later. Fifteen years later the things were still in storage, paying monthly storage fees. I'm not sure what happened with it because the blogger did pass away a few years back, wonder if his children then had to go through the stuff.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it!
betty
You are right about being able to replace most material possessions.
DeleteMy fear is that I will leave the mess for my children to clean up. I have been through that and for some many reasons, partly emotional, I would not want my kids to have to do that.
Holding onto stuff you "might need later" is a manifestation of fear. A belief that the universe won't provide what you need. Instead, you should let things flow out of your life so nicer things can flow in. (Sorry to go all new agey on you. It just came out.)
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how relevant that is to us. It all makes sense now. Thanks!
DeleteYeah I need to reorganize some areas of my house...still waiting for the motivation. It will come...it will come.
ReplyDeleteWhen the least bit of motivation creeps it, I jump on it. It feels so good to lighten the load.
DeleteThere are many things in my house that mean something to me but I really don't need them! That dumpster idea might be what I need!
ReplyDeleteI’d do it in a minute. Ross is more of a sentimental, “I can’t part with that” kind of guy.
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