Tag: decluttering

I tried to combat the post-turkey fatigue on Sunday by attacking the back bedroom again. But I got sidetracked.On the bright side, the side bedroom hasn’t looked this good in ages.
Here’s the problem I was running into: many of the remaining boxes in the back bedroom have office supplies in them. Tons of little stuff with no home. So, I started to get the side bedroom organized to make homes for all the office supplies I will be running into. This way I don’t just move the debris from one room to the other. Ultimately, I mean. ‘Cause that’s actually what ended up happening to some of the junk from the side bedroom.

But it is stuff I need to go through also, and I can probably get rid of 75% of it. I saw a box with dried flowers (yuck!) and a box of cards. I’m so sentimental, it is hard for me to throw cards out. But I’ve spied tons of trinkets that I’ve never liked, and they’ve been out of sight for so long now, I don’t even remember who gave them to me. They can go with minimal guilt. There has been surprisingly little actual trash. I mean, I am throwing some things out, and I haven’t gotten to the paperwork yet. Geeze, there’s another whole post.

I’ve begun to re-think my books, too. I mean, I’m never going to re-read these novels. My friends don’t read the chic lit that I do, so I may as well donate them. Art books I keep. I consider them reference books. I really need to get them out of boxes and onto the shelves my mom bought for me last August, but I haven’t loaded them up yet because I need Bill to anchor the big bookcase to the wall first, and right now I can’t afford Bill. Ah, the home improvement domino effect strikes again.

I worked on the back bedroom a bit more this weekend. Several days passed when I didn’t even want to look at it. Friday I thought I’d motivate myself a bit by ordering the curtains and comforter. It helped a bit. Saturday my dear friend Jessica came over and we went through my give away pile. She happily took several things. That was the kick in the pants I needed to keep going after she left. Several hours later, I had this: Wide open space through the middle of the room.

The dreaded dresser surface, the give away pile and the empty boxes pile:

I can even get to one window now:

But I still have this big pile to deal with:

And the crowded hall, filling fast with things unearthed from the back bedroom that live elsewhere:

More happened on Sunday, hopefully pictures tomorrow.

I worked on the messy bedroom for a few minutes on Friday night and was able to sort and store four bins of clothes I probably should get rid of, but am not ready to part with just yet. That didn’t make much of a dent in the pile.

Sunday I spent several hours in there, made a big mess in the hall, and it still doesn’t look much different. I filled a trash bag, found several empty boxes to recycle, packed up two boxes and two bags to donate, added a bit to the laundry, uncovered an empty laundry basked that had been swallowed by the mess, found a couple of trinkets and other things I can find homes for, and a shoebox of coal.

Yup. Coal. How did it get there? I have no idea. Why did I have a shoebox of coal? Your guess is as good as any. But there it was. A box of coal. At least now I think I’ve identified the strange odor we would smell from time to time, mostly in the summer. Time will tell.

Here’s the thing I’m most afraid of:

The dreaded dresser surface, full of lotions, potion, trinkets and baubbles.

So, here are my two dressers in the back bedroom. Please excuse the mess. Actually, since this may be my next big project, maybe you’d just better get used to seeing this mess!What do you think? Could I make it work with yesterday’s idea?

I also gave the sheets some more thought. I could always embroider some seashells, starfish and sand dollars on the hems of two or three sets of pillowcases. A bit of work, yes, but we rarely use the top sheet anyway, so I could just buy the pieces I want in a solid color, save a few dollars, and I can match embroidery thread exactly to my color choice.