« Get out the CRAP, II | Main | Char-Grill in Durham »
November 17, 2008
crap-out
so, when last we spoke i believe i was getting ready to donate a whole room packed with crap to a local charity. and so i did. credit, a lot of it, goes to Jason who patiently waited all day for the charity guy to come, even though he was craving a Q-shack sandwich and there was nothing good in the house to eat.
in the end it was perhaps best i wasn't there as my belongings were not treated with the most care by the charity pickup guy. but-- you know, the thing i had the hardest time parting with is extremely sturdy (one of my grandfather's old reel to reel's, a portable one that closed to form a hard case), and no doubt survived as intact.
i came home to a magically functional dining room which contains nothing except what it should -- a table, four chairs, two bar stools, a tablecloth and two candlesticks. the dining room has a fierce defender; jason will not allow the pristine, clear horizontal surface to be occupied by anything except a meal. i think that is a good thing.
while every room except the dining room is still host to some clutter, almost every room is quite functional and we are not living in a sea of boxes. this amazes me. i moved into this house over ten years ago and unpacked the last boxes this summer. jason moved in two weeks ago and has unpacked virtually everything.
the most distressing room is now the back bedroom, which serves as office/craft/sewing room. or at least, it should... currently only jason's side of the room is actually functional, and the passage into the room is constricted by bookcases that need to move... somewhere.
my task tonight is to remove all the things in that room that i already know need to leave the house... then see what else i can get rid of.
Posted by lisa at November 17, 2008 07:46 PM
Comments
i'm enjoying reading about your decluttering saga. i'm going through a bit of the same thing myself. i purged a lot of stuff when i moved to portland, but now that i'm moving again i'm finding boxes that i didn't crack the tape on in this last year... a clear indicator that it needs to go.
my new house is tiny (726 square feet!) and my goal is to have it feel open and uncluttered. if that means getting rid of all of my books in the bookcase, so be it. that old lamp my mom got as a wedding present? outta here.
it's good to be ruthless.
Posted by: xta on November 19, 2008 11:46 AM
That is inspirational. Stephanie and I have asked an organization guru to help us get started cleaning out the guest bedroom. While all the rooms have clutter, that one is the main non-functional room and needs lots of attention. Our goal is to get it cleaned out so the Murphy bed is accessible and we can have guests stay over.
I did a lot of book purging this week, and will be doing still more over the weekend.
Posted by: Steph Mineart on November 19, 2008 05:59 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.