I should have taken some pictures, but I've been a busy bee in the afternoons/evenings, without the boys at the house. They are having an amazing time with my parents & nephew (at Disneyland this week), and the pictures are making me so happy. Love to see my parents enjoying their time with the boys.
I've been taking advantage of the errand free evenings by going through the boys rooms, and also just trying to work through our own clutter. I've given away SO much on Buy Nothing, & have listed four items on eBay. I haven't done eBay in months, after I was burned out from a really (cough) foolish buyer.
The house feels so much lighter! Garbage & recycling came out of closets, drawers were organized, holey socks were tossed, the closet was used for...clothing! Old books & toys were given away. Dirty items were washed. It's a miracle. :-)
I also took advantage of a brief break at lunch today, and finally achieved my goal of getting all of last year's zucchini out of the freezer. Only a month behind my goal of managing that before our first zucchini this year. But hey, I'll still take it. I made up a double batch of zucchini fritters, to accompany some leftovers.
I'm also getting organized for next week, when we are back full swing with the boys. The quiet has been lovely, but I'm looking forward to having them back at home again! That means a large Costco stock up trip is probably also in order.
Are you decluttering anything these days?
Been decluttering for months in preparation of putting the house on the market and moving. So stressful when you have to do it under a time limit. Good on you for using this kid-free time to get ahead of it!
ReplyDeleteIt is really stressful, when you are under a tight timeline! We moved with very short notice from Washington to California, and got rid of so much of our stuff. It was wild.
DeleteGood luck with your decluttering, selling & moving!
ReplyDeleteWhen my youngest daughter left home for college, I referred to what I had to do in her bedroom as ‘fumigating,’ so I completely feel what you have been doing and accomplishing! (She was a straight-A student and all around gray kid, so I finally gave up fighting with her over the state of her bedroom, and just kept her door closed!)
I have a few gift wrapping drawers in our guest bedroom that I’m going to declutter. Goal is for the guest bedroom to be completely empty of all ‘stored’ items save what our guests might bring . Almost there!
I also need to do another run through my office, primarily to digitize, and then toss, a bunch of paper. But the real deep dive is my husband’s office. Scads of CDs, which we no longer need thanks to streaming options, and books. It will be a tussle as he is quite the pack rat in there, much as I love him. 🫤
And I also need to clear out even more holiday items from the garage. I was saving them for the granddaughters, but by the time they return to the US from living in Europe, they’ll be past the age of being impressed by them.
- Tamara R
I need to get more done too. No time limit like Sluggy, but I should use any help while both girls can help. I'm sure you've shared your zucchini fritter recipe before, but if handy would you again?
ReplyDeleteWe did a HEAVY declutter about 25y ago when we replaced carpet in the entire house. We had the installer divide the house in half, emptied it into the garage, they installed carpet, we "moved back in". But with a discerning eye and MANY trips to the thrift store. We did the other half of the house a few days later.
ReplyDeleteNear the same time, we began a viewpoint/lifestyle of mindfulness in spending $$. Is there something we have that can serve this purpose? Do we really need to buy this? Gifts come. Items get left by gifts. Items get replaced but still have some usable life. So yes, decluttering is a lifelong task. Just last week I took a trunkful to the thrift store. This week I divested myself of ALLLLL my garment fabric (40-50yards at least). I look in cupboards/closets regularly for items not used in the last year. I am rereading my library and giving away the books. I have 2 6fx3f bookcases and am down to 2 shelves plus my cookbook shelf. I suspect I'll keep just 1 shelf of books. Oh the $$$ I've read ;-)
I'm happy to say we're 31y in this home and have empty cupboard/closet space still. And I look forward to more 'holes' in the future. We're just 61y young but I hope my home is not painful to empty when we're gone!