Typically, January is the month for organizing your home. Many magazines, blogs and instagram posts are currently touting how to purge and organize. Since my basement currently looks like a storage facility and is making it difficult to comfortably craft, I decided that I had to start making a dent somewhere. I am taking the approach that if we were to sell our house and move, what would I really want to pack.
I started with my clothes closet. I share a walkin in closet with Hubby and we keep it very neat, but there were items in there that I no longer wore or used. I got rid of a few tops that I can't remember wearing in the last 5 or so years. I put aside for donation a few purses that I no longer use (although I have tried to in the past year) as they no longer fit my needs. I threw out a set of queen sized flannel sheets that we haven't used since we remodeled our home 20 years ago. Yes, 20 years. One of the pillowcases had been tossed long ago and the sheets had yellowed badly. I should probably throw out the other set I have, but I remember Hurricane Sandy when we lost power for over a week and needed those sheets and many blankets at night when it was 45 degrees outside. There really wasn't a whole lot more that I got rid of, but there is a little more room on the shelves now and they look neater.
I have been looking around my house at my collections and knick-knacks and realizing that I just don't love some of them anymore. When we were first married, I loved the color lavender and collected lavender Wedgewood pieces. The only lavender room in our house now is our first floor powder room and I would like to change that sometime. The Wedgewood stands out like a sore thumb no matter where I put it.
The pitcher on the right was a gift from my son when he visited Croatia. I will keep that out somewhere. I am thinking of storing the Wedgewood away for a while just to be sure that I no longer want it.
I moved on to the guest bathroom on our second floor and found several expired items in the vanity and medicine cabinet. There were 3 cans of shaving cream that my son used to use when he lived at home over 10 years ago. I will restock with the essentials the next time I go grocery shopping, but this is now up to date.
My kitchen is in pretty good shape, but there are items that I have forgotten about and/or no longer use or care to use. I have set a few aside for donation. I was also unhappy with the way the open shelf on my corner cabinet was looking. I borrowed a few items from elsewhere in my kitchen and added a candle and I like the look of it now. The little sparrow was one of several ornamental birds that my mom collected.
I mentioned my basement/craft area. This is its current state.
There is a wonderful sectional and an old TV with a gaming console that is sometimes still used. It is hiding behind my sewing table in the second photo. We have file cabinets, an old computer desk, my husband's childhood desk, and a keyboard as well as a whole lot of items that were in storage at my mom's house and a bunch of items we inherited from relatives. The number of photo albums that we have is sinful, but it is hard to let them go. I also have photo slides from my mom, but I think there are physical photos of all of them. My job today will be to see if I can match each slide to a photo and cull what I can.
One thing that I removed from my basement were my cookie cutters.
As you can tell, my organizing will probably last most of the year, though I would like to have a garage sale in the Spring.....I think. It is a lot of work and I am not sure I really want to do it. Alternatively, everything that is in good condition will be donated to a local thrift store.
Thanks for stopping by!
You can try cleaning the cookie jar with boiling water and baking soda. I had to clean a coated cast iron pot my mother had and it worked like a charm.
ReplyDeleteI love your mother's cookie jar,good idea to store the cookie cutters in it. I need to organize my craft room too,but the arthritic in my hands seems to be getting in the way right now. It is even hard to type. Big hugs Lynda Ruth
ReplyDeleteOh I hate when my arthritis acts up in my hands. Organizing the craft room seems like an endless task.
DeleteGood for you…purging and going through stuff is not fun but definitely necessary. I have been doing the same thing at our house. I took all my old quilting magazines to a guild meeting and put them out. They were all home by the end of the meeting. Lots of stuff being donated. Why do we keep so much??? Great idea to keep your cookie cutters in the cookie jar! Gail at the Cozy quilter
ReplyDeleteIt was fun reading your post today as I have had the same goal to downsize and declutter. I did exactly the same thing with my cookie cutters and have mine stored in my late mother-in-law's old cookie jar. My sewing room is in the converted attached garage and while it's pretty organized, it seems to be overflowing with fabric and even some cross stitch I last worked on in maybe 1987! I could go on and on but just wanted to tell you that you are not alone!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that we save so much that no one will want in the end.
Deletewow! I'm impressed! I only declutter when I am moving, lol. I got rid of so much stuff when we moved here and I could go through each room and get rid of even more.
ReplyDeleteHello Cathi: I am also purging, it is not an easy task to do, I have lost weight so getting rid of clothing is easy.
ReplyDeleteI too have put some of mu collections away, I am not sure if they will go soon or if I will keep them.
The cookie jar is perfect for the cookie cutters.
Have a great week.
Catherine
Good for you starting the decluttering process. It’s time-consuming and emotional. Several youtube videos have been helpful personally. Learned from The Minimal Mom is stuff is ‘inventory’ which needs to be managed. Now I’m managing less.
ReplyDelete