The Great Declutter: Status Update

You might wonder if our home looks radically different than it did two months ago.

Anyone invited over for a coffee wouldn’t notice much change. A few wine crates are missing and the kitchen counters are quite clear. To see the full effect you’d have to do some digging, open our cupboards and look through our closets. Our home wasn’t overly furnished to begin with which helps. Also, our stuff was well hidden.

Previously our clutter was, like most people, tucked and stacked behind closed doors. Our laundry closet/storage room was so full I couldn’t open the door all the way. Drawers in the kitchen kept getting caught from the mass of utensils and kitchen gadgets. The dressers in our bedroom were overflowing.

Now I feel pretty good leaving the closet door in our bedroom open. There is order. You can see the back of the wall behind my neatly hung clothing. The dressers in our bedroom have empty drawers. The laundry/storage closet door opens all the way.

It feels pretty good.

There’s still work to be done but most of it is on hold for legitimate reasons.

DVD collection: I need Chris to decide what he wants to keep. He’s pretty busy finishing work for the year. I’m giving him space and we’ll work on it when he is ready.

Office: see above.

Furniture: Chris’s King size bedroom suite has got to go. I’ll be listing it on Craigslist in January once Henry’s crib and Henry move back into his room. At the moment the crib blocks easy furniture access making showings a pain.

Henry’s room: Katy leaves us in January (sniff and tear). Once she and her camping mattress move on and out of Henry’s room I’ll finish decluttering for him. I’ve paired down his wardrobe and reduced his toys but there is more to be done.

Photos: I have two albums and a box of photos to be scanned. Scanning is boring. I’ll leave this for a snow day in January and drink a lot of coffee and watch Season 4 of 30 Rock.

Craigslist/consignment: I have two boxes of baby stuff I am adamantly trying to get a few dollars back on. Slow going on Craigslist. There is a swap meet downtown in March. I am considering getting a table. Anything not sold there I will donate.

The Torch: is on eBay at the moment. Along with a few other collectibles. I’ve still got photos and some amazing memories. That’s all I need.

My initial estimate was one week to get this place in shape. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The upside is that I have been working on my patience skills and enjoying the process of becoming minimalist. I’m also a firm believer in slow change and building habits over time. It’s probably a good thing that it’s taking months instead of days to minimal-ize our home.

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Buy Nothing Day is next week, Friday November 26th. Same day as Black Friday in the US. I’ve already blocked off my Calendar and there will be no visits to Costco or afternoon coffees at Bean Around the World. Anyone want to join in? I’ll post a reminder here closer to the day.