I woke up in the middle of the night with a great idea. Living in a mobile home we have limited storage space. We do have a back screened-in on three sides porch with room for a washer and a dryer, on the inside wall. Yet what to do with the vacuum and the mop and pail and other cleaning supplies has been a mystery. At the moment they are sitting by the plumbing for the washer and dryer I hope to buy come the new year. The problem had not entered my mind for weeks, yet last night I woke up and thought if I turn a storage cabinet I have for bottled cleaning supplies sideways and not flat against the outside wall I would make a little cubby to stash the clutter in. I guess my mind was working on this problem all this time. What a relief, It seems so untidy the way it is now, and the next step was going to be even worse, just having it sit in the middle of the floor.
I remember being pleasantly surprised by how much storage space there was in the mobile home we had in Fredericton, and how cleverly it was arranged.
We never completely filled the kitchen cupboards; the washer and dryer lived in a cupboard in the hallway, which had enough shelf space for things like the Christmas decorations, spare lightbulbs and so on; mops and brushes fitted in the boiler cupboard; and there was a corner of the walk-in wardrobe that was a perfect fit for the Christmas tree, which didn't even need to be dismantled - it just got covered in an old sheet and shoved into its corner.
Cupboards are useful things. When the people who owed my house previously wanted a shower they just open out the back of a cupboard that shared a wall with the bathroom and that was where the shower was installed.
When my Mum came to visit the first time she was overwhelmed by the cupboard space -until I suggested she open a particular door.
My brother made amazing bedrooms for my neices. He made bunk beds but in a z shape so that one was in each room.
My son and family live in a tiny two room flat. It’s lovely with a balcony overlooking a fabulous view and a very big shared garden with a stream at the bottom. But it’s tiny. They have all sorts of good storage solutions.
My Enkelin now needs a room of her own so they are going to install a clever drop-down bed in the other room.
I am starting to wonder if I was a particularly cold mother.
My daughter has been packing stuff to move to her new home and came across a pencil pot which I had made for her for a particular school project. It is half a Pringles tube covered in paper. My daughter wanted to keep this. Her fiancé understandably did not want this moving into their home.
Daughter said she wanted to keep it because I had made it for her and it made her happy. I asked if I was such a crap mother that she needed the reassurance of decorated pringle-tubes to convince herself she had been a loved child. The quinie conceded the point and binned it. Whereupon my son retrieved it from the bin and has squirrelled it away in his room. It wasn't even for his school project!!!
If I had known, sixteen years ago, that the paper covered pringle tube would still be lurking in my house in 2022 I would not have made it in the first place.
ETA: NEQ, what follows is not about you, it's just a rant I had to get off my chest on a similar subject. Part of the estrangement with my mother...
IMHO don't overthink it. People who are deeply loved and know it still develop the oddest attachments for the oddest things, and there's no need to cause them pain by demanding they bin something--unless you've got a whole major problem with hoarding, in which case time to talk to a professional!
I routinely ask my kid if he's attached to something (like a small toddler-sized table) before I get rid of it, because my mother used to have mad sessions of binning EVERYTHING, including beloved toys and family mementos, and you could only hope to sneak out into the trash before your baby pics or what-have-you disappeared forever. In fact, just recently she binned the Christmas ornaments that go back to my infancy, knowing how I felt about them, because she had a minor tiff with her husband and wanted him to feel it.
She was rather surprised when, later in the conversation, she told me I should "claim" whatever I wanted in her house before she died and my allegedly-greedy brother came by and stole everything (Yes, this is incredibly counter to reality, he'd never do such a thing). I told her there wasn't anything. She'd just binned the last of what I wanted.
My daughter wanted to keep this. Her fiancé understandably did not want this moving into their home.
I think that's a bit of a shame. If one wanted a pot to put some pencils in, one could a) buy a Faberge one (probably not for me); b) use a jam jar or one of the more recent baked-bean tins which come with a ringpull, and so once open have no sharp edges and are really useful (they're great!); or c) use something with family / childhood connection, and smile about from time to time when you see it.
There's only a limited supply of things which meet case c) - so I tend to hang onto them. Especially those which are useful (like a pencil pot). Other kid stuff like flat artworks are easy - they go on the kids wall-of-art. 3D stuff is more tricky, though I have a small shelf over a door which currently features a small model volcano (working!).
My girls are not even very young - 14 and 16 - but I have always wanted them to feel their stuff matters, in the general clutter. They are pretty resistant to their young scribblings coming off the walls, even nowadays when their friends come round. I guess I don't mind clutter, and other people feel more strongly about that.
I think your son might sneak that pot into your daughter's place when the right moment comes along
And LC - I am sorry for your (Christmas) loss. You've reminded me about my Mum's Christmas Cake Decorations - an unremarkable set of mid 70s small plastic angles, carol singing around a plastic lamppost, with most of their wings snapped off. I hope they're still around somewhere.
In recent years I have occasionally replaced things that were thrown away from my childhood, like my favourite doll, via eBay. I’m a bad de-clutterer!
I am currently trying to tidy a small neglected area every day. On the 1st it was a box of oddments in the bathroom, yesterday I sorted out some clutter on the side in the kitchen and today I sorted, cleaned and tidied away some kilner jars and swing top bottles, including decanting some gin that had tropical fruit steeping in it. I haven’t tried it yet but it smells lovely.
My daughter has lots of childhood mementoes including, but not restricted to: all the cards we received when she was born, some of her baby clothes, her first shoes, first wellies, a lock of her baby hair, hundreds (thousands?) of photos, some of her art work, many of her toys, all of her special cuddlies, her handprints, a couple of hundred of her childhood books, most of her baby teeth, together with letters to the Tooth Fairy, the Chocolate Fairy tin, all of her school reports, kiddie cutlery with her name on, all her Brownie and Guide badges lovingly stitched onto a camp blanket, a file of every news cutting relevant to her, all her bath toys .... I'm sure there's more I could add to this list!
You've jogged my conscience @North East Quine. Some things similat to those you mention - the hospital tag with my son's birth weight, baby teeeth, his baptism candle, assorted drawings and cards sent to me over the years - are still randomly scattered in a rarely opened drawer of my desk. Perhaps it's time I should gather them together and ask if he wants them - he's now 41. But if he doesn't want them, I suspect they'll go back in the smae place..
Makes me realize that I see them as tokens of my motherhood rather than of his childhood.
Ouch! Sorry, I poked my nose in and I shouldn't. It's not unusual
My son says that you are spot on - he's planning to sneak that pringle-tube pot into her house at the first opportunity.
Good point, cgichard; some of the items in my list (cuddlies, toys, books) are tokens of her childhood, but the school reports and baby hand-knits are being kept because I want to keep them.
Pringle tubes have many uses. Touring with a Polish friend somewhere near the Ukraine border, we used one to obscure an indicator lense not needed on a bike used as a (temporary) sidecar outfit. Saying 'I need that Pringle tube for my right indicator' (in English) my kids noted that it would be worth putting money on such a statement, or anything like it, never having been uttered on that spot ever before!
Ouch! Sorry, I poked my nose in and I shouldn't. It's not unusual
???? Not aware of anything you've said wrong???? Unless it wasn't me you meant. You were being nice to me!
In other news...
WE ARE DECLUTTERING A 15 LB TURKEY!
This was a backup for Thanksgiving--a friend always has us over, and was exercised in her mind about the supply chain problems we've been having. Of course, she was able to source a fresh turkey at the appropo time, which left us staring at this frozen monstrosity.
But the KID has been doing a most satisfactory job of eating up all the stuff my husband and I can't or won't eat ourselves, and today the TURKEY takes pride of place. It should be finished in about half an hour. And I got a whole shelf in the freezer back again!
Ouch! Sorry, I poked my nose in and I shouldn't. It's not unusual
I appreciated your comment. It helped me get perspective on the amount of stuff I accumulate, a lot of it being sentimental paperwork (things the children did at school, for example), and accepting that things like that do matter to me, and that's ok. Like other people here, I have got rid of things in the past and regretted it.
I'm sorry about your Christmas ornaments @Lamb Chopped .
My Mum was a ferocious declutterer, and we moved house a lot when I was a child because of my Dad's job. So I hang onto everything that offers security/connection...
But I really think it is time to let my dolls house go....but I remember when I first got it at age 3 or 4 and the wallpaper inside is from the house we were then living in, one of whose rooms was the room my sister was born in...and now I'm 62. Arrrgghhh.
We are just recovering from OffspringFamilieS over Christmas and the New Year. And finally ….Finally! ….those lovely glorious words reached my ears this year,
“ Oh Mum, what on Earth are you keeping Those for?”
(Because you Specifically Asked Me To?)
“Throw them out! Anything decent: charity shop! But just get rid”
Honestly!
The nerve of it!
Don’t know how I didn’t laugh in their faces or throw myself on the floor and cry!
My Mum was a ferocious declutterer, and we moved house a lot when I was a child because of my Dad's job. So I hang onto everything that offers security/connection...
But I really think it is time to let my dolls house go....but I remember when I first got it at age 3 or 4 and the wallpaper inside is from the house we were then living in, one of whose rooms was the room my sister was born in...and now I'm 62. Arrrgghhh.
St E, I still have a dolls' house 'loaned' to me when I was about 2, and I'm 70 now. We've redecorated it at least twice and it has been on loan to my niece, so not much that's original has been retained. At one stage it served as storage for towels...
However, luckily for me, I have 4 grandchildren and the first two have had loads of fun playing with it. Also luckily for me, I have enough room to keep it. When I haven't, it'll be up to the kids to squabble over who gets it!
Good job Boogie. I just did the same with teapots. They do seem to just grow in number. Part of the problem may be that I had more people over for tea before Covid and I liked to have several pots so there was a choice of what tea flavor you wanted, should we not all be drinking the same thing.
David and I had a small collection of teapots, but when I moved back to Scotland, they didn't all make it. I now have just two: a biggish one that's part of a dinner/tea set with Mackintosh-inspired designs and was a present from my in-laws, and a little one in the shape of a piggy.
My decluttering has upped a couple of notches and moved into Getting Rid. Yesterday it was glassware. I used to have big parties back in the day so we have too much of everything now. I sold it all on marketplace (very very cheaply but it saved a trip to the charity shop as I stipulate 'pick up only') Today's Getting Rid will involve pots and pans. Anything not used in the last two years is going.
Our new house is much, much smaller than this one. The whole house is the length of our hallway! So that’s my motivation for being sure every cupboard only has stuff we actually need and use.
Thanks for reviving this thread Boogie, I shall now contemplate
some gentle decluttering.
Unlike you I don't have a deadline, so I may just wander down to one of the 3 charity shops within easy walking distance carrying items I no longer require.
My Mum was a ferocious declutterer, and we moved house a lot when I was a child because of my Dad's job. So I hang onto everything that offers security/connection...
But I really think it is time to let my dolls house go....but I remember when I first got it at age 3 or 4 and the wallpaper inside is from the house we were then living in, one of whose rooms was the room my sister was born in...and now I'm 62. Arrrgghhh.
St E, I still have a dolls' house 'loaned' to me when I was about 2, and I'm 70 now. We've redecorated it at least twice and it has been on loan to my niece, so not much that's original has been retained. At one stage it served as storage for towels...
However, luckily for me, I have 4 grandchildren and the first two have had loads of fun playing with it. Also luckily for me, I have enough room to keep it. When I haven't, it'll be up to the kids to squabble over who gets it!
It has been over a year since we moved after downsizing for the move, donating even more after we got into our new home. and unloading stuff from boxes into drawers and closets to free up moving boxes, often without rhyme or reason. The grandchild is on summer break and said when asked, that she loves organizing stuff. This shall finally be the end of moving in. Looking forward to her visit and her skills.
We are planning a major declutter and deciding how we want to live our lives combination in lieu of going on holiday this summer.
I've been on holiday with friends, and we had a week away together for our daughter's second wedding, so neither of us is that bothered about not going away for a holiday together. The North East Man gets home from a work trip to America on Friday and the Great Declutter starts on Saturday.
We're going to start with the garage and shed. The NE Man reckons that will take a week. We are also going on a spending fast for the week as one of our clutter issues is problem solving by buying stuff. We do NOT need to buy a "storage solution." We need to declutter. We're going to live off food from the freezer in the garage as part of the declutter, and rethink what we put back into the freezer. I tend to stock the freezer with "ingredients" and my husband would prefer more ready-prepared meals. So I'm going to declutter the freezer by making meals from the ingredients in it, then batch-cook some complete meals to freeze the following week.
So that's the plan. And we all know what happens to "the best laid plans"...
I decluttered my shed last w/e. I knew it was going to take some time, and I chose the middle of a dry spell so that the shed contents could be turned out onto the lawn and left there for as long as it took.
The weather being as hot as it was, I spent roughly three hours, between 5.30am -9.30am, on it on Saturday, plus another hour in the evening before it got too dark to see inside the shed. The same on Sunday, and an hour or so on Monday, once Mr RoS had adjusted some shelving.
I keep going in and admiring it, as it had been 'in a state' for 18months or more.
We need to declutter shed and garage simultaneously, to avoid the temptation of tidying the garage by moving stuff into the shed, then tidying the shed by moving stuff into the garage.
We need to declutter shed and garage simultaneously, to avoid the temptation of tidying the garage by moving stuff into the shed, then tidying the shed by moving stuff into the garage.
That was not an option for me, as neither has room to take in surplus items from the other.
Hence the need to choose a few guaranteed dry days to leave things out in the open.
Returned from holidays in clean, uncluttered accommodation to the cluttered state of our house, but it is too hot for even basic chores, never mind decluttering..
The best laid plans have indeed gone agley - my husband's plane was fully boarded on Thursday night when they discovered an engine problem, and so, after spending two hours on the plane, everyone was de-planed and put up in a hotel.
The same thing happened last night, though with less time on the plane and a different hotel. If all goes well he'll be flying home tonight, arriving tomorrow morning.
I took all the recyclables from the garage to the recycling centre yesterday, so I have at least made a start on the garage. Whether he'll be in the mood for decluttering after two difficult and stressful days remains to be seen - I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.
We did the cooking pots and pans cupboard today. It’s a huge corner cupboard and it was jam-packed. I have been putting it off as Mr Boog is the cook here.
He doesn’t cause clutter at all and lives in quite a minimalist way. 90% of all the clutter that’s now gone was mine. But he hates ‘Getting Rid’ so I thought the cooking stuff would be a difficult negotiation. I couldn’t just do it as I’m unsure what he uses and what he doesn’t.
Anyway - it was easy!
About 80% of the stuff that was in there is now all bagged up and going to charity.
You are indeed making headway Boogie. Great work. You have inspired me to take a look at my pantry. No throwing out is needed but a good rearrange is in order. I come home from shopping and just put stuff in willy-nilly.
My husband is finally home, but has been asleep most of the day. And I've discovered a wasp bike close to the door of the shed, which means that we'll have to be cautious going in and out.
So our decluttering plans have been put on hold for a week.
Wasp bike? The ship never fails to amaze. The only wasp bike I knew about was an old and heavy Schwinn one-speed. Good for paper routes.
(Do any kids have paper routes anymore?)
I had to g**gle that, not an expression I had heard before, although had one or two at our old house. I did resort to getting a pest-control person in to exterminate the occupants of the one over the front door.
I've had wasp bikes which were in our loft (attic) exterminated, because the wasps were getting into the house. I don't want to kill wasps which are merely inconvenient.
I'm hoping perhaps to drag out a box of CDs to go through and dispose of. My husband bought a box of them at an auction and I think we found one that we wanted to keep. So if the remainder are in the box, they will be shunted off quick smart. I do have another box, which are CDs which I took from my Dad's place when he died. I think these might be a bit harder to cull, but I'll give it a go.
The decluttering of the garage is now in full swing and it's going very well. We got off to a flying start when we discovered several boxes my daughter had packed up to go to a charity shop once they re-opened after lockdown. One quick trip into town and they were gone!
Lots more sorting, and two trips to the coup (municipal tip) later and we have a clear path right the way down the garage, plus a clear table top to sort stuff on.
We have discovered eight pairs of gardening gloves plus four single gloves so far, and suspect more may be lurking. Also lots and lots of the things which connect bamboo canes.
We haven't approached the shed on account of the wasps.
Darling daughter has decided to declutter her life by bringing it all here. 😟
She was most surprised when I told her my kitchen is as equipped as I need it to be and I don’t want her rejects. 😄
Comments
We never completely filled the kitchen cupboards; the washer and dryer lived in a cupboard in the hallway, which had enough shelf space for things like the Christmas decorations, spare lightbulbs and so on; mops and brushes fitted in the boiler cupboard; and there was a corner of the walk-in wardrobe that was a perfect fit for the Christmas tree, which didn't even need to be dismantled - it just got covered in an old sheet and shoved into its corner.
When my Mum came to visit the first time she was overwhelmed by the cupboard space -until I suggested she open a particular door.
My son and family live in a tiny two room flat. It’s lovely with a balcony overlooking a fabulous view and a very big shared garden with a stream at the bottom. But it’s tiny. They have all sorts of good storage solutions.
My Enkelin now needs a room of her own so they are going to install a clever drop-down bed in the other room.
😇
My daughter has been packing stuff to move to her new home and came across a pencil pot which I had made for her for a particular school project. It is half a Pringles tube covered in paper. My daughter wanted to keep this. Her fiancé understandably did not want this moving into their home.
Daughter said she wanted to keep it because I had made it for her and it made her happy. I asked if I was such a crap mother that she needed the reassurance of decorated pringle-tubes to convince herself she had been a loved child. The quinie conceded the point and binned it. Whereupon my son retrieved it from the bin and has squirrelled it away in his room. It wasn't even for his school project!!!
If I had known, sixteen years ago, that the paper covered pringle tube would still be lurking in my house in 2022 I would not have made it in the first place.
IMHO don't overthink it. People who are deeply loved and know it still develop the oddest attachments for the oddest things, and there's no need to cause them pain by demanding they bin something--unless you've got a whole major problem with hoarding, in which case time to talk to a professional!
I routinely ask my kid if he's attached to something (like a small toddler-sized table) before I get rid of it, because my mother used to have mad sessions of binning EVERYTHING, including beloved toys and family mementos, and you could only hope to sneak out into the trash before your baby pics or what-have-you disappeared forever. In fact, just recently she binned the Christmas ornaments that go back to my infancy, knowing how I felt about them, because she had a minor tiff with her husband and wanted him to feel it.
She was rather surprised when, later in the conversation, she told me I should "claim" whatever I wanted in her house before she died and my allegedly-greedy brother came by and stole everything (Yes, this is incredibly counter to reality, he'd never do such a thing). I told her there wasn't anything. She'd just binned the last of what I wanted.
I think that's a bit of a shame. If one wanted a pot to put some pencils in, one could a) buy a Faberge one (probably not for me); b) use a jam jar or one of the more recent baked-bean tins which come with a ringpull, and so once open have no sharp edges and are really useful (they're great!); or c) use something with family / childhood connection, and smile about from time to time when you see it.
There's only a limited supply of things which meet case c) - so I tend to hang onto them. Especially those which are useful (like a pencil pot). Other kid stuff like flat artworks are easy - they go on the kids wall-of-art. 3D stuff is more tricky, though I have a small shelf over a door which currently features a small model volcano (working!).
My girls are not even very young - 14 and 16 - but I have always wanted them to feel their stuff matters, in the general clutter. They are pretty resistant to their young scribblings coming off the walls, even nowadays when their friends come round. I guess I don't mind clutter, and other people feel more strongly about that.
I think your son might sneak that pot into your daughter's place when the right moment comes along
And LC - I am sorry for your (Christmas) loss. You've reminded me about my Mum's Christmas Cake Decorations - an unremarkable set of mid 70s small plastic angles, carol singing around a plastic lamppost, with most of their wings snapped off. I hope they're still around somewhere.
I am currently trying to tidy a small neglected area every day. On the 1st it was a box of oddments in the bathroom, yesterday I sorted out some clutter on the side in the kitchen and today I sorted, cleaned and tidied away some kilner jars and swing top bottles, including decanting some gin that had tropical fruit steeping in it. I haven’t tried it yet but it smells lovely.
Makes me realize that I see them as tokens of my motherhood rather than of his childhood.
My son says that you are spot on - he's planning to sneak that pringle-tube pot into her house at the first opportunity.
Good point, cgichard; some of the items in my list (cuddlies, toys, books) are tokens of her childhood, but the school reports and baby hand-knits are being kept because I want to keep them.
???? Not aware of anything you've said wrong???? Unless it wasn't me you meant. You were being nice to me!
In other news...
WE ARE DECLUTTERING A 15 LB TURKEY!
This was a backup for Thanksgiving--a friend always has us over, and was exercised in her mind about the supply chain problems we've been having. Of course, she was able to source a fresh turkey at the appropo time, which left us staring at this frozen monstrosity.
But the KID has been doing a most satisfactory job of eating up all the stuff my husband and I can't or won't eat ourselves, and today the TURKEY takes pride of place. It should be finished in about half an hour. And I got a whole shelf in the freezer back again!
I appreciated your comment. It helped me get perspective on the amount of stuff I accumulate, a lot of it being sentimental paperwork (things the children did at school, for example), and accepting that things like that do matter to me, and that's ok. Like other people here, I have got rid of things in the past and regretted it.
I'm sorry about your Christmas ornaments @Lamb Chopped
( great books, appallingly embarrassing covers, usually Christian)
But I really think it is time to let my dolls house go....but I remember when I first got it at age 3 or 4 and the wallpaper inside is from the house we were then living in, one of whose rooms was the room my sister was born in...and now I'm 62. Arrrgghhh.
Indeed!!!!
And thanks for the ornaments sympathy, everybody.
“ Oh Mum, what on Earth are you keeping Those for?”
(Because you Specifically Asked Me To?)
“Throw them out! Anything decent: charity shop! But just get rid”
Honestly!
The nerve of it!
Don’t know how I didn’t laugh in their faces or throw myself on the floor and cry!
I go to bed a very gently amused mama. Have calmed down!
St E, I still have a dolls' house 'loaned' to me when I was about 2, and I'm 70 now. We've redecorated it at least twice and it has been on loan to my niece, so not much that's original has been retained. At one stage it served as storage for towels...
However, luckily for me, I have 4 grandchildren and the first two have had loads of fun playing with it. Also luckily for me, I have enough room to keep it. When I haven't, it'll be up to the kids to squabble over who gets it!
Two more drawers tomorrow.
😇
My decluttering has upped a couple of notches and moved into Getting Rid. Yesterday it was glassware. I used to have big parties back in the day so we have too much of everything now. I sold it all on marketplace (very very cheaply but it saved a trip to the charity shop as I stipulate 'pick up only') Today's Getting Rid will involve pots and pans. Anything not used in the last two years is going.
Our new house is much, much smaller than this one. The whole house is the length of our hallway! So that’s my motivation for being sure every cupboard only has stuff we actually need and use.
Moving day could be as early as September - eeep!
some gentle decluttering.
Unlike you I don't have a deadline, so I may just wander down to one of the 3 charity shops within easy walking distance carrying items I no longer require.
Alas, I have no children...
Just close the door Huia, and all the stuff will disappear. Very effective.
I've been on holiday with friends, and we had a week away together for our daughter's second wedding, so neither of us is that bothered about not going away for a holiday together. The North East Man gets home from a work trip to America on Friday and the Great Declutter starts on Saturday.
We're going to start with the garage and shed. The NE Man reckons that will take a week. We are also going on a spending fast for the week as one of our clutter issues is problem solving by buying stuff. We do NOT need to buy a "storage solution." We need to declutter. We're going to live off food from the freezer in the garage as part of the declutter, and rethink what we put back into the freezer. I tend to stock the freezer with "ingredients" and my husband would prefer more ready-prepared meals. So I'm going to declutter the freezer by making meals from the ingredients in it, then batch-cook some complete meals to freeze the following week.
So that's the plan. And we all know what happens to "the best laid plans"...
The weather being as hot as it was, I spent roughly three hours, between 5.30am -9.30am, on it on Saturday, plus another hour in the evening before it got too dark to see inside the shed. The same on Sunday, and an hour or so on Monday, once Mr RoS had adjusted some shelving.
I keep going in and admiring it, as it had been 'in a state' for 18months or more.
Hence the need to choose a few guaranteed dry days to leave things out in the open.
The same thing happened last night, though with less time on the plane and a different hotel. If all goes well he'll be flying home tonight, arriving tomorrow morning.
I took all the recyclables from the garage to the recycling centre yesterday, so I have at least made a start on the garage. Whether he'll be in the mood for decluttering after two difficult and stressful days remains to be seen - I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.
He doesn’t cause clutter at all and lives in quite a minimalist way. 90% of all the clutter that’s now gone was mine. But he hates ‘Getting Rid’ so I thought the cooking stuff would be a difficult negotiation. I couldn’t just do it as I’m unsure what he uses and what he doesn’t.
Anyway - it was easy!
About 80% of the stuff that was in there is now all bagged up and going to charity.
Very satisfying 😇😇
My husband is finally home, but has been asleep most of the day. And I've discovered a wasp bike close to the door of the shed, which means that we'll have to be cautious going in and out.
So our decluttering plans have been put on hold for a week.
(Do any kids have paper routes anymore?)
Lots more sorting, and two trips to the coup (municipal tip) later and we have a clear path right the way down the garage, plus a clear table top to sort stuff on.
We have discovered eight pairs of gardening gloves plus four single gloves so far, and suspect more may be lurking. Also lots and lots of the things which connect bamboo canes.
We haven't approached the shed on account of the wasps.
She was most surprised when I told her my kitchen is as equipped as I need it to be and I don’t want her rejects. 😄