November 2022, Decluttering by Design

[Harriet]

Do you have ꧁ღ designs ღ꧂ on your lovely home, with its clear, uncomplicated spaces?

How are you making progress toward the oust of clutter and simplification of your living space?

Do tell !
You may help someone along the way !

[Nancy]

Two cans of stuff I pruned off last month are now in the trash ready to go on the next trash day yea!

[Harriet]

We let the mini-refrigerator go to the father of one of the electricians, who was here running errands for the other guys. That frees up about 6 to 7 cubic feet of space in our mud room, from which we really weren't getting use AT ALL. It had a purpose upstairs in HRH's office at the larger house, but we never found one for it here. Here his office is convenient to the kitchen itself.

The room seems much easier to navigate. I'll admit it was convenient to perch a laundry basket, but the dryer can serve that purpose, which will encourage us to keep its surface clear. Also, the mini-fridge was black in an aqua and white room, so it sure wasn't doing anything to keep the room welcoming. You had to look past it to see the new appliances that cost so much more, lol. And you had to walk around it to get to them. Now I can breeze into that room carrying a basket, without trying to make myself smaller!

Decluttering continues to be more benefit to the other house than to this one. Things continue to be found that need our decision-making. This is mostly attic and under-eave storage, etc. Not things that are keeping dd42's family from living their lives, but still.

I still don't understand how we could have hired a large skif to toss things, filled a long-bed pickup brimming full to toss things, taken yet another load to Goodwill, have one child move out taking an entire bedroom of items away, and still have such a crowded house here, when we only down-sized from 2,000 square feet to 1,600.

[Harmony]

I guess 400 sq. feet makes a difference. When I moved to a smaller bedroom, I noticed the difference right away. Not having a dresser and a larger closet, plus having the cabinet sewing machine in the corner has really changed things.

Our GW store is closed. It's a big building with a flat roof. Because it's flat, one cant see the tarp except along the very edge. I was waiting for Nov to donate the big Christmas tree base.

My GFriend thinks the one in her town south of us is open. I might have to ride down there.

Adding to my post here:

I've watched the piles of debris growing around here. When a house has had water damage inside from the roof / rain people pull everything out and pile it up out there, big piles of insulation, cabinets, sometimes flooring, some furniture. But I've been seeing some things that look old but do not look damaged at all. I think some are just getting rid of stuff they no longer want, because it's an easy way to have it hauled off. DH has agreed with me. He sees things closer than I do because he rides around on his bicycle. I will admit, when we put the new mulch around the base of the fence, we put what's left in a pile up in a corner by the side/back yard. In that spot we'd had column forms from a house we built, and they had rotted and fell apart and we added that to our piles of stuff. It really wasn't hurricane damage, but it also wasn't huge piles of stuff like we're seeing. I think some of the problems we have decluttering is the logistics of actually getting the stuff GONE. Like our thrift store closed now. I need to find a new place to donate.

[Harmony]

I think everybody is too busy with the holidays coming to think about decluttering. It's always on my mind.

Now, I'm not just dealing with another cooler here, and the golf clubs DH picked up, today I saw a hockey stick laying there. It's damaged and looks bad. What is he thinking? Nobody down here plays hockey, none of my grands, and nobody I know. It's the dumbest thing. I'm wondering where his saw is...

With the Christmas Tree stand today went a tiny purse I have had and hadn't used for years and years and a new TShirt that is the wrong size and DH will never wear. It's not much, but every little bit helps.

[Nancy]

Decluttered some thing not by design, a tray I took stuff over on for Turkey Thursday at
dsons got used for the centerpiece, said they could just keep it.

[Harmony]

Shhh don't tell anybody but I found DH's saw. It was an easy less than 1 minute task to cut up that damaged hockey stick. Put that and the pair of old tennis shoes he found in the road in the bottom of the rubbish bag from the kitchen. I guess this isn't the best way to handle this problem around here, but nothing else seems to work.

[Nancy]

Yea Harmony!

I remember I used to have to double bag old boots lh was never going to get resoled.
Eventually he came around.

I have tossed some unneeded small containers I found in the basement doing my morning rounds.
Thought I would use em for painting rocks but that did not happen it's been over a year.