February's Plan

Four weekends + One vacation day = early spring cleaning!

My house is overflowing with too much stuff!! Now, while I am a big culprit of the stuff, it isn’t just my stuff! Ashleigh and Cyra have become “stuffers” too.

My biggest collection of stuff currently is of course my crafting stuff and books.

I have made a huge dent in the books category recently. I donated roughly 150 – 200 books to the library. Many of the books were Cyra’s and Ashleigh’s old books. Many were paperbacks that I read once and had no intention of ever revisiting. That was a good day. And I know I have plenty more to donate.

In the craft department…let’s just say that I have forbidden myself from going into a craft store for at least… a good long time at least! (Unless, of course, I hear that familiar whine, “Oh, Mom, I forgot to tell you about my project…”) I have made a concentrated effort to condense and organize my crafts. The problem is I really need a dedicated craft room. As that isn’t going to happen (since the girls keep fighting me on sharing a room again), one of the plans I am making involves requisitioning space from the attic to create a craft storage area. Now, keeping in mind that there are some things that just shouldn’t be stored in an uninsulated attic, I think that I could potentially reduce my visible craft clutter by a third.

That idea, of course, leads to a major overhaul of the attic itself. Currently, I don’t even want to talk about it! However, I know that at least half of the boxes up there were not even opened after the move, so, that means, whatever is in those boxes, I have lived without for over four years. I’m not sure I even want to open them! I think I would just rather have Salvation Army come and take them all away. That way I know I’ll never miss the stuff, because I don’t remember what stuff it was.

Now, that’s just my stuff. Scott has things in the attic that he will need to go through as well. And the same principle will apply: he has lived without it, therefore he doesn’t need it.

That just leaves the girls. Sometimes I forget how attached to my stuff I was when I was Ashleigh’s age. I know how hard it is to get rid of anything, because of all the memories attached to each item. I wish there was a way I could convince her that the stuffed animal she deems as “the most important thing ever” will, twenty years from now, not matter all that much. I wish that she could know that it isn’t the thing; it is the person who matters.

With Cyra dejunking is slightly easier. We pack up toys that I think she has outgrown and we stash them away in the attic. If after six months she hasn’t pleaded to play with them, then we donate them to the place of her choice. Last year it was her old pre-school. This year, I have a thought that it will be the same. Her memories of her pre-school are vivid, clear and all good.

The very last thing I want to accomplish in my spring cleaning is this: set up an efficient, organized home office. I have horrible organization skills. I am willing to admit that- No, it isn’t really the organization part I have issues with. I can organize. My problem is keeping everything organized. The whole saying, “a place for everything and everything in its place,” has long been my nemesis. Having an organized home office would take more than just organizing. It would take a dedicated, active effort to maintain the organization in the long term.

So, those are the plans for February. Maybe March as well. Hopefully not into April…but I wouldn’t put money on it.