Working On It

My husband is jumping for joy. My quest for a more organized and clutter-free life has finally, finally led me to the pit of despair basement.

We've got this great room in our basement that's not big enough for anything more than just storage. A long time ago Chris built these great shelves for it - sturdy enough to stow away lots of dead bodies heavy items if need be. The problem with our storage room is that since moving in well over 3 years ago, that room has been the handy-dandy catch-all for everything from bags of outgrown baby clothes to birthday decorations to art projects to all kinds of crap items that we didn't know what to do with. Tell me, people, what's the point of a storage room if it's so full there's no room to actually store anything in it?

Over the years, we've been casually pecking away at it. I move things around, get rid of a tiny bit of stuff, and then stop. A few months later we're always back to the same old place - barely space to put down my feet as I step over boxes and bags and whatever else gets chucked in there.

Our neighbours moved out recently (yes, those neighbours), and before they left, they gave us some great shelving with adjustable tracks. Chris installed those a few days ago, and I spent Friday afternoon working on the storage room. I'm being particularly ruthless in my culling, as I realize that having all this "stuff" hanging around isn't doing us any good. I also spent a great deal of time organizing the things that we are going to keep, and putting them in labeled boxes. Things like craft supplies for the kids, kid painting supplies, gift wrapping supplies, extra stationary, blah blah blah. The room is finally starting to take shape.

I still have a lot of work to do down there, but it finally feels do-able, not the overwhelming torturous task that it's seemed like all these years. It's also so freeing to get rid of "stuff" - I never realized how much it seems to weigh me down. My spirit feels lighter already. And still have a whole lot more to get rid of.

Next stop after the storage room: The workshop.

Maybe. I'm not sure how masochistic I'm feeling this week.