2009 Decrapping Project

We've lived here for ten years come August. And in that ten years, we've accumulated a lot. I'm attempting to decrap the house - purge the junk and useless stuff we don't need and probably never will need. I should be systematically going room by room, but it's more of a random process so far.

When Mr. Lawyer and I talk about "my stuff" and "his stuff," "his stuff" is literally his personal stuff. His clothes, his sports collectibles, his tools, his actual stuff.

"My stuff" is everything else in the house. Everything for the house, family photo albums, holiday stuff. Everything on the walls, everything in the kitchen, everything decorative, all of it. Oh, and all three kids' stuff - that's my stuff. Yep - all "my" stuff. The only stuff that he would admit joint ownership to are the electronics and the vehicles. Oh, and the house itself, I suppose. He's not keen on it, so maybe not even that.

So when we are decluttering our stuff he's not very useful, the excuse is that in comparison, he has so little stuff compared to mine and why don't I get rid of mine?

To his credit, he got rid of boxes and boxes of papers and...stuff....from the downstairs office several months ago. It was very times consuming, and he attacked it like a champ - it was awesome.

However, he has a full closet full of his college attire that he will never fit back into. He thinks the boys will wear it one day...hell, at the rate they are growing, they probably will. But it's a LOT of clothes. And some if it, not so attractive..... Skinny ties anyone? I'm not sure it's worth taking up an entire closet for, but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

Oh, lord - and his books, CDs and DVDs...I'm talking thousands of each. Stuff far too nice to throw out or give away, but it does take up a massive amount of room, you know? I'm not sure there really is a remedy, though some of the books need to go. Do we really need that vintage C+ programming guide? And by vintage, I mean of course, completely obsolete.

I admittedly have a ton of holiday junk. I've been trying to prune as we go through the year, but then I hit the after holiday sale and we're back to square one. And honestly, I think now is the time to enjoy holiday crap - when the kids are young. I can always chuck it when they are older, right? I do make a point of getting rid of the really junky stuff, though. Hooray for Freecycle.com! So part of the decrapping project will attempt to reorganize the stuff, so it will all fit back int he rear of the Master closet, instead of infringing on the rest of the room.

On the project list (I'm documenting this as much for me as anything else):

~The Linen Closet - reorganize and purge...TODAY!
~The Nursery Closet - reorganize and purge. This is more work than you'd think since the disarray has spilled out onto the the floor and threatens to swallow the baby as she sleeps.
~The Master Closet - reorganize and purge. Probably 2 full days worth of effort needed here...it's a BIG closet.
~The large box of unread magazines that I haven't gotten to yet.
~The other large box of unread magazines that I haven't gotten to yet....maybe donate to the hospital?
~The coupon box - organize.
~The kids' art supplies - reorganize into super cute bins I bought.
~Boxes and bozes and boxes of legal books (anyone need a full set of reporters or Texas Jurisprudence? No?) - this alone will free up about 18 file boxes worth of space and I've been given the OK to find it a new home (!!!!)

With 3 kids 5 and under, the progress is slower than you might think...for every minute I spend cleaning, they spend that same minute cluttering, spilling, spreading, dumping, destroying, or pooing in or on some other part of the house. One step forward, two steps back. But it's better than just two steps back, right?

I think we'll be in better shape once I can get rid of all the baby toys and clothes. We want another kid, in theory, but I don't think we're going to have one. Age, finances, blah blah blah. It just makes sense to stop now. That said, I'm not really ready to purge the infant stuff she's outgrown or won't use yet....that and the fear that once I do we'll have a little surprise in the oven. You guys know how much space that all takes up though...two full closets and pretty much the whole spare room full of pack and play, exersaucer, highchairs, etc. A ton of stuff. It will be really cathartic to get rid of it when I'm ready.....both mentally and for the physical space it will free up.

We know we are going to move at some point...don't know how far, could be across town, could be to another state. I keep thinking "would I take this with us?" As it turns out, there's not a lot of stuff here I'd actually take with us, especially to another state.

Off I go....hitting the linen closet first. Everything that isn't donation-worthy will got to the local cat shelter - they can always use linens of all types. Here we go!