Serious Decluttering!

I have been decluttering all over my house. We have way more "stuff" than we need. We moved here over four years ago, from a large house to a smaller house. There are still boxes in the basement that we haven't unpacked. We have too many sofas, too many chairs, too many lamps, too many rugs, and way too many pictures to hang on too few walls.

I used to have the perfect kitchen, with a large pantry and lots of convenient pull-out shelves. Now I have fewer cupboards and a smaller pantry. So, I have lots of kitchen utensils and no place to put them. (I did make room for my new panini press, though!)

Also, I used to commute to work on the train and walk six blocks to work. So I had boots, scarves, gloves and hats that I don't really need for quick runs in and out of my car now.

To make my matters much worse, my hobby is quilting and I have accumulated a huge fabric stash. To go along with the fabric there are buttons, lace, ribbons, and all the embellishments that go with it.


The last two weekends have been devoted to the basement area. There is a large finished area, where I have all my craft supplies, and two unfinished storage areas. All of them are as full as they can be. Last weekend my husband went into one of the storage areas and just started hauling things out. I waded through it all, sorting as fast as I could to keep up with him.

I sorted things into the following categories:
1. Stuff to keep
2. Stuff to donate
3. Stuff to sell at the consignment store
4. Stuff to put on eBay

Last weekend my husband helped me take a huge load of things to the consignment store. On Tuesday a vets group collected several large boxes from our front porch. This past week I have made several trips to the Goodwill store. I have several boxes of things set aside to put on eBay.

This week I have been working on my fabric stash. This involved going to Target for shelving and storage units. This morning I spent four hours sorting and stashing my stash. I still need more storage!

When my parents moved out of their house, they had thirty years worth of "stuff" in their basement. It was a nightmare. I am determined not to accumulate things in that manner. It just doesn't make any sense. I have adopted a new policy. If I don't need something at least once a year, then i don't need it at all. This is going to take a while. This is going to be a long-term, ongoing project.