Things are abuzz here! School starts in a few days, my big guy will start First Grade and Maisie will start her Pre-K class. Our local pool will be closing after this weekend and there is lots to do between filling out paperwork, picking up supplies and trying to eek out the last bit of summer. To add to the craziness, our Borough has a town wide Garage Sale the first Saturday after Labor Day. We happen to have a garage full of stuff, and only part of it needs to come back inside. So we need to kick it into high gear and do some serious sorting! I always have a hard time getting rid of stuff and I am not a good salesperson, but we are hoping that this could make a serious dent in our piles. Before we started on the third floor we actually used both our garage spaces for cars. I’m not quite sure we could get back to that, but the plan is that by winter we could be back to having a fully functional garage.
In addition to the stuff already out in the garage, we also have a lot of kids toys that the kids have outgrown. Of course as soon as I mention getting rid of something, both kids immediately tell me that they LOVE it and couldn’t possibly part with it and play with it, how ever silly it seems. Sam trying to push on a ball popper when he is WAY too tall was pretty hilarious. I like to think we are at peak toy quantity (maybe I am dreaming) and that we can start to shrink the area that they take up or at least be able to put things away in a smaller footprint.
Of course the kids aren’t the only culprit. I have plenty of piles myself. One of my biggest vices are magazines, books and fabric. Once we get the third floor craft room finished I actually hope to get my fabric organized in a way that I can see it all in one place and make better use of it. The magazines require the most sorting and organizing. I have several binders full of inspiring pictures (of course with Pinterest, I find myself going to this a lot less). In a dream world I would scan the images that speak to me and get rid of them. hmmm…Not sure if that will happen in this lifetime.
Meanwhile, the kids closet is moving along. It just needs one more coat of trim paint, then the shelves and clothing rods can go in. I spent way too many hours in the closet over the weekend spackling some more, priming and painting. I am looking forward to actually using this closet for kids clothes and not random stuff. Of course this means I still need to find a place to store the vacuum.
Anyone else purging? Am I the only one who dreams of having an organizer coming over and helping me clear the clutter (or at least telling me it is okay to get rid of stuff)?
Paper is my weakness, if I don’t have an immediate plan it just piles up. Periodically I get the urge to purge and I make good progress, but I don’t have a strategy to prevent it from happening in the first place. The Borough yard sale was a lot of fun for me last year, I hope that it turns out well for you this year!
We have that problem too! Although I did a big shred/purge not that long ago. I keep thinking if I could scan some stuff I could lighten the load. Electronic bill paying also helped my enormously! I also bought some new baskets for the shelf in the hall to hold paper. Of course they eventually fill up!