I’ve Been a Busy Bee – A Busy Decluttering Bee

It seems as if life has gotten pretty busy lately in Jane’s Domain.

Last week I had to move all the furniture out of the living room so new carpeting could be installed. And then, a mere 24 hours later, I had to move it all back. And, because I’m a little OCD when it comes to furniture and knick-knack placement, I had to do it all myself.

This was an arduous process made bearable by the fact that we now have pretty new carpeting in the living room.

So now we’re hoping the carpet is Maggie proof. And we are also hoping that Twinks-the-hairball-yakking-cat will avoid it, too, but all bets are off because as you may know, you cannot control a cat.

Plus, 4 a.m. seems to be the magic Hairball Hour, and I am not awake at that time to shoo her off the Berber.

Nevertheless, as of today – an entire week after installation – I can happily report that the carpet is still in pristine condition.

Wonder if the “Caution” tape and the homemade barriers I’ve erected that would also come in handy during a zombie apocalypse have helped?

Nah, I’m just kidding. That would’ve been too much work, especially since I’m still in the “sinking my tootsies in the new carpet” stage and don’t want to have to climb over and under and in and around barriers just to reach the carpet myself.

But I will say that we’re watching our critters a whole lot more carefully these days.

I had other extra chores to do as well last week. We were hosting my brothers and sister this past weekend, so I knew I had to tackle the lower level. The bedroom down there has become the catch-all, U-Stor-It room for the past year or so ever since I packed up my parents’ house to sell it.

I had boxes of my parents’ photo albums in that room that I’ve been planning to scan, but have yet to start. I have my mother’s wedding dress in a box that I couldn’t throw away or donate…but I have no idea what to do with it. I had other miscellaneous bric-a-brac from their home collected over some sixty-three years of married life that I couldn’t seem to part with, but have no place to put – so I’ve kept it all in boxes in the bedroom downstairs.

I also had empty boxes and bins for all those things I need to someday clear out and organize. And I had the remnants of a dresser that I will someday refinish and place in my Craft Room that is also currently a storage area but hopes to be an official Craft Room. Someday.

You can imagine, then, the work it took to clear out and clean this bedroom. My brother John was coming along for the family weekend, so I knew I had to have that room ready for his stay. It took hours of hard, sweaty labor, but when I was done, I was relieved and happy with the results.

And then John ended up sleeping on the recliner in the living room in the lower level because he has to sleep with the TV on and there is no TV in the bedroom, a few short feet away.

Yeesh.

Fortunately, the weekend went off without a hitch and a good time was had by all. We had mom over and celebrated her birthday. Sure, we were a month early, but (a) mom sadly doesn’t know the difference, and (b) we wanted to celebrate when she had all her children together. I’m sure when October 23^rd rolls around I’ll celebrate with her again, but it was nice to have us all together.

Normally, when the family weekend visits are over, I take a day to put my home back to rights and then I zonk out for a day or two. The perfectionist in me spends a LOT of time cleaning and doing what I can to make it a great weekend for all and I’m pretty worn out by the time it’s over.

But I’m happy to report that my decluttering instincts were still in overdrive and I spent the better part of yesterday tackling the dreaded furnace room – or DFR for short.

Vince says anyone who enters that room must be wearing an OSHA-approved hard hat.

Isn’t Vince funny? Oh, soooo funny.

If you ever watched Friends, you may recall that Monica was a neat freak. Her apartment was always impeccably clean and organized. But she had a secret closet. And one day Chandler – who was told never to open that closet door – jimmied the lock. And, inside, was a veritable hoarder’s paradise. It was filled floor-to-ceiling with junk.

That’s how I have felt about my DFR. It’s my shame. It’s my “junk drawer” morphed into an entire room.

And I can’t stand it anymore so it has to go!

So I took those empty bins and boxes and spread them out in the living area in the lower level and waded into the DFR. I started sorting like nobody’s business. I had little sticky notes with headings and I separated and sorted and purged.  I hauled three large garbage bags to the garage. I have boxes ready for the donation center. And I’m starting to see the floor, er, I mean, the light at the end of the tunnel.

I still have hours (days?) to go, but at least I made a good-sized dent in this massive undertaking.

I see several more trips to the donation center in my future. And more trips to the resale shop. I don’t, however, see another garage sale in my immediate future. Two this summer was about two too many!

But unless we’re planning to build a dedicated Bric-a-Brac storage room in this house, I’m going to have to part ways with a few boxes.  Okay a whole lotta boxes!

Because I am NOT filling up the lower level bedroom again – I just finished decluttering in there!

And...no...I did NOT take any "Before" and "After" photos. Someday there may be "After" photos. But not yet.