Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Weekly Clutter Challenge, now with even more motivation

When I started my challenge to declutter my house, my goal was a simple one: to make things neater, tidier and more pleasant, as well as make better use of the existing storage space.

We've recently made a big decision that's given me even more motivation to declutter and better utilize our storage space: we're getting new hardwood floors. Since we live in a bungalow, that means packing up and moving everything in the living room, dining room, front hall and three bedrooms.

That's a lot of stuff.

Some will get thrown out, some will get boxed up and stored, perhaps not to see the light of day for a long time, and some will be temporarily boxed and stored for the duration of the work.

This week, I moved some of my late mother-in-law's papers/cards/notes from the rec room shelves to under the stairs, pending my husband's culling. This is a job he's put off for months, but it's not something I can do.

With my son's permission, I'm recycling his university notes. His textbooks are now in a box with my husband's university textbooks and high school Latin textbooks, which I have not yet been able to convince him to part with. Will he suddenly need to decline a Latin verb? I don't think so, but apparently he lives in hope.

Later this week, I'll be dealing with videos. Some are forever keepers (the family's in them), but I suspect there are many others that can go. The rest will be in the big basket that will be moved downstairs nearer Floor Day (since I still use the VCR), or boxed up and shelved.

So I've got a new motivation along with my goal. Motivation is always good, in life and in writing. I've also got a tentative deadline and there's nothing like a deadline to make one focus. In life or in writing.

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