Can you get by on less?

 

I came across an article on Pop Sugar about things that you can throw away and it got me thinking about why I keep certain things. I've never been a super organized perso but I haven't been a hoarder or clutterbug either. I think I"ve been somewhere in the middle. I know where things are, have them in good places, and try not to buy too much. I think I've finally got the whole living floor of the house organized.

But there is the attic....and the basement. Somehow no matter how many times I go there to organize it never ends up the way I really want it.

Take the attic for example. We have pull down stairs and a finished floor up there so when we need to store something..up it goes. There is stuff that only gets used occasionally....Fall and Christmas and Spring decorations, extra blankets, some antiques, old pictures. And then there are things that we just don't know what to do with...old piano rolls for a player piano we no longer have, ice fishing equipment, old silver serving dishes, etc.

Every year I vow to clean it out. And I do go up there. It's hot...or it's too cold to work for a long time. And you can only stand upright in the center so your back eventually tells you to quit. I start going through things. Making a decision to pare down the plethora of Christmas decorations is easy....actually doing it ...much harder. They say if you don't use it in two years get rid of it. I"m the type that can't use it for five years but yet see it again an love it as much as I did before and pick it back up out of the attic and reuse it just as if it were new.

I do throw some things out now and then when I'm up there. But what I really need is someone with me to spur me on...and be the voice of reason. How many fake pumpkins does one really need?

And those piano rolls....why? I know an organzer would say to make a plan and just do it. Easier said than done. I am resistant. I'm not sure why. I think I get overwhelmed when I am up there. It's monumental to go through everything. A task that I can easily put off by ignoring it. Oh, I've read all the declutter books and am a big fan of Peter Walsh but somehow applying the knowledge is hard for me.

And then there is the basement. Not real big down there but still never organized to my satisfaction. Do we really need a big bin full of record albums and another full of forty fives/ And all that old paint...really?

So I'll renew my vow to throw out something. Today I think I'l throw away a magazine. Hey, it's a start.

 

Posted with Blogsy