Resolutions

I'm a pack rat. There. I admittedit. Admission is halfway to solving the problem, right? So by admitting it,doesn't it rightfully follow that my house will unclutter itself? That all thedust bunnies will move out and there will no longer be piles of "stuff" allover the place?Apparently not. When we moved intothis house nearly eighteen years ago, we had more room (and rooms) than we knewwhat to do with. It's an old Queen Anne Victorian with a balcony off onebedroom (which we turned into a study), a wrap-around porch (which we use as anoutdoor living room in the summer, sans television) and lots and lots of space.At least for us. There are just the four of us and (usually) one cat at a timeliving in 2500 square feet. We came from a house that had 1600 square feet andit's amazing what the addition of less than a thousand square feet can do to aplace. Of course, we have a full attic and basement in this house and the otherdidn't. Storage space, nonexistent before,suddenly became available. So we stored stuff. And stored more stuff. And thengot more stuff to store. The attic as well as the basement managed to collectunwanted toys, books the kids outgrew, memories and of course, Christmasdecorations.Recently, my daughter graduatedfrom college, got a job and moved away. Again, one would think the house wouldbe less full just by default. That the little decluttering fairies would comein the night, or at least to help with the move, and take some of the stuffaway. Again, you would be wrong. Yes, herroom is emptier, but the rest of the house? Not so much.What really did it was there-thinking of the use of space. My husband has recently taken up painting(check out his paintings...I always knew there was a latent talent there. Hejust needed a little push). As a result, we are drowning in canvasses, painttubes, and all the general detritus that goes along with selling prints ofone's paintings (do you have any idea how much room mailing tubes take up?).The study, which we shared, had become me tucked into a corner increasinglylosing ground to my husband's new career. We also discovered we didn't workwell together. The clacking of my keyboard as I wrote disturbed his mentalprocess. The music he wanted to play while he painted disturbed mine. I need toget up and walk around every once in a while and my steps jiggled his canvas(it's an old house). Tensions built.Family meeting time. We presentedthe problem to the kids and said we needed to find a new way of using the houseso my husband could have his own studio. Without hesitation, my son gave up hisroom and volunteered to move into the tiniest of the bedrooms upstairs. At 9'x6' there's barely enough room for a twin bed and a desk. But he worked out anagreement with my husband that his clothes could stay in the new "studio" andhe'd live in what he now deemed his "man cave."Sometimes ya just gotta love yourkids. His solution ended up saving allour sanity in several ways. That room had become a catchall for my stuff.Taking a morning to clean it out gave me the opportunity to throw away stuffI'd been holding onto for far too long. His move and subsequent clean out gavemy son the same opportunity. By the time the two of us were done with ourrespective rooms, we had six garbage bags for the Salvation Army and two forthe trashman. We also filled two blue recycling bins.And then my husband cleaned out hisside of the study.More for the Salvation Army, morefor the garbageman, more for the recycling center.I'm making a New Year's Resolutionto be less of a pack rat this year. When I come across something I haven't usedin a year's time –and won't use in the upcoming year—I'm tossing it. I'mre-thinking every purchase before I make it. Do I have something already thatwill do the same job? If I buy that blouse, what blouse am I sending away tomake room? Can I get that book as an ebook on my Cruz? My resolution: nothingmore comes in unless something of equal size goes out.So how about you? How do you handlethe clutter of living? I'm open to all suggestions! Help a gal out, here, willya?
DianaPS. Learning Curve has beenre-released for the Kindle. If you don't yet have a copy, be sure to pick up yours today!