Daily Declutter

Yesterday I had nothing to post because I was crabby with my family. I'm not proud of it, but I figured that if my family prefers to live with clutter, I'd leave everything lying around. Unfortunately, I have to live with it too, and so today I'm back on track.

My son is working of schoolwork with a friend today, so I tried to Not Act Weird in front of them. I headed out to the barn (big and red, no livestock) to clear out some of the clutter that lives there. We still have more LEGOs than any family should own, but there were other things that I could work on. I cleared out a box of silver or silver plate serving-ware I bought a bunch of years ago for my husband's class. He demonstrated science that removed the tarnish from silver, and needed lots of tarnished silver for that. But that was years ago, and I am still storing (tarnished) silver that we don't use for anything else. That is a big box that can go. (I don't know yet if I will sell it on ebay or just donate it, but it is no longer in "storage" and it now is somewhere I will know I need to deal with it.

I also went through a box of "Things I'm saving in case I need them for Christmas." Decorations I might want to make with the kids, things I might want to use to decorate packages, containers I might need to give gifts in are all sitting there, year after year, waiting for me to have enough extra time at Christmas. However, I don't see myself having extra time, outside of family activities, to sit with my family and create new decorations. If I do, I'd rather make gingerbread houses that I don't have to store, rather than something I do have to store and bring out for display every year! So a bunch of things from that box got donated, and instead I am storing more glass jars in there and a couple of gifts I already have. Better storage for the things I do want to keep, and better access to the things I do want to keep. This is good!

And, since I do still seem to have some of that Depression era mentality that makes it hard to get rid of "perfectly good things," I am making a mermaid necklace and jewelry dish for my niece for her birthday. That should be normal enough for my son and his friend, it will get rid of some of my craft stash, and I can avoid a trip to the shops, all wins. Hopefully my mermaid-loving niece will like her gifts.