With some of the things that have been bothering me the most out of the way, I’m trying a room-by-room approach to decluttering the house.
This week, we spent some time Tuesday removing obviously useless things from the living room. Six large pillows I had bought in an attempt to make a futon comfortable enough for actual sitting went into the dumpster. Cat hair and dust had contaminated them beyond the point of cleaning — and they didn’t really help the situation anyway. Although the point of this decluttering exercise is to eliminate items from the house that draw time and energy away from me, this week’s work revealed the need to make a purchase. The futon pad and the comforter over it are too badly soiled to save, so they have to go as soon as a replacement pad is found.
To give our cats something to do when we aren’t entertaining them, we cut holes and cardboard boxes so they can play in them. The older, dustier boxes are gone now, and two — and only two — clean replacements are there now. Of course, the hole are in different locations from the old ones to create some new wonder.
David also cleaned some items from the table beside the door and the small desk. More needs to be done there. I eliminated another storage container, too, and it’s ready to carry a future load of rejected items to a charity shop.
Despite a cold fog and some sprinkles Thursday, the items set aside for Goodwill over the last couple of weeks are finally delivered. And a jar of change is processed through Coinstar and converted to an Amazon gift certificate. (Coin counting is free at Coinstar machines if you take your payout in a gift certificate rather than in cash.) The change buys me a treat: A classic Doctor Who DVD that’s coming out next week.
There’s more to do in the living room, and that’s what I hope to do next week.
Oh, and Happy New year!
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