Dancing Along With You!!!!

What a marvellous days work -- you've done really really well!!!! :)

Dancing...... Dancing......Dancing........

Good for you Julie. That took courage but I'm sure it was well worth it.

Woo hoo, Julie! Doing the HaPPy DaNCe with you!

Sheryl

What's really amazing is how I look at the dining room differently. Before it held the majority of the trophies. With all the boxes of trophies gone, plus the additional box of breakables packed up earlier, plus the lack of Tupperware in the cupboard under the dry sink, I'm seeing new opportunities.

For example, how long has the pile of I-don't-know-what been on and under the chair in the corner? LOL It's an antique chair, not in the best of shape, and I've always had to keep something on it so nobody sits in it... but what is all the junk???

"For example, how long has the pile of I-don't-know-what been on and under the chair in the corner? LOL It's an antique chair, not in the best of shape, and I've always had to keep something on it so nobody sits in it... but what is all the junk???"

The junk is stuff that has accumulated over time - nobody misses it, nobody retrieves it. I know, because I've had these piles growing in areas of our house and I am just amazed when I finally get to them. Where did it all come from? I'm trying to get better about letting these piles start in the first place - I'm always looking for the sparks and putting them out before they turn into wild fires!!!! I know I have one beginning in the corner of my dining room as we speak. What is it about dining rooms??????

Sheryl

I've noticed that piles, once started, often become so familiar to me that I neglect to notice they don't belong there! LOL

Sheryl's dead right about the piles--and so are you, Julie. I have them in about 4 places in my house.

we're trying to pack up so we can put our place on the market (gotta put some stuff in storage; I'm hoping to toss it as it comes out, can't get folks to agree w/ that as it goes in).

Last night my DH said, "just how will packing up your books, which are already inside a cabinet, help w/ decluttering?" I have a reason--that hidden space can hold stuff that's now on the surface and can't go away--but it made me think--I'd better deal w/ a few of the rat's nests first. THEY are what really make the place look ugly, not all the books and kids' toys.

hooray! And smart, to box them up per kid. I've started trying to think that way, too--but haven't been willing to do it w/ the artwork folder. I'm afraid *that* would take up more space than I want to give right now, but I know I'll regret it later.

Maybe piles tend to grow in unused spots and places -- like dining rooms??? hmmmmmmmmmmmm ...........

Perhaps its time for a dinner party???

Just a thought while making soup .......

when the kid flies the coop, out go the boxes!

Don't be so sure of that !! My kids are 26 and 28 and have small appartments, they still have boxes of stuff parked in my storage area

" But mom, you have so much more room than me"

Never fear... we have brainwashed them with the financial advantages of home ownership for so long I can't imagine them living in an apartment after college.

And, even if they do, at least the boxes are in the attic and I don't have to look at them--which is good enough for me!

You know..the talk about piles and how they grow just made me think of something that happened at work recently. The psychology of it is very interesting.

We had just spent tons of money re-doing the conference rooms in our building, and we had a credenza put in each one so that food could be served (for working lunches), and supplies like flip chart paper and post-its could be stored.

My assistant came into my office fuming.."I can't believe it!" Seems that she had went to put some supplies in the BRAND NEW credenza, only to find 4 boxes of papers, binders and old office supplies in there. Someone had obviously used the space for a dumping ground, and I guess, figured that he/she had "cleaned" their office by getting rid of the junk. We went through the boxes and there was nothing of value, (documents from 1980, old office supplies, trashy lookig binders etc..) so we tossed it all. What I think is funny, is that the person who dumped it there obviously didn't want to be the one to throw it away, because it would have been easier to put a note on it for the janitors to dispose of, than to haul it into the conference room (probably after hours), and stuff it into the credenza. I wonder if our piles at home are the same? We know it still has a usefull purpose (just not for us), and it makes it difficult to toss, so we put it somewhere "out of our way" and that's how piles get started?

My solution to my daughter's trophies when she moved out.....We took photos of them in groups. Now as she scrapbooks the different phases of her childhood, she can add photos of the trophies with descriptions and doesn't feel the need to keep each & every one of them. Most of them are from the county fairs and fortunately the fairboard is most happy to take them back, have them refurbished, and used for the future. Feels like a win-win-win all the way around.

Funny stories about storing your kids stuff, long after they have flown the coop ! A friend of mine gift wrapped her kids stuff and put it under the tree!

Meskauskas,

OK, you motivated me to clean out my cubicle at work! I've been at the same company for 20+ years and in the same cube for about 12. Let's just say... I dumped a bunch of junk today!

P.S. Why did I have a small Christmas tree box and no tree?? LOL