Operation Simplify

Our friends, Jeremy and Lisa , live down in Burbank, and we've had the opportunity to visit them a couple times in the last few months. Every time I leave their place, I have to comment on how calm and relaxing it is being in their home. I'm sure more than half of that has to do with how hospitable and friendly they are, but a really big part of it is how uncluttered their lives are. For one, they don't have stuff in every nook and cranny like I do.

To be fair, I have a bit of a head start on collecting stuff. I don't think Lisa has been alive for as long as I have had some of the things in my "collections."

A few months ago, after another completely relaxing time at the Spears's home, I decided that Summer 2008 would be the summer I purged our house of clutter. Summer started when my homework ended, and I set to work Operation Simplify right away. I took the name from Lisa's motto on her blog: "strive for simplicity."

Yesterday was Day One. I opened up every cupboard in the kitchen, and I took every last thing out of them. (I then went to the women's fellowship group at church and neglected to call Joe to tell him what he was coming home to, but we'll just gloss over that teeny detail.) When I started to put things back, the only items allowed were items that were used regularly or loved totally.

So I kept the red heart-shaped Le Creuset casserole dish that Liz gave me because it makes me happy even if I only use it 5-6 times a year. I also kept a bunch of Tupperware-type containers, even though I think they're ridiculously ugly, because I use those 5-6 times a day.

I did not keep 2 picnic carriers; a handful of different mugs that one time or another contained candy, hot cocoa mix, tea, or other "gifty" items; a wine chilling container; a "rubaway" scent bar; beautiful and completely unusable in their beauty stainless steel bowls; a bottle of catnip labeled Chat Noir; a Cuisinart juicer, various Christmas dishes, four billion empty glass jars saved because they might be useful, a slightly scratched crystal cake platter, and a whole lot more kinda cool and mostly unnecessary things.

Even though I've only been at this for two days, I still keep forgetting my new mantra: "Unless it's used regularly or loved totally, it goes!" I find myself saying "Well, I might use this someday." And it's possible that I very well might. That teddy bear-shaped Mikasa serving dish? I could totally use that someday. I could also use any one of the other five serving dishes I do love. Bye-bye, teddy bear-shaped serving dish.

I don't know how far I'm going to get with this project, but my pile of stuff is 4 feet by 3 feet and more than 2 feet tall just from the kitchen. It's that big even after I photographed and neatly stacked every item in anticipation of my virtual garage sale via craigslist and ebay. That's a significant dent in the clutter right there.

I next started in on the hall closets, and I managed to decide against 5 board games (two of which are still in their shrink wrap) and 3 pillows. I moved 2 blankets from the game closet into the blanket closet, and I'm definitely looking into space bags for the five fluffy blankets that do get used regularly in the winter but just get in my way in the summer. I now have a whole empty shelf in the hallway. It's heavenly.

Next stop, the bedroom. Not a lot there, since the Women's Fellowship at church had a clothing swap yesterday. I took over an absolutely overflowing laundry basket full of clothes and came home with 5 adorable tops, 1 cozy sweater, and a pair of shoes. All the leftover clothes from the clothing swap were donated to the Women's Shelter. Which means I was able to declutter, shop, save money, and donate all in one fell swoop. What's not to love about that?

The room I'm dreading the most is the "project room," aka the "where-does-this-go?-I-don't-know-and-am-too-lazy-or-busy-to-think-about-it,-I'll-put-it-here" room. This is also the room where Joe keeps his clothes, since our bedroom closet ain't big enough for the both of us. All he asks is that I keep a path from the door to the closet; and that's all he's got. Eek!

In my defense, again, both of our parents did recently move out of homes where they had lived for 25 and 35 years. What do parents do when they move out of homes where their children were raised? They ask said children to come pick up stuff and "do something with it." Parents with a little extra money, new cozy homes built for two, and the desire to start over fresh also ask their children if they want X, Y, or Z piece of furniture. Sometimes their children, both having too much sentimentality wrapped up in frugality, take on a few too many items. Therefore, among other things, we have 2 extra TVs, 1 extra loveseat, an extra dining set, and 2 Laz-E-Boy recliners.

I originally thought we were going to take these items and then craigslist them or otherwise turn them over for cash. Then I sat in one of the recliners and, when I woke up from my comfort-induced nap, vowed to figure out a way to make it work because I love that chair.

This project might be a little more difficult than I anticipated.