and I’m not afraid to use it.

We are drowning in stuff here, climbing over it in the basement, shoving it into cabinets, packing it into boxes…years of hoarding hand-me-downs and “maybe we will use that someday” have left us with a house that almost cannot be cleaned–all we ever seem to do is move stacks from one spot to another.

We’re REALLY trying to change that. Oh, it’s not all environmentally incorrect. Old tech gear goes to Best Buy for recycling. Anything I can give away, I do. but who wants a slip and slide with a hole in it or a moldy car seat? Not us, certainly, but not our local resale store, either. And so we have cleaned, and cleaned, and we are still cleaning, and it feels GOOD.

Last night I tackled the playroom. I already have so much out of there that the lego and the playmobil can both be out at the same time, but we had a cabinet full of old puzzles and games of the pieces missing and broken boxes variety: gone. And a whole stack of things even Wyatt is too old to play with. Except for a single box for visiting babies and toddlers: gone. And WAY too many stuffed things that didn’t belong to anyone, and wadded up doll clothes that were never used. I put it all in a box a month ago. No one asked for it in the interval, and as of last night it is: gone. I”m addicted, I want to throw away more and more and more stuff. I want empty shelves, cabinets you can open and take things out of and put them back. I want to be able to say “Lily, put that away,” and have Lily know where to put whatever it is. Can you imagine, a place for everything and everything in its place?

Well, maybe you can. But we haven’t lived that way for years. ANd so that is my–call it my old-year-resolution. To get the WHOLE HOUSE to that point before 2011. The basement and garage, which had been the worst, are very nearly there. The dumpster must go THursday, but that’s no reason I can’t keep going. I plan to finish the playroom tonight, and the basement by Thursday. And then: my office. my bedroom. the kids’ room. The guest room. and so on.

TO the playroom!