Unclutterer

Over the last year, my wife and I have been working pretty hard to clean up a lot of the stuff we'd managed to accumulate over our lifetimes. We've put comics and toys on eBay. We've sold things on Craigslist. A lot of stuff went to Goodwill. A few things were put on Freecycle. We've just gone through our very full 2-drawer filing cabinet and managed cut what's filed in half by shredding a ton of unneeded documents. I even sometimes find myself perusing the Unclutterer website for cool ideas on organization and, believe me, they have some good ones.

We've had a few reasons for doing this:

1. We have less space. We moved last year and now have one less bedroom and one less garage space. This, combined with the the addition of a new child, there's simply less space for stuff.
2. We have less time. With the growing family and a strong desire to really be with my family and my kids as they grow, there's less time to use/enjoy/mess with unneeded stuff.
3. Changing philosophy. I've had several collections over my lifetime...comic books, action figures, Transformers, etc. The problem was that, eventually, I lost interest in the collections and they just ended up packed up and stored. I've whittled this stuff down significantly. I'd really like to keep only those things I'm truly passionate about. Oh, I still love comics and action figures and other things...I've just gotten a lot more selective about what I get and what I keep.
   

Anyway, in many cases, our uncluttering has involved getting rid of things. But, there have been a few instances where simply meant making good use of space. Where my wife previously had most of a guest bedroom for crafting, she now has to share the dining room with my drawing table and the computer. We recently sprung for a Sauder Craft Armoire and it's worked out very, very well. It looks really nice. It has a ton of storage. And, when not in use, it really doesn't take up much floorspace. Plus, it keeps all the crafting supplies organized and on-hand rather than packed in tubs under the bed.

For me, I've had to get creative in the garage. Where we previous had space for three cars with one bay set aside for bikes, tools, etc, we now have a scrunched two-car garage. Bikes have been hung. Workbenches have been mobilized to allow the parking of cars. Most recently, I scored a sweet toolbox off of eBay. It's a monster. Big. Red. On casters. It was local and proves there really are some good deals still on eBay. Like the armoire, it'll keep my hand tools handy, dust-free, and organized.


There's still more to do. I'm selling things on eBay now. But, it's definitely getting better.