Successes!

 Books. 

I love books. I like the feel of them around. I like them neatly upright on a shelf. I like them stacked in piles on side tables. I like them leaned up against the fabric covered tea box in my office; waiting for me to pick them up and continue where I left off. 

I often have a few books going at any time. I sometimes will abandon a book for months, only to pick it up and complete it in an afternoon. Books are just such an essential part of my life. I hate to part with them. I like looking up to see the title on a spine, reminding me of the experience of reading it. 

So, the conventional wisdom in declutter is to start with "easy" things like books. It isn't the easiest category for me. I did declutter the books though. I did it by providing myself a framework for decision making. If I had read it and it wasn't a "reference" status book (I have kept all my college literature anthologies because you just never know when history will get wiped and we have to begin again), or it was a book I'd grabbed from somewhere but no longer seemed interested in reading (and if I did, I could find it at the library), or it was a reference/non-fiction that was either dated or easy to locate in a public library, internet, etc. I ended up parting ways with probably 60-70 books. That was just a quick sweep of the shelves. 

I did get rid of all but one of the ancient Readers from the 1800s. I was holding onto them because they had sat on my mother's desk when I grew up. I now have my mother's desk. When I got this from my brother, I felt a pull to recreate the arrangement of things she kept on top of it and one item she kept in it. The postage meter/scale (antique even then) is long gone and too expensive on ebay to replace, I did have the books and a painted rock she kept on it. But in the end, I tend to keep the top clear because I do watercolor painting and drawing on the desk and had to clear the trinkets before I could begin. 

Inside the desk, I have a package of Holly Hobbie wrapping paper from the 1970's. The exact same paper she had in there. I know because as a child, I loved Holly Hobbie's drawings of sunbonneted little girls and would often open the drawer to look at the paper. She would use it for small gifts but she either liked it or forgot she had it because it remained in the drawer for as long as I could recall. I was able to find an unopened package on ebay. I have used a little of it to wrap some small gifts for my own daughters but I will retain a square so I can peek at it when I open the drawer. 

Anyway, I managed to let go of the dusty old tomes. I kept one that contains the signature of my great grandmother, Grace Patterson. It is the only thing I have of hers so I will keep that. I never met her, she was long since passed when I came along but my grandmother, Edith, was (and will always remain) one of the best people I've ever known so I assume her mother was also quite wonderful. 

I am hoping someone will find those other three old books and be excited by what they found. I often shared them with my students, but I noticed this last time, they were less fascinated by them than in the past. "They smell!" "They are dirty!" Yep. They are out there in the world now, looking for a new home. 

There are more books that need to be taken care of in the basement. I think those will be easier. I couldn't tell you which books are down there so probably easy to just see books and not even sort them. Just let them go. Someone will be happy somewhere. 

Inspiration

 I visited my mother-in-law's home on Sunday. I haven't been in months and during that time, she had been working furiously to declutter a lifetime of stuff in order to sell her place and move into a continuous care facility. She is looking at a two-bedroom apartment in independent living. She has done an amazing job of clearing the clutter. It is hard to describe the startling inspiration - hit me right when we walked in- space! The amount of space! The walls, the fridge- clear of visual clutter- so you could notice the few pieces of art she has on the wall. The kitchen and dining room were just so clean. 

This is a woman who had collected Hummel figurines. And you know what that means, right? This is a woman who loved her clutter. But she did it. And she loves it! 

I am looking around at my things with a highly suspicious eye now. 

The plan is to continue to do some small decluttering over the next four weeks but once school ends, we'll go big. 

Things I already know that will be difficult for me- books. I need to figure that strategy out. Clothes are another tough area simply because I hate the money spent for things I didn't get much use from. I'd like to have them wear out, but I have way too many to wear any out for years. That is usually how most decluttering systems start- because they think it is easier to make those decisions. I might have to wait on clothes and books. I think the knick-knacks will be the easier one to begin with. 

Anyway- I'm inspired. I'm looking at various internet/insta decluttering folks and what they say but I will come up with a plan and hopefully, enact it once school is out for the summer. 

Little bit by little bit

 And enlist help when you can. Today I managed to do this by asking my daughter to just help me understand what was in a tote in the garage...it was full of dishes! We here in this family have a long and storied relationship with dishes. My mother set the standard with her Noritake china (for special occasions) and her Arabiaware midcentury stoneware set that was for everyday...but wait!!!! There's more...sooooooo much more. 

She collected all manner of blue and white dishes during a three year stay in Tokyo, Japan. She had multiple types/styles/sets of blue and white but also colorful Chinese dishes and many, just sooo many incidental dishes for serving anything. She believed in "the art of living" which translated to, "have the perfect thing for absolutely every possible occasion." 

Later she collected multiple sets of whimsical dishes for the lake home and for grandkids to use and on and on. 

I had the Arabiaware for many years and recently passed it on to my oldest. The Noritake also resides with me- I love it and use it for special occasions and have fleshed it out to a full 12 place settings with all available serving and hostess pieces. I hold it here for my youngest to someday claim as her Grandma gift. She just needs to be someplace more established. 

I have processed most of the blue and white sets (with a few exceptions) and all of the various Asian specific dishes- like bowls for rice/ramen. Mostly because I collected my own massive set of dishes as a show of my independence. 

So, suffice to say, "we love dishes!" My youngest had been given a very large set of dishes from her uncle- these are very nice, Dansk brand. Massive amount of dishes though. She has filled her apartment with them but there was a tote that contained many, many more pieces. I mean, a full tote. She groaned when she realized what it was...I gave her full permission to part ways with them- they have been through her two cousins too so it wasn't like they hadn't been put to good use. She heaved a sigh of relief as she heaved the large tote into her car to set them free. 

I have explained to her that she needs to refuse to take on the ancestral burden of the stuff. She can refuse and her life will be all the better, and less stressful, for it. I am glad to see her accept this advice and I'm also glad to have help with the declutter process here. I can't thank her enough for just taking things away and not telling me what happens to them. 

I even managed to toss in a windchime that had been gifted us several years ago (still with a tag- never got used as we are not chimey types).  I fully recommend enlisting someone to assist you with the declutter caper. If you can hand something off and not have to worry about actually driving it to the donation center, it makes the whole process a little less daunting.