Momentum

We've been spending a lot of energy on decluttering this week. Our basement has a tiny back "room" that is more like a large walk in closet. Until very recently, it held 8 or more totes of my daughters' things, multiple boxes of my father's things, and some totes of "extras" for just in case. We have one of those sleep number beds and there was a tote and a very large contractor bag and a free floating "topper" in that room. We have had this bed for a couple decades. The extra pieces came from a guest bed at my parent's previous home. In that time, we have never once needed to replace any part of our bed. We got rid of the extras. Massive amount of real estate was taken up by that alone. The other big giant job was sorting and properly storing the vast American Girl doll(s) (Seven of them to be precise!) collection. My mother (and I) lavished the girls with all manner of clothing, accessories, and furnishing- they have the kitchen and the table and chairs, they have furniture for the baby dolls and just so many tiny items that are now safely reunited with their like items. Turns out there is a proper method to storing those dolls and we weren't even coming close. You need to store them sans clothing so there is no dye transfer from a cute outfit. They need to be in cardboard and acid free tissue paper. If they have hair, it should be brushed and secured with a hair net. On top of that, they do best for the long haul when they stand upright so as to maintain their eye action. We did it though! All seven dolls are resting in boxes, staring at the cardboard in the closet in my office until such time as they are released to a grandchild or sold off to someone else. The clothing is all in open plastic bags with silica packets and then all stored in a cloth bag on the main living level. The furniture and other plastic accessories were placed in plastic totes with plenty of silica packets and then back in the basement walk in back room. Along with this monumental, and honestly, fun activity my youngest and I did massive amounts of purging of childhood/teen year junk, along with much of the stuff I needed to go through of my parents and my own. This week we managed three car/trunk loads and a full minivan to the donation station! I have books yet and somehow keep locating more and more things I can live without. It does seem that when you have the time to devote to this task, it becomes easier to make decisions as you see the mountain of stuff grow smaller. I feel like I want to just go full on pitch fest! Throw it all away!! I'm now tasked with telling myself to slow down...make good decisions. But there is light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train or one of any number of flashlights you saved for just in case!

Just an hour in the morning yields a mountain.

So, youngest offspring and I spent a chunk of time yesterday afternoon, sorting the AG dolls and their copious outfits, accessories and furnishings. We didn't finish. We aren't purging this vast collection but instead, prepping it for proper storage. Did you know that plastic totes are NOT great for dolls? Did you know that they need to stand upright to preserve the eye action? And, did you know that they might be best stored without clothing so as to not let any dyes transfer over time. We did not know any of this. Now we do and we're doing better. It was very hard to find boxes that would fit them but I finally managed to find the narrow boxes- we will have to figure out how to make the smaller babies stand up but I have zip ties and a good hole maker and an idea. So we'll get it done. The whole process required cardboard boxes, archival tissue, and hair nets to keep their hair from frizzing. Oy. We did have a lot of fun and laughs pulling it all out- sorting out any NON AG items and then she got a social call she couldn't refuse so we didn't manage to complete the task. Tonight we're hoping to do this. This morning I woke up primed for purging. We had to pull out many totes and boxes to get to the AG stuff so I attacked those. I have made a mountain by the garage door. As I do this, I notice that as time passes, the tether to certain things frays and the ability to get rid of things becomes easier. I had a tote with two items of my mom's clothing, a blanket crocheted for her during hospice (she never noticed this kindness- she'd had a stroke and was fading quickly), and her toiletry kit. I piled the clothing and blanket in the bags for donation easily but the toiletry kit, wonder why that was so difficult- today it wasn't. I emptied it all into the trash- the toothpaste, floss, hair ties, combs, etc. I think when it went in the tote it just felt too personal but time allows you to see it for what it is, toiletries just like those in your own bathroom drawer, not sacred items to be treasured. The take-away from today is that some decisions may just need a little more time. It might not be one you can make right now but eventually, you'll come to the conclusion that it needs to move on.