Keeping a Resolution

Gosh, I’m good! One of my resolutions for the New Year was to sort through my boxes of accumulated stuff in the basement. Jeff and I cleaned out two storage areas earlier in the week when we were putting Christmas things away and the boxes (4 large totes, 3 small totes and four large bags of clothes to go to charity) had been sitting in the hall waiting for me to sort them since then. We have played this game before. In the past the boxes sat and sat and finally got shoved back into storage just as they were. But not this time! I sorted all but two bags of clothes! Out of all the other things I sorted I ended up with one box that I put all my 'keep' stuff in which will need to be sorted one more time into piles so things can go to their 'homes' (kids school papers I want to keep, craft stuff that wandered off and never made it back to the craft box), etc. I have a HUGE amount of trash and things to go to church for their thrift store.

I am tired but happy most of it is done! I enjoyed the feeling of this so much that I decided to sort some more! I have what I call 'baby boxes' (boxes I have for each child with all their baby stuff, like cards, banners, baby books, first outfits and then school stuff) and have started going through those. As a new mom I saved everything. Every little booklet the hospital gave me, every envelope, every school paper when they were little. Now I look at this stuff and think 'what is it??' I have finally realized that these things will not be nearly as interesting to the kids as they are to me. I want them to have a small amount to look at so that they won’t feel overwhelmed by it and I want what I keep to really show who they were at age 4, age 5, etc. without taking a long time to tell the story. Jennifer loves giraffes. So when I come across a little one line story with a drawing of a giraffe on it, this is who she is. She also loves drawing ballerinas, so those are keepers, too. The art she did in kindergarten where the art teacher did most of the work does not show who Jennifer is. So that stuff can go. I have it down to science now *feeling proud of myself* and I feel like I finally see the light as far as my final phase of de-cluttering my house goes. I feel refreshed.