Spring Cleaning

Isn't it amazing how much stuff a person (or, in this case, a family) collects over time? I started my adult life 10+ years ago in a one-bedroom apartment with little more than a bedroom set and faux-leather couch. Andi and I joked when I moved into his town home a few years later that I only brought bath towels, a desk chair and Chloe the dog as my contributions. We moved into a duplex, got married and now reside in the four-bedroom home we share today. Somehow during that time together, we've collected a house full of things. Closets stuffed with clothes, beds reserved for visiting guests, and toys. Oh, the toys! Adding kids to our lives brought us to a whole new level of stuff.

Wintertime feels like a period of nesting, of burrowing in for the cold. The windows and doors are closed up tight, and not much "lightening the load" happens during those months. Add in the holidays with all the new clothing, toys and gifts we collected and suddenly I'm left feeling quite smothered.

I declared this cold-weather week one of mass purging after I learned of the current weather forecast. If the kids and I can't be at the park, we might as well be indoors cleaning up the place. Lord knows, we need it. I made a hit-list of the big things that've been driving me bananas lately and itemized them by day to keep me on track:

Monday
Closets: Well, the kids and I's closets. Andi's on his own as we see differently regarding things to discard, to keep or consign.

Tuesday
Storage room: The mecca of baby-things totes, holiday decor and suitcases. This room is a catch-all for items I need to organize.

• Specifically, baby clothes: I've kept every single piece of baby paraphernalia for both Tory and Aden including outfits I liked (and even those I disliked!), shoes, socks, snow suits, onesies and more. It's possibly worse than you'd imagine because I have a boy and girl, so double the things. Even if we do have another baby someday, some of this stuff has got to go.
• Maternity clothes: And on that note, maternity clothes. I can't imagine I'll wear the same fashions from my 2010 pregnancy in a hypothetical future one, so this stash goes, too.    
• Baby gear: I'll keep some of it, of course, but the Bumbo, the activity mat and the giant exerciser that neither of my kids liked anyway are on their way out.

Wednesday
Refrigerator / Freezer / Deep Freezer: Discard expired food items and clean shelving. Make organized list of items in deep freezer to stay on top of what's in there that needs to be used.

Thursday
Toys: Keep the things Tory and Aden play with, and weed out the items they don't. Discard broken, trinkety junk.

Friday
Night-stand drawer: It's a mess with Tory's barrettes, yogurt tube tops (ew!), cords, chargers, and more.

------

Monday's closet raid was a success! It might not look like much, but I collected five bags of clothing and shoes to be donated or consigned.

There were whisker jeans with rhinestones and dresses I wore to my bridal showers that seemed like only yesterday (but wasn't; it was six years ago!). I won't miss the clothes. I've fluctuated sizes so much with pre- and post-pregnancies in the last four years, I'll never be the same shape even if I am the same number. Plus, styles change so it's out with the old and in with the new.