Purging the Clutter

It's summer again, and that means 10 weeks of no work. Which is great, except for the fact there's no paycheck coming in. But it gives me the chance to sleep in (not), write (more than usual, but I'm not sitting and writing 8 hours a day) and clean. Yeah, well, I hate cleaning, like most people. Every summer, it seems, the house has become filled with the junk of the rest of the year that we were too busy to put away. It doesn't look like the picture above, thank goodness. But we haven't eaten a meal at our dining room table for probably eight months. And I HATE clutter. So I spend days every summer cleaning. I've discovered that some of the furniture I have that I didn't personally choose, like our end table we rescued from the curb, and the dining room set I bought from the previous owner of the house for a ridiculously low amount of money, are actually decent antiques. Huh.

This year I've decided to purge as well -- get rid of stuff we no longer need or use, and make room to breathe (or for more stuff, I haven't quite figured that out yet). 

It's quite cathartic, to rip everything out and clean and then put it all back, and decide what to get rid of and what to keep. But what to do with all that stuff. I'm not the person who throws away perfectly good stuff. I actually hate tossing good stuff. If it's usable and in good shape, someone else can make use of it. This year I discovered my local area yard sale Facebook pages. Yeah, right? What's that about? It's easy, really. Take a picture of your stuff, put it on the site with what it is and how much you want and how you want people to get it (porch pick up or meet locally). Then people say they're interested and you work out the details of how to make the exchange. Easy peasy. I've joined three, and I've sold a bunch of stuff on them, not for any great amount of money -- they're bargain hunter and yard sale sites, after all-- but I am glad to have the stuff in the hands of people who need it. Two things I sold because people were looking for them and I happened to have them and wasn't using them. The money, like I said, isn't great, but I'm putting everything I get toward our camping trip next week. Everything that doesn't sell will go to the local thrift store, and I will take the tax deduction for donating. 

And in the end, my little bungalow house will feel a little larger, and life a little more streamlined. I find it's better for thinking. Once the cleaning is done, I will have time to do some of the home improvement projects I have lined up. Which my husband is not as enthusiastic about as I am, for some reason...