De-Cluttering

Those of you who have lost family members will understand what this is like. We spent 6+ hours today going through my husband's family home after losing over the last several years his father, his mother, and his sister. You would understand what it is like to go through one person's belongings, but to go through three persons' belongings is overwhelming.

We are moving into the family home at the end of the summer. Our family of six will live in the 2 bedroom 1st floor of a 2-flat. (Once we get the basement cleared out sufficiently, our 14yods will have his own bedroom there, as well as probably some play space for the kids.) My husband's brother occupies the 2nd floor.

There are some repairs which need to be made to make the home livable, including bathroom & roof repairs. There is much cleaning and clearing out and organizing to do, in addition to lightening the load in our current place (it's amazing how much you can accumulate over 18 years of marriage) and packing up what we decide to keep. It actually feels good to toss in the trash various belongings which you no longer feel you need to cart around from home to home. After all, if it never got unpacked from the previous move, you probably don't need it, right? I know, I could have a yard sale. Well, "been there, done that," and I really don't have the desire or the energy to find a place to store it all, price it all, and then end up having to pack more than half of it in a car and find a place to dump it anyway. Why not just dump it at the start? Well, you say, "what about Ebay?" I've tried that, also, and honestly, I don't want to have to pay them for every item I sell and I really don't want to have to box up and ship things. (I have sold books on Half.com before with some small success.) I even tried "LiveDeal.com" and "Freecycle." Too often, those I left items out for did not pick them up and I got tired of relisting, and then having to bring the items back into my home or throw them out anyway. I know that those of you who seriously feel recycling, reducing and reusing will find my attitude difficult to understand. Please have some compassion on a weary mom with a full summer schedule.

Still, DH and I feel good about what we accomplished in those 6+ hours and are really ready to call it a day.

I think Father's Day will be quiet for us, spent at home perhaps playing games or watching movies or reading aloud. Next week starts a crazy summer schedule, which I'll discuss when I'm not so tired, because thinking about it makes me tired.

In Christ Alone,
Barb