Diary of a Housecleaner: Ah, the Things We Save!

The winter housecleaning and tidying up process continues!

Today, we completely tore apart what we call "The Harry Potter Closet," which is basically a large storage space under our stairwell... where a cornucopia of "stuff" had accumulated in the decade+ since we moved into this house.

At times I do find myself wondering how we end up with so much stuff in our lives.

Of course, I am well aware that much of it is the result of inheriting a number of boxes of "random stuff" from both sets of parents, some of it before they passed away, and then another set after they passed away.

"People who know about such things" say that we accumulate stuff in our youth, peak in middle age, and then start getting rid of all the stuff we so diligently accumulated.

Sounds about right...!

Just How MANY Suitcases do Two People Need?

Why is it that people never seem to get rid of luggage? Seems like we have gotten a really good deal on "better" luggage on a number of occasions, but we have never thrown away — or taken to the 2nd hand store — the previous luggage.

As we emptied the closet under the stairs, we eventually had nine suitcases sitting in the middle of our family room. We really only need two and we picked the best two for international travel... large enough that we can share one if we're just taking a shorter in-country trip.

One will go to our daughter — who doesn't actually own a decent suitcase — and the remaining six get dropped at the second hand store tomorrow!

We actually found a couple of antique rugs in there, all rolled up properly in newspaper. We thought we might use them someday, but we haven't missed them in 10 years... so they are going to be sold on eBay, in the not too distant future. Yes, they actually have some value...

Then there were the boxes of old game cartridges... which — by some stroke of luck — actually have some value as "vintage." Funny how that works out!

Also found three book boxes filled with 12" vinyl music albums from the 70's and 80's. Again, some of that stuff has become really "retro" and now it's just a matter of going through everything and picking out the actually valuable albums from the worthless ones.

This is all going to be a very long and slow process, but it feels good to have gotten started on one of the house's major "black holes," which will now become where we store the Christmas decorations boxes... and nothing else!

We'll see how long that lasts...

Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!

How about YOU? Do you have pockets of "unsorted stuff" in places where you live? Are you aware of everything you are saving? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2023.01.27 00:57 PST
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