Team Toss-it and the Moving Team!

So for the most part, I've been doing the decluttering on my own. You can't drag someone into a massive project like this unless they are willing, so I have been doing it on my own.

When you are steadily working on decluttering, the people around you will begin to notice. Well, my husband slowly began to notice. Last weekend, I came home and realized he had taken a huge load to Goodwill while I was at a meeting. He had also gone through both of the boys' dressers and purged their closets of the clothes that no longer fit or were too worn out.

Since we were able to declutter, last Monday we finally took the big step of purchasing living room and dining room furniture. We have been in the house for almost 8 years. For the first 4 years, we had no furniture in the large room. When we finally got furniture, it was hand-me downs from my in-laws and easily over 25 years old. It was a table with four chairs, with corduroy cushions. Then in the fall, we inherited a table from my boss: a very nice table, dark wood with blue cushions on the chairs. Underneath the blue material is pristine white cushions still wrapped in plastic.

 

We had been using the same kitchen table that we bought back in 1997, from Sam's Club. Let's just say that the boys have used that table past its lifespan. The backs of the chairs shake, from boys using the chairs like jungle gyms. The table's finish is positively awful and beyond repair.

So we went shopping. We found a new dining room table, and a china cabinet to go with it. We also bought a living room couch and love seat, and a coffee table and two end tables.

We decided we are going to get rid of the Sam's Club Table, and the In-Laws table, along with 6 of the 8 chairs. We will keep two chairs for the boys' desks in their rooms. We will move the Boss' table into the kitchen, and will gain seating for two more people at the kitchen table.

The purchase of this new furniture has created a spiral of a need to organize. The china cabinet will go where there is currently a bookcase, so the bookcase needs to be moved. The options were either the spare bedroom or upstairs in the hallway. If it went in the bedroom, we had to get rid of two different dressers. If it went upstairs, we needed to declutter some more upstairs.

I came home from walking the dog, and my husband had emptied the dresser in the bedroom. Unfortunately he placed everything from the dresser on the bed, which gave me one more thing to do on Saturday.

On Sunday, I came home from running 9 miles, and my husband had moved the keeper table into the kitchen, moved the two tables which are leaving into the front room, moved the treadmill upstairs into the master bedroom, and was in the process of moving the bookcase upstairs. He emptied the bookcase, moved it upstairs and then filled it back up. In the process, he decided to give up 16 books and a journal. He also created a project for me of more stuff to go through.

 

We have made room in the dining room for the table set. Once goodwill picks up the large pieces of furniture, we will have the living room area ready. This week's project is the playroom and the kitchen, although the pantry gets a week all by itself.