The Great Weekend Clean-Up

We had a 4 day weekend at our house and I took full decluttering advantage. Since June I’ve been behind in my monthly targets to hit 4028 things by the end of the year - various life things like vacation and tidying the house got in the way. But I am back in the swing of getting rid of things, thanks mostly to a scheduled charity pick-up this week.

With this pick-up deadline in place, I sorted through my old clothes. I ransacked the downstairs closet for things to donate (you know, things that haven’t left the hanger since I hung them - those things can go). I targeted a few toys to go. Cleared out some cosmetics.

Then, gathering momentum, I drifted over to our basement shelving. Oh boy! Gift bags - 55 of them, put in the donation pile. Got rid of a pile of paper (oh hey! Found The Husband’s university diploma! Why it was where it was, I don’t know.). Box of cords and cables - extension cords from 30 years ago, phone cables, random other stuff - out! Box of old dishes. Buh bye. Hauled out my creations from pottery class - chucked! And hey, are there really wedding magazines in that box? Yup - wasn’t ready to part with them when I boxed them up but now they can go - 22 frigging magazines!!! Funny enough, the recycling cart was pretty full but after I tossed the magazines in, they squished everything down so now there’s room for more stuff. Yay. Will need a forklift to move the cart, but hey, that’s the price of progress.

Wow, a lot more space on the shelves in the basement!

Having so much success in the basement, moved on to the kitchen. Taking a quick look around, I focused on stuff that I have held on to that I have never used in the 9 years we’ve lived here. That stuff needs to go. Ugly serving platters. Glasses. Poky fancy toothpick things. Etc, etc, etc…

Oh right, I also boxed up all the hazardous waste products in the house that I wanted to get rid of. Most of it was stuff left over from the previous owners of the house. The Husband took everything to the disposal site last week.

I dropped off one bag of baby stuff to one person and have a stack of stuff for another (opposite season babies mean I get to get rid of ALL seasons of baby stuff - whoo!).

I set 4 bags and 8 boxes of giveaways on my front step this morning for the charity pick-up. I love charity pick-ups!!!!!!!!

311 things gone from my house in 4 days. WHOO! This means I’ve broken the 2000 mark. Go me!

Ebola Panic

Sooooooo… ebola. Eeeeeeeebola. Been in the news lately. Such a lovely topic, what with all the blood, diarrhea, and, you know, death. Bit of a worldwide panic going on. Reminds me that I read a book on ebola. The Hot Zone is an absolutely terrifying read. T-E-R-R-I-F-Y-I-N-G. The description of what the Ebola virus does to your body will make your skin crawl. Don't say I didn't warn you. This book reads like a Tom Clancy novel but it's a true story.

Highly recommended. It was so good I made The Husband read it.