Progress report

I'm taking a brief break from the purging and cleaning to have a cup of tea and show you a couple of pictures. I'm realizing that by not taking any before pictures, the after pictures don't have the same effect. Oh well. Know that in the course of the past couple of days, J. and I have filled upwards of 20 bags and boxes of stuff, with many more to come. It's a little embarrassing. The house was always organized, but it's the sheer amount of stuff that is a bit overwhelming.

I try to be good about giving away other people's things, but I have been rather ruthless with my own. If I don't really like it or it fills me with guilt that I should be using it, out it has gone. The moment can be a bit hard, but it feels so freeing that I keep doing it. I have a couple of places that I can look at now and take a deep, relaxed breath when I see them.

My closet. I probably took out at least half its contents.

The bookcase on my side of the bed. No piles of paper... some space on the shelves. (Excuse the peeling wallpaper.)

But there is so much more. Sigh. My compulsive nature wants to be able to tackle everything at once and not stop until I'm done. This would be terribly productive if it weren't for little things such as my children thinking they should continue to have regular mealtimes. 

If you are interested and need something to read while I'm busy giving things away, go to the sidebar and click on "home organization." Evidently this need to go through my entire house and get rid of stuff is a somewhat frequent occurrence. Yikes. I hesitate to think of what things would be like if it wasn't!