It’s so weird. After months and months of clutter I couldn’t control, things are starting to move back to “normal”.
See, it started with the baby. Of course I couldn’t control the full onset of baby clutter. I corralled that as best I could with toy bins and storage baskets. But there is simply no getting around the fact that babies need large items that take up space. Items such as carriers, pack-n-plays, swings, play mats, car seats, bouncy chairs, high chairs, etc.
I was dealing ok with the baby gear. Then in December, we went and bought a new kitchen table. I’d been lusting after this table at Ikea for a couple years. So we finally bought it. BUT…what to do with my old table? The chairs had fallen apart and been reassembled with screws and Gorilla Glue. The table had some scratches on the top, courtesy of cat claws. But it would make a perfectly fine eat-in-kitchen table in a future house….or a perfectly fine craft table in a craft room of a future house. Which means that in true ME fashion, I couldn’t part with the set. It was one of the first things I bought when I moved out on my own.
What this also means, however, is that the old table had its legs removed and was tucked away behind my family room couch. The chairs, meanwhile, were stacked in pairs, in the center of the family room. And, in another assault on that room’s usage, the growing collection of decommissioned baby gear was stacked against the bookcase.
I effectively lost my familyroom.
So ok, it’s not a room we used alot of. However, with the open concept of the first floor, you could see it from just about anywhere else. What a lovely site…stacked furniture. It’s bad Feng Shui. My chi was stagnating. In other words, it was DRIVING ME NUTS.
But today, a bright and sunny prequel to Spring, day, I took back control. My dad stopped over and offered to take the stacked chairs to storage for us. Not only that, he took the 2 square, pointy, easy-for-a-toddler-to-pull-over end tables, and my wine rack that has the same issue. The wine rack, at least, will come back when H is older. But the rest…..gone from my family room! The table is still there, but it is rather out of sight and not as urgent an issue.
And so, it is now possible to walk in my familyroom again. There’s still a bit of clutter as we search for permanent storage issues for that decommissioned baby gear. But it’s 1/3 of what it was. And I, for one, am happy. As is the chi flowing freely through the house.
you could sell the baby gear online (eg: craigslist, ebay), or as part of a bigger garage-sale type effort come springtime.
that is, unless, you forsee another need for it in the future… ~:) in which case, would some extra storage shelves fit into your garage or laundry room?
There is a possibility it could be needed in the future, either by me or my sister. Too soon to tell on that. Therefore, I don’t want to get rid of any of it yet. We’ve put up all the shelves we can in the garage. D is working on reorganizing to get some of it out there. The rest, we’ll have to take up the offers of storage from both sets of parents’ basements. First we have to figure out how to pack them up.
Woohoo!