Spring Cleaning!

I've been neglecting my blog because I've been spring cleaning. I shouldn't really call it "cleaning". What I'm really doing is de-cluttering my life. I tend to collect stuff, lots of stuff. Do you have a junk drawer at home? Well, I have a junk room. Originally, it was going to be a home office with my computer, books, and craft supplies.

When I moved in, I didn't have alot of money. I had very little furniture, all of it hand-me-downs. So I didn't have bookshelves and storage cabinets for this room. Everything was piled on the floor in anticipation. It was only going to be temporary until I had saved money. But then five years went by. I finally have a bigger car, so I can hit the garage sales, tag sales, and thrift stores. Unfortunately, the room is out of control. I have to clear it before I can even think of putting in furniture.

I've spent the last 6 weeks slowly clearing the junk room, with occasional forays into other areas. I've thrown out old papers and cleaned up the filing system. I really need a new filing system though. That's my next project.

These are the things I've given away to friends or Freecycle, or donated:
1. about 50 yards of fabric to a person who makes quilts for animal shelters.
2. a bag of miscellaneous greeting cards, all unused. These were the odds and ends left over from various stationary sets.
3. about 100 VHS tapes. I still have more to sort through.
4. over 100 cassette tapes of music. I should have more in the unsorted boxes.
5. 4 board games.
6. dozens books were donated to the friends of the library. I'm still paring down my library.
7. a toaster. This was in my kitchen, but I think it still counts. I took a break and rearranged some of the pots and pans cabinet. I still need to do more work in the kitchen.
8. a 4 cup coffee maker. I used it for awhile, but the capacity was too small. I gave it to my parents when their maker was being repaired. I think they're giving it back next week.
8. lots of small knick-knacks

Things I've found (and didn't know were lost):
1. A check for $200. It was expired. Luckily, it came from a family member, so they just wrote a new one, which I deposited right away.
2. about $75 in state quarters. They were duplicates of the ones in my quarter book.
3. about $100 in spare change, does not include the quarters. I have a glass jar about 5 inches in diameter. There is almost 4" of coins in it. I also found bills while cleaning.
4. Unused postage stamps. Including the brand new booklet I found this morning, I have found over $30 in stamps. All I need are a bunch of penny stamps.
5. My favorite movie: Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I almost bought it from eBay last week. Good thing I didn't.

Things to get rid of:
1. More cards. I have a big family, and all my friends have children. Every year they have fundraisers and sell stationary. I send most of my greetings by email now. I'm going to wait until I find them all before I give them away this time.
2. wrapping paper. I love buying wrapping paper in January when it's on sale. Besides the Christmas-y ones, I also buy the metallic ones (without Christmas or winter designs) and use it for other occasions. However, I'm ususally very lazy and just put presents in bags. So I've got yards and yards of paper. I'll post it on Craigslist in November.
3. 2 coffee pots. One is the 4 cupper my parents are returning. The other is a 10 cupper I found in the garage. It was in storage for a few years, and I guess I thought I had already given it away. So I bought a new one.
4. Books. Will I really re-read them? I love reading, so this is the toughest part.
5. clothes.
6. shoes.
7. a DVD player. Maybe... I bought an all region player and use that most of the time. But this one has a better picture.
8. cookware. Why do I need so many skillets?

Even though the junk room looks tons better, I still won't let other people see it (like my closet). Well back to sorting!