Exhausted

On top of having one hellatious bout with respiratory crap, we finished cleaning the basement this weekend. We had stuff from my parents (who were both from the Depression Era, and saved EVERYTHING), my stuff, Fidget's stuff, our stuff, the boys' stuff...And some stuff that no one knew where it came from. Our trash can is full to over-flowing, our garage is full of stuff to donate and garbage that wouldn't fit in the can...But our basement is wonderfully cleaned out. Still a few odds and ends to find "homes" for, but we are basically done. Got rid of 3 filing cabinets and their contents, most of the stuff needing to be shredded is done, and we filled a couple of boxes of old (like from the 80s and 90s) checkbooks that were my parents to take out to a friend's farm to burn. There were no less than 4 HUGE barrels of toys and stuffed animals from when I was little...So little I didn't remember most of it. Boxes of my old report cards and school work. Why did we save that crap? The good news is, I think Fidget will be more selective about what she saves from the boys. Good Lord, did we have stuff.

We still have about 6 plastic bins full of "Keepsake" type items...Stuff that belonged to my parents that I'm not ready to get rid of yet. We got rid of about 25 bins of that stuff. Eventually (like after the holidays) we're going to go through those bins and try to have a couple of shadow boxes made, or something like that. I'm a believer in the idea that if I'm going to save something because it means something to me, it should be displayed, not kept in a box in my basement.

Last night our deck and side lawn looked like the Clampitts moved in with Sanford and Son. In addition to the donate boxes on part of the deck (wouldn't fit in the garage) and a HUGE mound of garbage on the other side of the deck (wouldn't fit anywhere else) we had our side lawn FULL of stuff with a nice little "Free" sign next to it. This morning there are only a few things left, and we'll leave them out there until tomorrow. If they're still there, we'll start calling Goodwill and places like that to see if we can get rid of them that way. We talked about having a garage sale in the Spring/Summer, but the sheer volume of stuff we were getting rid of put us off of that idea quickly. Having to park our vehicles outside during a Minnesota winter so that we could store all of it didn't appeal to either of us. Most of what we donate is tax-deductible, so we'll make a little that way. What's most important to us is that...All that stuff is no longer our problem.

I'm exhausted just thinking about everything we did this weekend. I still have to do my homework, including putting together a presentation for tomorrow. But I can't tell you what a relief it is to have it done!