The most surprising thing about decluttering…
Before and after shots of our front room (now renamed, grandly, The Library). (Photos: Shala Howell)
Is not how many miles it is possible to walk in one’s own home (if my pedometer is to be believed, 3.06 miles per day on average) or the fact that having a place to put all of her toys inspires The Six-Year-Old to put them back without being asked, but rather how much less interested The Six-Year-Old is in TV now that the Toy Rapture has happened.
By donating all the too-young-for-her toys and storing all the too-old-for-her ones, I appear to have achieved Peak Toy Interest for The Six-Year-Old.
It used to be from the moment she walked into the house after school (or woke up in the morning on weekends), The Six-Year-Old clamored for TV every 1 to 10 minutes until 5 p.m. (the hour at which TV is finally allowed). Now she heads straight for the playroom and busies herself with something or other for hours. A few times she’s even glanced at the clock, noticed it’s six, and instead of asking for TV asked me if it was dinnertime yet.
I know. This shouldn’t be a major revelation, but it is.
One more because this one gives you a better feel for what it’s like to spend time in The Library (aka my writing spot). And because, you know, it’s my blog and three generations of my family have dedicated weeks to decluttering this one room, so I think a few oohs and aahs are called for. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Clearly a minimalist lifestyle is not in the cards for me. The number of books at Caterpickles Central alone precludes it. However, I can aspire to a house in which everything has both a place and an immediate function, and all the “I may use that sometime” items make their way to a respectable veteran’s group for more timely use by someone else.
(Have I mentioned lately how much I love the fact that you can use Donationtown.com to arrange to have charities like the Vietnam Veterans of America, Habitat for Humanity, and Goodwill pick up massive donations from your front porch for free? I’ve been having these guys out every week lately, and my house is a much nicer place to live because of it.)
Related links:
- Decluttering reaches fever pitch (Caterpickles)
- Declutter in Your Life and Embrace Minimalism This Weekend (lifehacker.com)
- Why my iPhone is better as a dumbphone (Gizmodo)
CATERPICKLES 
9 Responses to “The most surprising thing about decluttering…”
It looks wonderful, Shala; and I cannot help noticing that getting that person out of the before picture really did help declutter!
Love, Mom
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Ha!
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[…] ← The most surprising thing about decluttering… […]
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Wow, looks great! What an inspiring writing spot! And I had no idea about donationtown.com, very cool. I’ll be contacting them soon!
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Thanks! Now if I could only find the time to actually sit there… This spring has been pretty busy.
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[…] In the meantime, I’m going to take advantage of this lovely weather we’re having and take a walk outside for a change. […]
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[…] The most surprising thing about decluttering (Caterpickles) […]
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[…] by color. Changing the color of the books in a room would be easier than repainting it, he argued. And so we did. We’ve kept the books organized by color (more or less) ever […]
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[…] to draw off all that electricity so that Snoopy can fly his Camel through, but I’ve been decluttering up a storm lately and all she can find is […]
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