Closet cleaning

On my to-do list is something that's been a while in coming: cleaning out the closets.

This might not seem like a big deal, except we live in a split entry house--that means no basement, which means no storage, which means closets packed to the gills. Now is the time to clean those babies out and put stuff in three piles:

1. Must be kept at home, so back in the closets (or garage, but that too is stuffed);
2. Not needed at all, so will be thrown away or donated (we're up to 8 bags for Goodwill or ARC); or
3. Set aside to go into a rental storage closet.

I've been holding back on renting a storage unit--when we take stuff in, I try to get rid of stuff too to keep everything in balance. Still, we have stuff we want to keep and when we get a bigger house Someday--say, when the boys get too tall and start hitting the ceiling--then we will want to take this stuff out and keep in the home. I'm mostly talking about rarely used by important kitchen stuff (like my fancy salsa and chip bowl) and Books. Many many books, which we kept in a room until we had kids, and they are now in boxes.

In future bigger home we will hopefully have a library/game room, so the books have a future home. Just not in this home.

The best discovery when cleaning out the closets was the rediscovery of stuff from Derick's and my childhoods/college years. Derick found the title of the truck he'd bought and used on our first date. It was like he'd found the Holy Grail.

And me? I found all sorts of stuff that gave me a good day going through it all. I'll post tomorrow to show you what I found, including my very first driver's license. It made me feel old, but it also made me laugh. Can you say perm?