Cleaning Out

As I prepare for the New Year, I like the idea of starting it fresh. Time to do some cleaning out. 

It started before Christmas with the Great Room Switch. We further finished the partially finished room in the basement for our fifteen year old son who just wants to be able to get away from people. Siblings, mostly, which is completely understandable at times. This required a basement clean-out before we could even begin.

As Zachary packed up his stuff, our thirteen year old daughter packed up hers. As he was moving out of his old room, Haley was moving in - and out of a room shared with her 10 year old brother and 7 year old sister. 

They ran into a major roadblock: what to do with the books. I helped them sort through hundreds of books. We bagged and boxed close to five hundred books from the two bedrooms for donation. A couple hundred books remain on bookshelves ... those to be read, and those to be read again.

This inspired me to sort through the craft stuff that has taken over our dining room and spilled over into bins and bags at the bottom of the stairs. I consolidated to just what will fit on designated shelves and made up a bin of materials to bring to homeschool co-op to share with teachers and parents and whomever will make use of them.

I next will move on to the underbed  bins, my nightstand, the bookcase in the living room, and the fridge. Ooooh, how I hate cleaning out the fridge. I don't bend so well these days, and no one else wants to take on the task, so it's up to me to discover the various science experiments going on in the back of the bottom shelf and to open the containers we've all been too frightened to investigate.

As I do the physical cleaning, I do a sort of mental and emotional cleaning as well. Making space in my house helps me make space in my thoughts for how to better live my life. Getting rid of the physical clutter helps me deal with my emotional clutter as well.

I take joy in entering the new year after a good cleaning out of house, mind, and spirit.