We’re slowly coming to the realization that although we often talk about moving, nothing is going to happen unless we actually look at houses. (I would do just about anything to have someone send us to Jackson Hole for a week and then tell us that they’ve moved us into a decent three bedroom house. Honestly. I WOULD DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.)
This afternoon we went to see a house that’s less than three miles away from our current house. It’s about 50 years old, has four bedrooms, and I immediately fell in love with it because it was clean and it smelled good and the back yard was fenced in.
This is a crooked photo of the staged master bedroom bed.
I love seeing beds that are made. (We don’t make our bed.)
This is what I loved the most about the master bedroom:
It’s a super soft rug that looks like grass. If we were to make an offer on the house, this rug has to be included.
As we explored the house, Meredith yelled, “MOM! You HAVE to check out the soap in the bathroom! Does the soap come with the house?!” The girls would love to have their own rooms. They would also love some nice soap.
I know we have a LOT of work to do before we can move. (Honestly. A LOT OF WORK.) I really wish it was possible to buy a house and move in at a rate that allows us to clean this house as we go. So much clutter. So much stuff to be donated. And because the thought of it overwhelms me to no end, I never even begin to fill up the very first bag.
Our five year house has turned into a ten year house and we’ve outgrown it. BUT, my next door neighbor is right. I’m lazy. Also, completely lost on where to start.
EDITED TO ADD: I read this at least once every six months. I need to stop reading it and start living it. (Jennifer is brilliant in so many ways.) ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
From one who has lived in the same place for over 35 years now, but has just survived a kitchen remodel which required taking every single thing OUT of the kitchen (out of drawers & cupboards, off the walls, (and OMG did we really tape that thing to the ceiling??!) and then putting some (but only *some* of the stuff back (vintage fondue set not used for over two decades, anyone?) I can tell you that it may actually be easier to just box everything up as is & not try to make too many decisions on the leaving end (except for the obvious — 18 plastic Star Wars “collectible” drink cups from some fast food franchise back in the 80’s? Nope!) Opening those boxes on the “moving back in” end, will make it easier to think clearly. (Do I *really* need four cheesecake pans of the same size?) For me at least, it was a lot easier to decide not to put something away in the nice new (clean!) cabinets, than it was to decide ahead of time to junk it.
As for the “where to start?” part…just pick one drawer. Any drawer will do. Dump it in the middle of the floor, or your bed, or onto a table. Clean the inside of the drawer, and then put some of the stuff back in. 15 minutes. Half hour, tops, if you get sidetracked by any memorabilia. You will feel SO satisfied with yourself the next time you open that drawer.
So, taking my own advice? Well, trying to anyway. Having dealt with the downsizing and eventual disposition of the homes of two sets of parents on an opposite coast, I am *determined* not to bequeath the burden of our packrat lifestyle to our kids! And the time it will take to accomplish the purge? I see it getting shorter by the day.
One drawer at a time.
Now, if you will excuse me for a half hour or so…
PS: House hunting! :-)
You know when you buy a house, hey don’t lave you the made bds and nice rugs, right! Also, I love looking at houses! Go even though I’m not in the market
I was just telling my mom how much I was able to de-clutter using this book: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Organized-Life-Week—Week-ebook/dp/B005JSZJXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384735035&sr=8-1&keywords=one+year+to+an+organized+life
It gets you to take one room every month and make it neat and organized and if helped me alot (and you get a whole month to work on every room). I fizzled out after doing the kitchen, bedroom and half the living room but I am about to get back on track and finish the other half of my living room aka the office then it’s on to the linen closet and bathroom. Then maybe I will be ready to sell my apartment!
I love you, and I’m so glad I get a post a day from you in November. It makes every day better. The other day I was telling my sister about this awesome kids book I wrote before I had my daughter. It was really good, but I couldn’t find it. I looked in all the places that I kept all my journals, and it wasn’t there. So today, I went to the basement at 8 am, and I started organizing and purging and sorting. I found it (and it IS really good). But then I continued purging and organizing and such. It took forever, and my back is sore, but it was really worth it. I feel lighter as a result of purging, and I felt good about the organization. Highly recommend it as time allows. Watch for my forthcoming, riveting book, “There’s a Mouse in the House.” Best seller fo sho.
Oh this post speaks to me in so many ways. I lived out of my car during some of my training, and all it did was lead me to treat my vehicle like an extension of my house, which I’m working hard to stop. I, too, worry about all that I own, but when I start to go through it I realize that it does all, mostly, have a place, and bit by bit I get organized, one room at a time, until it’s time to start over again because now the first room is a disaster again. Entropy: scientifically proven to be hard to work with.
I’m also going to have to move, at some point. I don’t want to, by my current commute is killing me. That being said, I’m putting it off until I have the energy to call a realtor and see what goes into putting this house on the market. It just makes me sigh deeply. (but then I think about all the time I’ll save driving each day, and that I could be knitting with that time and a glimmer of motivation shows up!)
We’re starting to think about looking for some new digs, too. It’s a daunting task!
Now I want that rug, which means that I have to sell all our cats.
In one of my alternate universes, I am a real estate agent. I love looking at houses, and I love redoing them in my mind to make them even better.
I think we are going to renovate our existing house. Not sure which is more work……selling your house and moving to a new one, or renovating the one you are in…..but we love our neighborhood, and we have enough space, we just want it to be BETTER space……and when I think through the punch list of things we’d need to do to get this house on the market, renovating doesn’t seem like MORE work at least……so……
We moved this summer from a 3br suburban home in one state to a 2br apartment in another, and are now just beginning to conduct our own Next Nest search (we want to buy a house next spring/summer).
I hate house hunting – it’s emotionally exhausting.
The getting-ready-to-sell part is a pain. I tackled my house using the 1 drawer at a time method. I still moved more than I needed to (and am still making weekly runs to Goodwill to drop things off), but that’s OK. We got it clean, we sold it, and we’re here now! You can do it!
(this is how the old house looked when it was ready to show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sturm/sets/72157634297414352/ — and there are no pictures of the basement or garage for a reason)
A few years ago, in order to streamline my life and get my dissertation finished, I put all my stuff into storage and spent nearly a year living with friends or housesitting. With me were 10 boxes of books and files, 2 suitcases, my laptop and one box of yarn. It was amazing. Sometimes frustrating too. At Thanksgiving I moved a bunch of boxes so I could excavate my kitchenaid mixer. I had to swap out clothes seasonally.
Bird by bird, friend. Just take it bird by bird.
Dealing with ALL of anything is overwhelming. I just tell myself that everyday I only have to do one sucky chore/day. Just one. Then I can do anything I want. Somedays I do my sucky chore, somedays not, but the days I do, I feel really really great about having done a sucky thing. And I really aspire to organization, but I’m not naturally organized. Things decay. Entropy mostly beats me.
Totally digging the whole vibe of that bedroom!