A-cleaning we will go

It's no secret that our house collects a lot of... stuff. There are three adults and two young children here. We own a great many books and movies and games. And toys. So many toys! And craft stuff. We also have particular blind spots to items in the corners, and everyone knows flat surfaces accumulate stuff.

Over this last week or so, I've started working on changing that some. This has been helped in part by being able to re-home one of our cats, who had a horrendous problem with peeing on anything fabric that wasn't covered. Two years of trying to moderate her behavior sadly failed, and we were lucky enough to find a new home where we think she's going to be much happier. With that change, we were able to remove all the tarps from the bed and other places, take all the boxes off one of the couches and the big chair so... they can actually be sat in. ANY TIME WE WANT TO. It's AMAZING. We also found bins on sale at Costco (MOAR BINS PLZ) and got rid of the candle shelf and another bookshelf that had been collecting dust and crap because it was buried in the back, behind toys and such.

Many things are finding new homes. It's refreshing to see so much empty space! But it's also kind of frustrating to see how little stuff we're actually getting rid of. The candles made their way into the hall closet, where they will collect less dust, and be less of a target for the kids. Their shelf went out to the curb, where someone claimed it the next morning. Many of the toy and craft bins went out where that was. There is room! To walk around! The entire dining room table!