The library

I was going to post some pics of what I did today in the library, but without a 'before' set of pics, I decided there was no point. Other than the basement, the library has been my sore point in this house. It's been my 'catchall' room and I was growing weary of it. I consider that it contained the 'flotsam and jetsam' of my life; all the little bits and pieces that don't fit neatly into any other rooms. So, over the course of the past eight months, I've been, without even realising it, steadily dealing with the issue.

The first step was to take out of it anything that didn't belong there. It was amazing to see how spread out my junk was--I found kitchen bits and bobs, tools, clothes, cleaning supplies, car supplies.... It was just wow.

One of the next things I did was recycle or shred a ton of paper; something that happened slowly over the course of these eight months. I went from having the equivalent of six full file drawers of paper to one and a half. I look at that as being four fewer boxes to move next time.

Another thing I did was edit the furniture. I had an old PC AND an old Mac and a desk in there and it became evident in the past few weeks that I would never have use for any of these times. I put ads on eBay and Craigslist and cleared all of it, also ridding myself of a big box of miscellaneous PC junk.

Finally, I got rid of about a third to half of my books!!! That was one of the most freeing things I have ever done.

There wasn't much to purge after that, but I still had a lot of work to do. It was time to consolidate what was left, which was especially my sewing, knitting, and cross-stitch supplies. This is the step I took today. Each activity is now properly containerized... and I have no excuse not to get through my darning pile tomorrow. Shucks!

Well, all that's left now that needs serious work is the basement and I do not look forward to a much needed afternoon there. But at least the visible parts of my house look pretty good and definitely better than any home I've ever had before.