In With the New

Despite the gorgeous weather this weekend, I spent many hours helping Max clean out his bedroom. It was one of those things that’s been on my mental to do list for far too long, even though it wasn’t really that long ago that we last did it. I’m pretty sure the last time was when he was away at camp, so I didn’t get rid of everything I wanted to then. But the other day he couldn’t find his phone, thinking it was among the clutter (it wasn’t), but I promised him I’d help this weekend, and so we did. 

We went through everything on his bookcase, and took a trunk load of books to a More Than Words donation site. We cleaned off and emptied his dresser and emptied his set of plastic drawers for camp. We cleaned out a plastic bin completely, and another bin containing costume pieces and a lot of assorted trash. We pulled up the rug he’s had in that room since he was a baby. We did a lot of sweeping. I recycled three bags of loose papers, and have two big bags of clothes to donate and five bags of trash. A few treasured board books went to my bookshelves for safe keeping. 

It was a big job. I went to bed sore last night, and probably will again. But it’s good to have it done, and we even found his video camera charger, which had been missing for some time. 

I look back at photos of when the kids were little, and see all of the clutter and shudder. I’ve never done well with clutter. I’m not sure I could be a minimalist, but I do love getting rid of things. And yet, I’ve still got a stream of packages arriving all the time. I finally ordered a mouse for my laptop, now that I’m using it every day. I ordered a fancy towel to dry my hair, since blow drying every day isn’t worth the effort. I ordered an exercise bike I’m hoping to convince myself to use, and a hammock for the backyard, which I may have to fight off the kids for a chance to use. 

All things to make this time a little easier, or a little more fun. All things that probably never would have happened otherwise.