Life After Decluttering – Downstairs

 

I got rid of a lot of stuff in my home recently, particularly downstairs in the main living areas.  In the living room I removed the glass bookshelf and all the items that were displayed on it simply because I was tired of cleaning it only to have it dusty again in a few days.  I also removed the artwork from the walls just to see if I want to do something differently moving forward.  I had a huge philodendron plant that was on the bookshelf that I took a couple cuttings off of and gave it to my friend since I no longer had a place for it.  The cuttings have since rooted and I was able to plant it in a much smaller pot where it now resides on my fireplace mantle.

 

The biggest change for me in the living room, other than the removal of the bookshelf, was to completely empty out and reassess the contents of my china cabinet.  After much thought I put my set of Christmas china on Facebook and it went to a new home.  My preferred set of china is the one that belonged to my grandmother and it now has the place of importance in my cabinet along with a few other little treasures.  It was a hard decision to let the Christmas china go, but since it was picked up by the very excited young lady that wanted it I really haven’t missed it.  I might at Christmas time, but right now I like that the cabinet isn’t so full and crowded.

 

Not much changed in the dining room other than a few porcelain pieces that I gave to my youngest daughter that were on the shelves and I temporarily removed the picture I had hanging up, again just to rest my eyes and reevaluate my preferences.  It allowed me to do some cleaning and painting and freshen it up a bit and now I only have what I truly love in there.

 

In the kitchen I simply went through all of the drawers and cabinets removing items I no longer needed, wanted or used sending them to the thrift store or giving items to friends or neighbors including my K cup coffeemaker.  With the recent rise in K cup prices I decided I no longer needed to spend my money on those and sent the machine to the thrift store as well.  

I also went through my pantry and gave away items I knew I wasn’t going to eat to my children’s old high school for their food pantry and shared some other items with a friend of mine.

 

The laundry room and downstairs bathroom got a thorough once over and items were removed from those spaces as well.  Not a lot, but enough that it seems to make a difference.  Most of what I removed simply needed to be homed with other like items in a different place.  Now the only things I have in the laundry room pertain to laundry and in the bathroom I keep it stocked with an extra hand towel, my cleaning rags and a few rolls of toilet paper.

 

The hall closet was another area that really got purged and cleared out in a big way.  It used to be where a set of floor to ceiling shelves existed packed with CDs, DVDs, electronics, school supplies and loads of odds and ends.  Behind the hotwater heater I had boxes of stuff I no longer needed, three box fans and way too much luggage.  Now the shelves have been removed and after a much needed freshen up the only thing behind the hot water heater are the two box fans not currently in use.  A small bookcase sits where the floor to ceiling built-ins used to be and right now the only thing on there is some of my cookbooks.  The CDs and DVDs were purged and the discs placed in zippered cases which take up considerably less space.  Right now they are in the motorhome, but I’ve left an open space for them on the bookcase.

 

The biggest change to the downstairs of my home happened in the guest room.  I reprioritized that space and removed ALL of the furniture which I gave away to neighbors.  I am now using that room as a storage area, mainly the closet for my long term food storage and a bunny haven where little Miss Daisy has the full run of the place and she loves it.  We both like this room better this way at this stage in our lives.  I still have a place for guests upstairs and if I need more room I also have the motorhome.

 

A ton of stuff has left this house, no doubt about that, and I truly do not miss any of it.  I like the openness each room has as I pass through, the simplicity of cleaning and maintaining these rooms and the overall feeling I have as I live in my home.  It was a lot of hard work, with many listings on Facebook as well as several trips to the thrift store and the hauling of very full trash and recycle bins to the curb on more than one occasion.  In the end it was definitely worth it.