"dejunkifying"

Yesterday we dedicated the entire day to "dejunkifying" our house, and let me tell you it felt GOOD! About a week ago we started talking about how we were feeling so overrun with....junk. So we set Wednesday as "d-day" and stuck to it, much to my surprise!

"Dejunkifying" entailed not only cleaning, but getting rid of mounds of things we had stored up in closets, under beds, corners of the laundry room, and anywhere else you pack away those meaningless items that you hold onto for some reason or another. Nate started in the bathrooms with his Restore-4 cleaner, and he got down to business getting all the dirt and, well, junk off the floors, tubs, and sinks. It looks amazing! I was thoroughly impressed with his hard work and dedication. I, of course, wasnt able to help out with that part of the process because of my pregnancy (rats :) After that we tore everything out of the linen closet and had a huge pile of sheets, blankets, and random towels all over the hall floor. Our daughter had a blast jumping thru the pile and rolling around on it. We, on the other hand, got to the bottom of the closet and found two bins full of ridiculous things we had been saving. Old VCR's, kites all a mess, useless candles and vases that come a dime a dozen. We started making "thrift store" and "trash" piles and the junk kept coming.

Next stop was the hall closet, where I came across my bin of books that I have collected over the years. Occasionally I dig thru the closet and switch these books out, but it had been ages. I had forgotten that my mom had sent me a box from home that contained a bunch of my favorite childhood books, and it was so nice to look thru them again! "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", "Stuart Little", and others were in the mix, as well as some old favorites like "Pride and Prejudice" and "Out of the Silent Planet" which I quickly snatched up and took to my room to read again soon.

Nate's closet took a good hour to dejunk because it was so out of control! But he got rid of so much stuff that I think the time spent was well worth it. We kept a bin to save some of his favorites that cant be worn anylonger, like his "No Half Steppin" starter jacket from high school, his Kangol he got in England years ago, and his PNB and Fresh Jive long sleeves that remind me of our early years. My closet is still being tackled because there just wasnt enough time to get to it.

The house looks amazing....at least to us it does! We dusted, deep cleaned (the kitchen--what can I say, Nate whipped it into shape for me) and dejunkified our hearts out, and ended up with three garbage cans full of trash, and seven big trash bags of stuff that went to the thrift store. It feels good and Im so glad we did it!