Purge Plans

We just took down about 95% of our Christmas decorations and said a sad goodbye to our gorgeous tree. (I'm too attached to my "wow, I did that?!" chalkboard sketch, seen on my decor breakdown, so until I'm inspired or totally done with it, it's staying!) Paired with heading back to school today (after a super generous two weeks off with the family...I know, I'm spoiled), and I'm definitely feeling the post-holiday letdown. Who else gets hit by this every year?

Sure enough, though, this time of year also gives me a bit of a lift. I suddenly feel motivated to undertake some purging, decluttering and organizing when January hits. Nothing to do with resolutions, but maybe something about the freshness of a new year and the boredom (if it can be called that) of winter.

Add to it the fact that we're hoping to find a new home in 2015 and what better reason than to declutter? It seems to be the #1 way to make one's house more appealing to prospective buyers, not to mention the fact that it's free. To avoid the emotional side of things (don't even get me started, LOL), I remind myself that it's for the best if we remember that it's better to move only the things we love rather than haul everything, including junk or excessive "stuff" we don't actually use or need.

So, I thought I'd share a list of the purging and organizing I'm planning to do before springtime. I've got other projects in mind, but this is just the organizational stuff. :-)

- Basement. We have an unfinished basement with lots of stuff (and, dare I say, crap). It's orderly, but it's easy to just dump one thing at a time that it's gotten out-of-hand. It's also quite dark and cold, so you have to find a day that's relatively warm outside and bright, and most importantly that we're motivated to work on it. Blah.

- Clothes. Dude. I haven't even switched out my summer clothes. The best I've done is weeded out Had's 2T stuff for 3T {sniffle}. So, yup. About time!

- Office. I've promised Dave that I'd help him purge the office, although the books that we own are all ones that we love and want to keep. It's more about organization (and a little bit of purging) to make the space work best.

- Closets. We've got some closets that are bursting at the seams and others that are housing unimportant stuff. So, yeah. Organize, organize, organize! 

- Kitchen Cabinets. At least once or twice a week, I find myself reaching my boiling point over what? Being totally unable to either get a piece of cookware out of out cabinets or get one back in its rightful place. Doesn't sound maddening, but it really can be. These things were built for people of 90 years ago (which I love), so they just don't work, size-wise and shelf position-wise. I figure a good purging of unused or unnecessary stuff will help, along with a reorganization.

Do you guys have any clutter cutting going on lately? Does January light a flame under you to work on anything that's fallen to the wayside? Do tell!

On that note...off to watch Downton Abbey! (It's only a slightly less abusive to watch than Sherlock. That one takes frickin' years to put out a new season. Worth it, all around.)