I’m trying to de-clutter our house with the arrival of a brand spanking cleaner new year.

Where can you reduce clutter in your life?

I’m thinking in terms of material objects because it’s not morally right to declutter people from my life- right? Plus it’s probably illegal.

Anyway, I’ve started with getting rid of linens from one cupboard. There were some hot pink sheets that I don’t remember buying nor using. They were snazzy but expendable. Also had some old NFL pattern sheets and pillow cases that our sons liked when they were young. Many various sizes and colors adorned the linens with both flannel types and something called Egyptian cotton type sheets which might’ve been used when they were building the Pyramids to wrap mummies, but I doubt it even though they’re pretty old. Besides the Ancient Egyptians couldn’t afford fancy sheets like I’ve bought at places like Bed, Bath and That’s All or Home Goodies or Tarjay.

You can get pretty wrapped up in discussing sheets and other bed linen.

I washed all the sheets, blankets and table cloths and after folding them, took them to a local benefit shop. It felt good to dump them…uh, donate them. My cupboard shelves looked much more organized and I even washed the shelves before repositioning the stuff to keep. Less was more; more or less.

Next I’ve moved onto closets which I am clearing out this week. It’s difficult to know what to keep because a lot of what’s in this first closet is sentimental. I have tried to decrease the amount of keepsakes from my parent’s but it all has lovely significance: WWII albums and photos. a 1940’s jewelry box, minus the jewelry, old letters, photos, a sewing kit, ancient newspaper articles all yellowed and brittle and many other items. I’m trying to concentrate certain things together, storing them in one storage box instead of three. I’m giving away a spice rack my grandfather from Pennsylvania made, a doll with marker drawing on its head, a needlepoint of the blue/green ocean with perfectly stitched in curvy shaped waves, a stuffed owl, reams of poster size paper for a printer we recycled, old hanging lamps we never installed from 20 years ago, and other odd materials with an emphasis on “odd”.

I’m still in the midst of sweeping and cleaning the floor of this closet and the top shelf. There is still a scent of musty age in this room. I go into the room and survey what I have done so far and start to feel good about getting rid of unwanted things then I see where I’m placing things I have decided to keep: a red electric guitar and small amp, an American flag beautifully folded in a special box given to us at my Dad’s funeral, old framed pictures of my grandparents and my husband’s great grandparents, an antique mirror and a church picture plate from Murdo before they tore down the church, wader boots because you never know when the urge to go flyfishing might hit. Shucks, I’m still keeping a lot. The smell is getting to me. There’s more but I’m midway through cleaning this first closet and have two more closets to go and an entry closet which I might deny I own. I congratulate myself on getting half a closet cleaned.

I’m getting a bit hungry especially since I have worked hard on half a closet partially organizing it. I just made two loaves of homemade bread, (they smell luscious), plus I bought great Irish butter from Costcocoa (you’ve probably spent a few hundred dollars there for huge amounts of stuff you can’t possibly eat nor use in this decade but it’s so cheap!) Out to the kitchen. Even if I never get to declutter another room, closet or cupboard, I’m never throwing away any food, especially butter. Butter is not clutter. I’ve discovered if I keep the doors closed to the bedrooms and the cupboards and closets, no one will notice any tiny bit of clutter. Where can you reduce clutter in your life? I’ll stay in the kitchen while you come up with your own answer. I’m done for today.