Wanted: Empty Shelves

Empty shelves? We hate them at the grocery store, but what about in our homes? I guess it depends on what you mean by empty shelves.

When my husband and I first moved in to our new home, there were lots of empty shelves and spaces. Truthfully, I didn't mind at all. I had felt so crowded in our old house with its abundance of pictures, knickknacks and stuff. The one good thing about staging it to sell was we had to get alot of things out and clear the space.

Doing that made my head feel clearer, too. I've come to the point in my life where I am desperately trying to get rid of all our stuff. Being married to a man who likes to keep everything makes that hard, but lately I have seen signs of a turnaround, and couldn't be happier.

My husband is actually talking about downsizing--as in getting rid of the millions of boxes we have. "If I haven't needed them in two years, I don't need them," he says, and we promise each other to open our boxes and clean one or two out every weekend.

What's stopping us? Well, cold. It's COLD in the basement and we have to be quick about picking a box and bringing it upstairs. We have to be determined. Not lazy. Intent on getting stuff out. None of which we are, particularly.

Something about snow on the ground outside your window makes you (me) want to hibernate so badly. I think bears have the right idea and at this time of year always wish I was one.

But.

When we moved, there was nothing on the walls for months and we had three bookshelves (that got filled pretty quickly). Not much else -- no shelves, nothing on them, nada. In 2020, being home a lot more, we bought a mail table and bathroom shelving along with a window bench that had built-in storage. We quickly filled those shelves and put up pictures around the house.

I like it, but I miss the space. I love space. Growing up I wanted to live in a loft that looked like a dance studio, with floor to ceiling windows, hardwood floors (for dancing), a brightly lit and well functioning kitchen, a loft bed or maybe a queen-size canopy bed, claw-foot tub, farmhouse sink and that's it. Pictures on the walls, yes. A bookshelf, yes. Knick knacks, NO (I HATE knickknacks). 

The other thing that drives me crazy is paper, and we have way too much of it everywhere. Most of that is my fault but though I try faithfully to recycle or get rid of it every day, it comes back like a cat that wants feeding. I am vowing not to let paper defeat me, though.

Are you tired yet? I just wanted you to see my life right now from the inside, and promise to do better. I guess this blog has been about clutter, yes? I'm going to keep fighting it and I promise, by February, my guy and I will start pulling boxes out of the basement.

Otherwise, you can jump up and down and yell at me. I swear.