If I Got Rid of a Third...

Over the years, tidying my house has usually been on the top of my "to-do" list! Years of busyness - with little time for more than the weekly basics - left its mark. Then when my mother downsized - first into a retirement residence, then into a nursing home - her things were added to ours.

Not long ago, the thought occurred to me that, if I got rid of a third of the stuff in the house, our home would not look cluttered! (I tried to picture each room with a third less stuff in it...)

Which third would I get rid of? 

The third we no longer use, seemed the logical answer...

Of course, it's never that easy... What to do with several generations of photo albums? Travel souvenirs? Books?

Slowly I have been "nibbling" at piles of clutter here and there.. in the basement, in desk drawers, in my gardening shed... One positive result is that I'm actually looking at things in a drawer or on a shelf carefully, assessing which third to toss and which two-thirds to keep.

The house may not look much different, yet. But there's more garbage and recycling to put out on collection days. Terry has noticed it.

But it's a long-term project: Getting rid of a third could become my New Year's Resolution for 2015!