Decluttering Family Style

Decluttering makes you confront your life as it is--not as you wish it was. That can be uncomfortable.


I wanted to get rid of some games we no longer play anymore. I gathered some from the living room and put them on the kitchen table and asked the kids to tell me which ones they wanted to keep.

That may not have been the best approach! We did not let go of that many.

The white box held play dough supplies. I had held on to them for my nephew. When my seven year old nephew was over last, he played minecraft with my son. Good-bye play dough.

The hard truth is, we haven't played a game together as a family in a long, long time. My daughter is irritated beyond reason by her brother: so sometimes, it just isn't all that fun for the four of us to be together. Yet, my picture of a happy, healthy family is all of us sitting around a table. I am not quite ready to give up on that.

But, I don't want to keep the games in the living room anymore. As part of my efforts to spiff up the living room this month, I  decided to put the games we wanted to keep with the rest--on the top shelf of our coat closet. But first, I had to make room.

Years ago, I had put up a cooler and a picnic blanket in order to make it easier for us to go on picnics. Sadly, we've never really gone on a lot of them. So, the blanket is being relocated to be near the camping stuff and I am probably going to donate the cooler. Taking out just those two things gave me the room we needed.

Now, to make sure we play one of these together, soon!