A few days ago, I asked my daughter if she still wanted the stuffed animals in the basement. She took them out of her bedroom when she was in high school, not because she decided that she was too mature for stuffed animals—even now, she still has plenty—but to make more space for clothes after she and her friends discovered the joy of shopping. The old stuffed animals ended up in an overflowing laundry basket in the infamous basement closet.
Her answer was “What stuffed animals?” They had been sitting in the basement for so long, she totally forgot about them! So, they’re definitely clutter; and off to the thrift store they go. I am sure I’ll discover plenty of other forgotten things like that as the cleanup continues!
About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!
Hi Meg, I’m keeping lots of stuffed animals from my kids, they are in the spare room, each one of them has a story behind, I remember if I bough it or who gave it, how much the kids like it. The kids don’t care about them, but I can’t let go. I should follow you and do a little bit of decluttering! Have a great week!
Letting go of things that have a story behind them is indeed much harder. I’ve found that blogging about it helps, though — if I take a photo of something and tell the story on the blog, then it feels like it’s not really gone forever. 🙂
I kept just a couple from my son…after they had spent quite a few years in a large plastic bin in the basement in good company 🙂 I think we all go through those phases when our kids grow up.
Yes, it’s the “Dang, I had no idea so much clutter had built up!” phase.