It’s Sunday, and the first day that we haven’t had plans in months. We’ve finished pretty much all of the home improvement projects we had set out to do. We still have to stain, varnish, and install our new bedroom doors, but I think we’ll hold off on that and do it after the baby gets here. Yesterday we finished shortening the new wood blinds we installed in the kitchen, and gave the whole house a thorough cleaning. It’s so nice to have everything back to normal after having construction mess for the last few months. We’ve made several trips to the thrift store and recycle center, getting rid of stuff. I was inspired by this post from Being Frugal, and have just felt like clearing stuff out lately. We gave my sister several pieces of furniture, which has made the house feel bigger. And the built-in storage that my parents helped us make for our bedroom has helped a ton. I’ve also been trying to adhere to the “if you haven’t used it in a year” rule, and have been getting rid of stuff that I don’t need anymore. I’ll admit that my frugal nature tends to resist getting rid of stuff. Not because I spent a lot of money on it (generally I didn’t, because I don’t tend to spend a lot of money on things), but because I tell myself that I might need it someday. Yes, sometimes things do come in handy down the road, but it’s probably more likely that we’ll forget we have the stuff, or something else will work better at the time. And since I feel happier in an uncluttered space, I’m working hard to overcome my hoarder instincts. Adding a new family member and staying in our smallish house is a big incentive to pare down – otherwise I could see us being overrun by “stuff.” We’ve already got more baby stuff than we need, thanks to generous friends and family members passing along their baby things. One friend gave us a couple swings and a bouncy chair, but I’m debating whether I want to keep them, since we’re now planning to use a sling and practice “babywearing” most of the time. Maybe we’ll keep them for a while and see if we end up wanting to use them, although they’re taking up valuable real estate in the garage right now…
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