Because we're looking at selling our condo in the next year, Rob and I have started to really think about our clutter.
We have accumulated A LOT of stuff since we moved in here. Like, a lot. We have also changed a lot of stuff in this place - we've repainted, we redid the bathroom upstairs, and we potentially have to purchase a new furnace and potentially a new water heater before we move, which will cost in the neighborhood of $10,000. Daunting? Yes. But we've been saving for it since we learned that our furnace is going kaput, so we should be fine.
We also have a ton of shit to fix, like the paint jobs in various rooms and repainting certain places, and we're repainting one of the rooms because it's too bright a green to be in any way appealing to a potential buyer.
But we're taking this opportunity to be prepared to move.
In the past, we have purged both before and after a move, and it has helped us to keep the amount of stuff we have in check. This time, though, I think it's going to be a bigger job than ever before.
I've been starting to think about being mentally ready for this change, particularly the change in the level of clutter. We always have battled clutter, but it seems bigger lately. Coming home often feels overwhelming because we're so cluttered, and I don't want to live like that anymore. I also don't want to move into a new house with all of this shit hanging over us. To that end, I downloaded this Marie Kondo book, with the hope that I will be able to give myself some mental space to get ready to de-clutter.
WHAT A PAGE-TURNER. She talks about the idea of putting all of your stuff in one place, taking each thing in your hands, and determining whether or not it gives you joy. If it doesn't, out it goes. She also talks about tidying by category rather than by room, and that makes a lot of sense - for instance, we have this closet that just has a ton of shit in it, and most of it we haven't touched since we moved in and is kitchen stuff. To put all of that stuff together and get our kitchen stuff together and go through all of it I think will be excellent.
She also talks about the idea of tidying once. One time. That way, we know where everything goes and put it back there when we're done. It's a pretty interesting read!
We're taking February vacation off together, and we're taking that entire week to get ourselves organized, or at least start the process. It'll be a long one to be sure, but it will be worth it when it's time to move and get into a new place. I'm pretty excited.
