Out of the Closet

My family and I have a dirty little secret....our closets are a mess! But let me not stop there, in addition to the closets there are so many hidden spots loaded with 'stuff' in my house that I've lost track of them. The sad part is that instead of cleaning out, I clean around these clutter clusters and like a festering cold sore they've become an unfortunate blight on the face of my lovely home.

The Christmas gift I forgot to give to my daughter's mother-in-law?...that's behind the white chair in the living room closer to the fireplace than the Cuisinart that my other daughter bought for her girlfriend's registry before she changed her mind and bought something else. The silver frame for the baby's christening photo?...in the Pottery Barn box next to the burgundy couch in the TV room under the bag from Macy's with the dress that's has to be returned. The fabric that I bought to make a pillow? not sure, maybe under the black desk next to the stationery boxes in my husbands office or is it still in the car trunk? I could go on and on.....

I had breakfast with some friends this morning and the conversation inevitably got around to decluttering our lives. I say inevitably because I've come to believe that decluttering (or is it uncluttering? ) is a right of passage for women of a 'certain' age. I've gotten to the point that it would probably take me the rest of my functional days to actually sort through this stuff and do with it whatever it was I originally intended (if I could even remember!) My friends seemed to have the same problem so I decided to declare a moratorium on buying more paraphernalia.

I hope my husband reads this!

To insure I keep my promise, I'm embarrassing myself by publishing these photos of some of my best clutter spots...I'll be starting in my son's room where his double-sized closet (after he married and moved out oh, about 6-7 years ago) turned into a gift wrapping mecca for roll

after roll of wrapping paper, rolls and rolls of ribbons, boxes and containers for said gift wrap and ribbon and of course, the many gifts that were purchased and never boxed, wrapped and ribboned along with a collection of never mailed all-occasion greeting cards that could fill a small card store! Now, I do have a reputation as a great gift wrapper to uphold but if I were ever to be nominated to the gift wrapper hall of fame, I'd be disqualified after the judges took a look at my work space!

So it begins...the innocent looking white chest with shelves (used to be part of the baby furniture set) will be turned into a gift wrapping hub and the rest will be either tossed or stored somewhere else as I begin my quest to have the most organized and clutter-free house ever. Now I know this is a subject that's gotten a lot of attention on shows like Oprah, Rachel Ray and the Martha Stewart Show. Then there's 'Queer Eye and the HGTV channel... yes, clutter is a national crisis! The difference here will be that I'll be figuring this out by myself, no professional intervention...and I'll do it cheaply, remember, no more stuff!

Stay tuned and let the tossing begin!



Over the weekend: I'll make my sister's easy "Out East Guacamole"