We spent most of yesterday afternoon reorganizing the basement. We had moved boxes out of the basement in order to make room for the water meter installation, and we decided to postpone putting them back until we finished with the furnace upgrade. In the meantime, we squeezed our way past flip-top bins and bankers’ boxes filled with who knew what.

The furnace had finally been replaced, so it was time to win our basement back. W- and I set to work, methodically going through the stacks. We kept a garbage can and a recycling bin close by, and made frequent trips to the living room in order to drop off things destined for donation.

A few things made it back into the basement or various nooks around the house, duly labeled and added to my stuff-tracker. The vast majority of the things did not. Imagine – we could have skipped all those weeks of squeezing past those stacks if we had done this kind of review in the first place!

Today we’re going to work on clearing the second floor and moving furniture around so that the insulation installers can get to wherever they need. Along the way, we’ll probably bundle up more things for donation or disposal.

We’re working on having less stuff, and progress feels liberating.