Box attack!

Well after a long absence (my internet was down) I'm trying to get back in the loop. It was great having to go without my daily internet fix while a good friend debugged our computer. I was struck by how much entitled "down time" I give myself each day while I surf the web. I need to exercise constraint - but don't I also need to catch up on what happened on all my favorite blogs during my time off? lol.

So what did I do to occupy my day? I determined to tackle some boxes.

Some people have stacks of paper, (me included) that take over areas of the house. But I also have boxes crawling up my walls!

LAST YEAR we offered part of our basement to a friend who needed a place to stay and was looking for work, so I quickly stored everything in boxes and piled them along the wall of our basement. They have never been touched since and I dreaded going downstairs and seeing this reminder of yet another project. Well, right before our computer failure, I was motivated by girltalk's "pick your spot" contest and knew I had to participate. I had a clear goal in mind and a deadline to meet.

So without further delay here is my before picture:

The funny thing is in my mind I thought "most of this stuff is my husband's things" but when I divided the boxes I was stunned to find out my side had more. I should have taken a picture of all my boxes on one side and the few that belonged to my husband on the other :)

Well if you need some good advice on how to tackle a project like this you should turn to Laura's great website- Organizing Junkie for info on the Process. I got my plan into action and sorted, purged, filled many trash bags and now have a bunch of things in a giveaway pile. The most difficult part of this was discovering my Ph. D and graduate papers of a time I dimly remember. Now I love staying home with my kids- do I envision one day needing a file on Early music notation and Byzantine chant? Well enough of that- here is the final after picture:

I love that the boys can play basketball since before they didn't want to come downstairs much either! When they are not doing that and in all my spare time, I created a nook for my sewing projects. We can even use the fireplace without fear of burning the house down from all the papers! I must confess that I didn't go through my husband's boxes but he said he would soon now that his major deadline at work has passed. It has felt so good to be rid of all the extra stuff- I think I even lost a few pounds in the process!

Do you have any areas in your house that have turned into Mt. Vesuvius? I'd love to hear about it!