One of my goals this summer break is to get some serious decluttering done in my house. I’m not the neatest person by any stretch of the imagination, but oh, how I admire those who are. Might it be said decluttering is ultimately important to me.

As I worked, I found some nuggets of tidiness horror, things only seen on those television shows–you know the kind. For background, I have a small house and to a certain degree space is premium, particularly with my desire to cut away the clutter. I thought things were bad some years ago when I was bemoaning the lack of drawer space, only to find out my husband’s Army uniforms, which he was only using once a month, took up three damn drawers.

But then I discovered the girls’ room. They possess a dresser, the type that usually functions as a diaper changing table but I don’t believe was ever used for such.  Three big drawers, a little cupboard to the side. We had purchased it, all pretty and painted, from the local classifieds. After a couple of years, I wondered if it a bit of toy and clothes culling would allow us to get rid of it. Spoiler: We still have it, it continues to have too much use. But we still had so much stuff in the girls’ room! So in a spurt of organization… I discovered the little cupboard held… boxes. Empty boxes.

Maybe not the volume of three drawers, but at least the Army stuff could be worn. This was a cupboard being taken up by boxes to various toys.

The other was the laundry room. I use plastic totes to store betwixt-girls clothes, and somehow I had them piled high to the ceiling, covered with other paraphernalia. A disaster and an embarrassment. When I went through them, I found one of them was mostly empty. Another two held… Army uniforms, which my husband said I could send to the thrift store. Other surprises were cloth diapers, random maternity outfits, and baby stuff I could have sworn I gave away.

So, I pared it down. The off-size girl clothes? One tote. The cloth diapers? Sadly, one tote. (I need to get rid of those). Which meant I had, again, wasted space, and two broken totes just screaming to be turned into tomato planters.

Little things like this occurred all over the house and I’m still finding them. I admire those people who don’t, who aren’t bemoaning a lack of space when available space is being wasted by empty boxes and meaningless totes.

It saddened me. What was I storing this for? Especially the stupid boxes? Perhaps I am the last person who should be saying this, but it would behoove us all to really look for that wasted space.

Imagine it. Boxes, boxes filled with the forgotten odds and ends of your life, just piled about your house. Would this not be an eyesore, an obvious testament to your need to cut the fat? Yet those things hide, and it’s only when we’re dragging them forth for examination do we toss them in a box and watch those boxes fill and multiply.