Decluttering My Basement . .(Shudder!!!)

I am a small time hoarder.

Most of our married life we have been on a tight budget and each new (to us) thing we brought into our home was precious because we had so little to start with.

Both Henry and I look at stuff (i.e. junk) and see potential for . . . something.

The thing is, we will be celebrating our 29th (gulp) anniversary this fall and after 29 years we've seen a lot of junk coming  in and not a whole lot has going out. After all . . . what if I need it???

The time has come, however to look my hoard in the eye and get ruthless. Free myself from all the stuff that jams up my hallways and leaves me feeling like my house is never, ever truly clean.

The time has come to stop cringing inside every time the kids head downstairs with their friends and wanting to shout down after them "I'm not really a messy person!"

So I've decide to call in the Big Gun. To enlist the help of the most organized person I know.

My good friend Joyce has volunteered to give up a few days of her precious holiday time to help me conquer the beast.

We're going at this Peter Walsh style. Everything in the basement hallways and storage cupboards will go onto the driveway where it will be sorted, condensed and organized within an inch of it's life before going back into the house in an orderly fashion.

And because we are crazy like that, both Joyce and I independently thought about painting the hallways and cupboards (outside only) before putting things back.

I think we may just go for it . . .

I have the best friends ever! If it weren't for Nicole my kitchen would still have ugly brown wood cupboards and without Evelyn the rest  my upstairs would be in even worse shape. (and that's only painting . . . if I had to list everything else friends have done for me over the years, this post would never end.)

I may not blog much this week. Projects like this tend to be all consuming so I expect most of the week I'll be doing quick updates on Facebook rather than here. Feel free to stop by my Life of Whimsey page to check out our progress.

Have a great week everyone and wish us luck! And if you have some free time . . . many hands make light work . . .  ;D You know where to find us!

Also a big thank you to the sweet ladies who offered their hosta and rhubarb leaves so I can keep sculpting this summer. Thank you so much! I'll be by next week . . .