Our new house passed its inspection with flying colours, so now we’re just waiting for the results of the appraisal on our current house. The actual appraisal occurred yesterday; when the credit union will get back to us with the approval for the bridge-financing I’m not sure, but somewhere in the next few days. We’re 99.9% sure the house is worth more than the amount we need, so we’re pretty safe to go ahead with the planning.
This is, of course, a wonderful opportunity to cull yet again. We’re not significantly (ok, not at all) downsizing, so we could take everything. But I don’t want to: I may not have yet disposed of a dozen flower vases and the same number of cookie tins from simple inertia, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pack them up and move them, because then I’d have to unpack them and put them away again. I have four major areas to cull: kitchen stuff, clothes, books, and knick-knacks.
Clothes, I think, will be the simplest. I did dispose of quite a lot when I stopped working almost a year ago, but now I have a much better idea of what I actually wear: jeans or khakis, cotton shirts, and sweatshirts, depending on the time of year. I’m going to choose from the rest a few mix-and-match pieces that will take me to a wedding, a funeral, or a nice dinner, and donate the rest. I can always buy it back (or something similar) from the thrift store if I make a mistake.
Kitchen stuff should also be fairly easy: if I haven’t used it in the past year, why do I have it? I bake frequently, and cook for dinner parties often, so I should have a good idea of what I do and don’t use. In fact, I know I own things like a butter curler (to slice off little curls of butter for a fancy butter arrangement for a fancy dinner party, in case you’re wondering). I have never, ever, used it. BD is allergic to butter. We dip bread in olive oil. It’s not moving with us. I’m guessing I’ll need to label it for the thrift store, though.
Books. Hmmm. Actually not as bad as it might be: we’ve become pretty good in the last years about culling the books, because otherwise they would take over the house. We’re likely down to fewer than two hundred, and we rarely buy new ones. So not too bad. Except every so often I do give a book away, and then want to read it again a year later. But we both have library cards.
Knick-knacks. I have to say I am NOT a collector of things that gather dust, but inevitably we have a lot we were given. I have trouble giving away something someone gave me, unless they live on the other side of the world and will never know. They chose it for me and gave it to me thinking I’d like it. This will be my biggest problem. Although we did get away with ‘oh, it’s still unpacked in the attic, we’re waiting to put up more shelves’ for a very long time in the current house, so perhaps I can try that? It worked very well, now I think of it.
And then there are things like the filing cabinet with twenty-four years worth of records of everything from oil bills to credit card purchases to the warranties on the well pump and the inspection records for the septic system that have to be sorted through. And a cupboard full of gift bags, and a garage full of wood scraps BD thought might be useful some day. And the junk drawer. The junk drawer is scary.
I’ll report on how this all goes over the next few weeks. If I maintain my sanity, that is. Any hints on how to do that will be gladly received. Anyone want a butter curler, by the way?
Random Ramblings 