turn my porch into a porch again -- not a storage facility

...but at least it’s a much better organized storage facility!

One of the “domino” effects of last week’s massive decluttering project was that the genuine junk that was in my solarium got hauled away. What’s out there now is all stuff I want (e.g., off-season clothes, photos, and the like), with one exception – a file cabinet that I’m about to list on Freecycle so that it can go to a good home. (I plan to restrict the papers I keep to a maximum of 4 file drawers, so this cabinet is extraneous.)

Vision for next summer: only shelves out there, plus a pair of lovely Muskoka chairs (called “Adirondack chairs” in the U.S.) and a tiny low table to hold iced tea.

...it’s at best a medium-term possibility.

While I’m working on the rest of the place, the solarium must continue in its current storage role.

The improvement I am making right now is to make more effective use of the space. Stuff that’s ready to go (and has indeed been ready for some time, but too heavy for me to move by myself) is being carted away.

The empty plastic bins and bankers’ boxes are being filled temporarily with, for example, stuff from the surfaces and/or drawers of various pieces of furniture (e.g., my old desk, my big antique dresser, several small chests of drawers) that are either going out or being moved to other rooms. Some of the bins and boxes will ultimately hold items like off-season clothes and the seven years’ worth of financial papers that Canada Revenue requires small-business operators to keep.

Two disassembled shelving units that have been standing against one wall out there for 2-plus years will shortly be reassembled and put to work – the less lovely one will be set up in the solarium itself (to hold bankers’ boxes), and the nicer one will fit beautifully in the dining room (which hasn’t previously had room for it, but which after today will be much rooomier, because most of what’s been living there will be moving into the space cleared in the old office).

Woo-hoo! Calling Rent-a-Son now to organize some strong young bodies to haul furniture to the curb and/or from room to room.

I’ve struggled with clutter for years. Have made huge strides in the past couple of years, after some stuttering “baby steps” in the previous, um, decade or so. A number of items on my current 43Things list involve decluttering.

It’s so great to read over your entries and see your progress! I don’t have a porch, exactly (I live in a third-floor apartment), but I do have a “solarium” or “sun porch.”

Haven’t been able to use it for its intended purpose since I moved in (February 2005). I might not be able to make it useable before the end of this summer—other rooms are higher on my priority list. But I think it’s quite reasonable to aim for being able to use it by summer 2008.

Congratulations again, and thanks for sharing your journey!