Last night's step toward a simpler, cleaner home was cleaning out our stairs basket. The idea is that you put stuff in it that needs to go upstairs (or down) and then when it fills up you take care of it. Of course, this sucker has been at the bottom of our stairs with the exact same pile of crap in it pretty much since we moved in. I discovered as I cleaned it out that the situation is even more dire . . . I'm pretty sure we moved that basket from our last apartment already full of stuff, and never dealt with it.
We are hoarding, lazy folks. THIS IS WHY WE NEED TO GET SIMPLER AND CLEANER.
I'm proud to report that the basket is now empty, and destined to go to a friend of mine with a very stair-filled home who will use it much more responsibly. Cleaning it out yielded some impressive finds. The highlights:
- a bottle of sunscreen with an expiration date in 2003. Meaning it was purchased OVER A DECADE ago.
- a check from Ben's old employer, dated 2008 for $91. I'll be cashing that today.
- 5 caribiners of varying sizes and qualities. Note that no one in our family has ever been a serious rock-climber.
I'm terrible at taking before pictures, but here's the finished product (and actually, even the basket will leave soon):
Just looking at a clear staircase makes me feel like I can breathe a little easier.
Other steps we took yesterday:
SIMPLER: Photographing some things to post on craigslist and/or eBay. (When it seemed relevant, we asked friends if they wanted particular items first).
CLEANER: Actually busted out the feather duster to clear some ceiling cobwebs from the kitchen.
CHEAPER: Got a food-cart meal to take home for dinner. Lemon chicken platter, with pita. We add a bunch of chickpeas to this. Dinner for the family for a total cost of $7, with no wasted food and no one leaving hungry.
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