Clutter Busting / Fall Cleaning

I've never been much into Spring cleaning. While Spring is my 2nd favorite season, it is far, far behind Fall. I'm an Autumn cleaner/declutterer. It is my time to muck out and renew mentally and physically before Winter sets in. This year it is doubly important with this major move and household consolidation finally nearing completion.

I'm driving Mom & Hubby nuts as one of my main strategies is that only one box can be brought INTO the house at a time. When it is completely unpacked and PUT AWAY, the next box comes in. It has really been working because the house is presentable (don't look in my lovely, large walk-in closet or the craft room/office yet - they are non-public areas for now anyway). The kitchen was usable the very first day because of this strategy.

I'm trying to stick to the credo of "If it doesn't have a place, it needs to go". It's making me review my priorities as to what is really important and what are just things/possessions. The sheer amount of STUFF that we have accumulated over the years is overwhelming and almost frightening. I am trying to be ruthless in disposing of things and finding new homes for those that still have life left in them. The boxes for getting rid of stuff are starting to fill up.

One of my favorite strategies when unpacking (or doing my Fall cleaning) is to have several boxes labeled and ready for the various destinations as well as a bunch of trash cans. Because of the recent move, I have several more boxes going out than usual, but you'll get the idea. These are the boxes I am currently sorting into, you can use as many or as few as suits your needs:

YARD SALE/EBAY (Since we are basically combining three households, we have a lot of items that are duplicates or things that just need to go away cuz they're ugly, sorry Hubby but they are!)

GIVE AWAY (I actually have some of these broke down into who they're going to: Ant, C&C, animal shelter, donate, etc.)

STORAGE/KEEP (Things such as holiday decorations, re-gifting, photographs, etc.)

TRASH (self-explanatory I hope)

I've always heard a lot about the emotional aspect of physical clutter in our lives. Since we've moved into this new home, I am really starting to understand what they are referring to. We aren't living as slaves to our possessions anymore. I can open closets without wearing a hardhat. I don't have to dig through ten boxes to find one of my many glue guns. The house feels light and open and I really think that is contributing to how happy we are here.