Christa, Day 10: I Guess We're Not Starting Small?

Did you know that I used to be a compulsive side of the road furniture grabber? In a handful of cases, that compulsion has resulted in useful furniture upcycled by yours truly, such as this and this. In many others, however, grabbing side-of-the-road furniture has resulted in less space in the unfinished side of the basement until we hauled it back outside. Oops.

Which is why, perhaps, I feel a special fondness for today's 72 Days simplification idea:

Get rid of the big items. There’s tons of little clutter in our lives, but if you start with the big items, you’ll simplify your life quickly and in a big way.

I'll admit, it is 9 p.m. and I have not actually divested myself of any big items.

The linked article that accompanied today's idea seemed like it was designed for a slightly higher income bracket than my own. Why yes, I am reconsidering my need for a vacation home! Upon reconsideration, I still can't afford one! And I finally got over my sports boat addiction, so that's another bullet dodged. Unfortunately, a car is what I'd call necessary around here since we're not living in NY's five boroughs or in Boston proper anymore. Storage unit? Nope. Unused appliances? What does that even mean? A second washer on top of the first one?

But seriously, the main big items we have around here are furniture, and most of that is furniture we use. Mostly. However, there are four items that I can say without a doubt are doing nothing but taking up valuable space. These are:

• Paloma's old changing table
• A little yellow side table
• An old glass door book shelf
• A treadle table for an antique sewing machine

Why these four? Paloma's changer is kind of useless at the moment and if I was having another baby I think I'd spring for a convertible dresser with a built in changing table top - or, you know, change the baby on the closest flat surface so I could keep mah money. The little yellow side table is currently just a spot collecting stuff that ought to be put away. I painted that table myself, but it no longer is "me," if you understand what I mean. The old glass door book shelf was given to us by an upstairs neighbor who was moving out and it was one of those weird situations where I didn't know the guy but felt strange saying no. Ditto on the antique treadle table - which has an antique sewing machine to match in a box somewhere.

None of these things has any real sentimental value to me, save the changing table. And what kind of sentimentality is that, anyway? I can't toss this! I took our daughter's rectal temperature on it! Sheesh. Each of these things is taking up space and doing a whole lot of nothing. Okay, the treadle table has a box fan on it, but a chair would do almost as well. It's a bit late to be dragging these items outside at the moment - hello, 9:19! - but I feel good that I've identified them as problem furniture, and in the next week or so I will list them on Craigslist and Freecycle and hopefully someone bites.

Problem almost solved!

P.S. - Check out the Day 10 post on 31 and Holding!