Simplifying--Round One

 In response to a talk I heard in November, I decided to reorganize and cut down on the things which we own.  We are now in the midst of the "purge" of all we own as I think about what we need and what might be better off at someone else's house or thrown away.

I started with books and games.......

We cleared off shelves in the basement....gave this away to a friend who likes to refinish wood (she loves it by the way and is excited to fix the broken pieces and make it all better (something that I was never going to get to on my list).....

 Then we moved down our entertainment center parts from our bedroom downstairs as well as games from all their locations around the house.

Thankful Scott came to help Gary move the heavy stuff!!

This is what all of our games looks like when they are spread over the game room floor.  I threw incomplete games away, donate some to others and the DI, and then organized the remaining games into these shelves.

And here is the final project.  It is so nice to have them all in one place.  It reminded me of some of our old games which we haven't played for years.  They were fun and I need to have friends over to PLAY SOME GAMES!!!

Phase one done.

Now the game room is covered with everything out of our storage room.  I spent the day yesterday taking everything out and starting the sorting process.  I am determined to weed the decorations I don't use, the clothes we no longer need, and the list goes on.....

One odd thing about all of this simplifying is that after giving away lots of books and reorganizing many shelves, I need a new book shelf in the master bedroom to hold my books I want to keep in there.  Gary isn't sure exactly the logic of that---it is one of those homemaking mysteries!

I am sure I will post other pictures along this journey.  However with school starting back this week, I am just hoping I can get the storage room put together by the end of the month.  Otherwise no one can come and play games with us.