Purging our house has been one of the major preparations we have undertaken with regards to preparing for this baby. With Leif, a 3-bedroom house seemed just fine. We have our bedroom, the guest/office/junk room and then there was an extra room just waiting to be filled with baby stuff.
I don't know how many times today AB and I have said, "why did we buy a 3 bedroom house" or "where are we going to put all this". I admitted to feeling hopeless. AB wondered aloud (and should have probably wondered silently), our friend's houses aren't like this...
AB started in the garage early this afternoon. It looked daunting, but it wasn't a huge deal. A lot of the stuff was large items that were either out of place pending relocation (a hand me down toybox from neighbors, repainted shelves to go back in Leif's new room once painted), in storage (jogging stroller), or big Costco packs (paper towels and TP). Oh and boxes. Boxes and boxes. How does one family accumulate so many boxes? (Don't answer that... online shopping is not an addiction, I can stop anytime.) He broke down the boxes and hauled them to recycling and then found places for the items preventing him from at least getting his car in the garage.
AB came in when finished and informed me two cars now fit in the garage, but probably not me. I looked at him and he was dead serious. Two cars yes, two cars and a pregnant woman, no dice. I haven't ventured to the garage yet.
When we bought this house nearly five years ago AB and I, to that point, had been apartment dwellers. A 2060 square foot, 3 bedroom home, 2 bath with dual car garage was a spacious luxury. I remember us marvelling at the bare space wondering how we were going to fill it. Five years later and we have found many shortcomings in our house. But first and foremost at our minds today was how in the world do we deal with the severe lack of storage space? And why was this house designed with such little storage space.
Because of the high water table in this region, basements are rare. AB and I both grew up in regions where basements were a given. Here if you are lucky enough to have a home with a view on a hill, then you are probably afforded the luxury of a basement. Otherwise, good luck. I never realized what a luxury a basement was. About right now I am willing to trade my 10 and 12 foot ceilings for a basement.
We cleaned out about half of the guest room to this point in getting ready to paint it for Leif. I have pulled boxes of stuff out and am reminding myself how well I lived without these things to this point... and that my choice is trash or Goodwill. There are a few things worthy of posting for sale online - like 3+ yards of decorator width blue faux crushed velvet still on the spool. But for the most part it is just a matter of loading it into the trash or loading it in the car for dropoff in exchange for a tax deduction.
AB is talking about buying a shed from Costco asap. We have talked about getting one for a few years, but never found it to be *that* necessary. We are to that point now. It is a necessity... one that bumps the boat and the purse down the list.
What we really need, however, is to reach a decision about where we are going to land. If it is here, then we will start househunting and preparing to move in the next year to year and a half.
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