I shredded a ton of papers yesterday that had belonged to my husband. Nothing exciting or emotional, but he held on to papers. Through the years I had gone through them all, except for those crammed in his large briefcase. A briefcase he hadn't used for years and years. So I tackled that and kept only a very small calculator that was in it. Oh, and found some cash. I shredded the rest and filled multiple bags of shredded paper and took that all to recycling yesterday. There are absolutely no unnecessary papers remaining anywhere in our house. None.
I also have a bag of things just about ready to go to Goodwill. A Revere Ware Dutch oven was put in the bag yesterday. We have a Dutch oven that matches our pots and pans set. Don't need two. Also added a few odds and ends things from the kitchen and some other small household items.
I also gathered up all the Keurig coffee and need to find someone to take it. I don't drink coffee and no one ever comes over here who wants coffee. But I will hold on to the coffee maker, for now, just in case, I think.
I have 2 things to take to consignment.
It's going to be an interesting journey for me, deciding what to do with my husband's things.....and when. I have no interest whatsoever in tackling personal items so soon, my emotions are way too raw to even think about that, but the decluttering and organizing gene in me is very strong and I had no emotional tugs at all cleaning out the briefcase yesterday. It was just really old bank statements, old receipts and stuff. And the briefcase itself was in horrible shape. So it's in the trash. I also have pulled out his remaining books, 15 maybe. He hadn't read in lots of years and I have them on the coffee table ready to put in a bag for Goodwill. I am going to check with my stepsons first, but I don't think either of them are readers. And I also don't want to overwhelm them by contacting them on each little thing and have them feel like they have to take things. Not everything is a personal "treasure". Sometimes, a book is just a book and nothing more.
I plan, at some point, to go through my husbands things and make a staging area in our dining room. Then have his sons over and they can take whatever they want. There is also furniture from my husbands mother and his grandmother and they are welcome to all that also, except for 2 pieces that I would like to hold on to for now.
My stepsons also will go through the basement and take whatever they want. We had done our huge basement clean out 2 years ago but there is still stuff down there obviously. I want one small workbench/tote thing my husband used in his part time construction job. I want to have it refinished and see if I would have a use for it. I think it has potential. Other than that, I have 1 box of Christmas ornaments down there and I will bring those upstairs. After my stepsons take what they want, I'll call 1-800 got junk to completely clean out the rest. The goal is a completely empty basement.
Why is it, when I have a 50/50 guess at something, I'm always 100% wrong?
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