Upstairs, at the top of the landing,
there is a wall of shelves which runs the width of the house.
There is an opening to the hallway in the middle of the wall.
The left shelves are used by John and Theresa and kiddos.
The right side has books, boxes, and magazines belonging to Vince and me.
I had two goals: open up some shelves for John / Theresa
and just eliminate things I no longer need; I didn't change Vince's things.
Although this photo only shows the shelves above the railing height,
this is most of the right side "before" I started . . .
The shelves aren't overly crowded,
but books have just been stacked in haphazardly as they've been moved from other areas.
And, these are all things which need to have their usefulness re-visited.
Afterwards, the shelves are clean, John / Theresa have an additional 6 shelves for their use,
and 14 small bags are leaving for other homes . . .
Yesterday evening, as I was catching up on blogs I read,
there was a great post by Leo Babauta on his Zen Habits.
All his posts are insightful and inspiring, and this one was particularly apt
for my slow-but-steady simplifying (decluttering) of my things.
The title is "Decluttering as Zen Meditation".
It's excellent; you should read it.
