Winnow & Spruce Organizing: What's Under the Bed?

Hello Friends,

Confession time. I've never been able to adequately vacuum underneath my bed. I say adequately, because I've always had to vacuum around the ~~storage space~~ dumping ground for boxes of stuff. I say "stuff" because I couldn't tell you exactly what was ~~stored~~ dumped there.

That is until today! I was a bit scared to start, but I remembered that I am brave.

I pulled everything out and here's what I discovered hiding under there.

Only 10 boxes.

Not as bad as I thought.

Pulling everything out of a dark place into the light takes a lot of the fear away.

But then...

Dried cat barf...oh no!

And a few dust bunnies.

But then things got ugly.

To think I've been breathing this. YUCK.

And this! Oh the spiders that have enjoyed this space. I nearly quit right here.

Instead I took a break and got a cold drink. Have you tried this? Seriously delicious.

Then a lot of vacuuming and washing the floor. Then I was able to go on.

Opening all the boxes was a bit of a treasure hunt...except no treasure *sigh*.

I spy with my little eye, a baseball bat. Can you?

Mountaineering boots! In Wisconsin?

Empty boxes...or nearly empty.

A box lid...seriously folks you can't make this stuff up.

And then a real surprise! Board books from when my boys were babies. All their favorites. Should I keep or should they go? What would you do?

Upon closer inspection, most were all taped together...in multiple layers. And if they weren't taped, they should have been.

I asked myself if there would be any joy in reading these frayed, worn out books to potential grandchildren?

The fact is that I was reluctant to even touch these stained, gross books.

So that was my answer.

After thinking about them and feeling what they meant to me, I laid them all out, took a photo and tossed them. This way I have all the titles handy for potential grandchildren, taking up a fraction of the space on a flashdrive not in a lost box collecting dust and mouldering under the bed.

Next box. Oh my! Items from my wedding day.

So many fond memories of that special day. The headpiece, the shoes, the garter and even the hoopskirt. Really....a hoopskirt?

It all went.

The wedding dress itself is boxed up elsewhere. I envision a future DIL trying it on and saying it's not her style and then I'll get on some reality wedding show where they make over my dress and she loves it. A girl can dream right?

Memorabilia of my husband's. These I combined and taped shut and placed with other boxes of his for him to sort out. Rule: Never organize someone else's stuff without prior permission.

Photos! Hundreds of photos. At least they are sorted by event. These were moved to the photo storage facility in our home AKA the attic.

Hmmm...another empty box. I see a trend here.

Hats inside the hatbox! I change these out seasonally, so good timing to get out all my straw hats for summer weather and store the winter hats.

The hat box I placed in my closet, although I would like to get it off the floor in the future, because you know...vacuuming.

More treasures from the "Memories" box.

Some of these items held a special memory.

This tie-scarf-thingy I wore to the interview for my first job. It went perfectly with my blue suit. The interviewer (my boss) told me later that I looked like a flight attendant! Somehow she hired me anyway.

And these! I used to glue these to my boobies so I could wear glamorous strapless dresses. Oh those were the days!

And who remembers these pop-up hats?

After sorting it all out. This is what I kept from those 10 boxes: A collection of handkerchiefs, 1 bandanna for hiking and a vintage purse. All neatly put away in my closet.