There was a desk under all that cr**! A big ugly desk that is no longer with us, I'm happy to say. The old printer and computer has been recycled. There was another big box of clothes hiding under the desk. I apparently packed up clothes to donate and then didn't get around to taking them. Well they are gone now.
This is along the wall to the right of the desk. There's a bench under there that I emptied and then promptly covered in games from the shelves above...
Wasn't up to sorting through them to see what's donate-able and what's trash so I turned to the other side of the room. This is one corner:
Lots of bedding, including a pallet I made out of a comforter, a foam eggcrate mattress pad and a couple of sleeping bags. I opened the seam, rescued the sleeping bags and tossed the rest. Otherwise it was mostly old toys and stuffed animals. Donated what I could and tossed the rest. These chairs were under it all. I'm keeping them for the time being.
And this was the most discouraging corner:
where I found what would be the low point of this endeavor so far:
That's an unopened bottle of Zesty Italian found in a box of totally un-food-related random stuff. The expiration date was mid 90's. On a more positive note the basket is stuffed with plastic shopping bags that we can use for trash. As of January 1 stores have started charging a 5 cent tax on plastic and paper bags and these along with another stash found in the laundry room means we won't have to buy the small trash can liners for peobably another year!
And here's a bonus handy dandy hint! A plastic birthday candle holder apparently makes an excellent stopper for a bottle of glue...even after years of storage.
And then there was the weirdest find so far, a lunchbox filled with tissues (unused thank goodness). Nothing else, just tissues.
But the corner got cleared out. I saved a box of printer paper and some other things that have craft potential. I found a place that takes donations of vcr tapes and floppy discs and such and makes them available to artists who use them in different projects.
One wall left.
Actually the cupboard was sitting out in the floor as a room divider. I couldn't believe all that stuff in the floor came off the bookcase and out of the cupboard. The bookcase was all kids' books and many, many coloring books and sticker books. Many were in good shape and are waiting to be donated to the library booksale. Others were recycled.
Darling Boy and his Darling Girlfriend came for their visit and yes I was happy the basement was cleared out so they could sleep there. Upstairs (living, dining, kitchen) are presentable for the first time in years. We just kept the bedroom doors closed. The price paid is the laundry room is full again with stuff taken out of the dining and living rooms and there's a lot of Darling Boy's stuff waiting to be sorted and stored under the stairs...so basically I'm starting over and trying to remember that real progress has been made.
