Why do we have all this stuff?

 Our basement has been a source of shame to me for some time.  Over the years it became a dumping ground for stuff we just didn't want to deal with. The worst part is that my kids like to go down there and hang out.  My youngest wanted to use the space to play music and practice break dancing.  I hated that it was so cluttered and nasty and dirty since he was now spending so much time down there.

My husband and I married at 30 and merged the stuff from our 2 houses.  Instead of pairing down to just what we needed, the overflow went into the basement.  Why? My husband is not a fan of getting rid of stuff.  He will fight you tooth and nail over an old computer manual that is 20 years obsolete.  Add 2 kids and all of their crap and you've got a real mess.  I know its not as bad as some basements but its pretty bad.  

In the beginning, I tried to convince him that we didn't need this stuff, and couldn't we just get rid of a few things?  The answer was always no. So, over time I started to experiment with getting rid of stuff that was purely useless and not sentimental.  I did it without telling him and then waited.  Would he notice?  The answer was no, he didn't.  I soon understood that he had no idea what was in our basement and began to unload.  

Since the pandemic, I decided it was time to clean up once and for all.  The kids are getting older and leaving for college and I can already see that as soon as they are gone, I want to downsize to a smaller home with less maintenance.  The thought of trying to dispose of all of that useless crap was giving me anxiety.  So here we are.

  So, I am putting myself out there and saying that I am going to get this cleaned up.  Fingers crossed!