Decluttering as therapy

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Today my big decluttering discovery was the disappointment I feel about my dream library.  We are so lucky to have this house that's big enough for everything we want, including a room just for books.  Except it's not just for books, it's also for cat litter boxes.  I've accepted this is the best location for the boxes, not trying to come up with a different arrangement, I just need to work through how this arrangement makes my library something other than the cozy booklover's grotto I dreamed of.



But I still believe it can be that dream place!  It will take a certain amount of work.  To spend any time in a room with litter boxes, there has to be daily scooping and sweeping.  Nick took over litter box duties 8 years ago when we started trying to have a baby. (According to science, pregnant ladies can't touch cat poop; I exploited this.) Let's face the straight poop here:  I can clean the litter boxes. Somewhere Nick is reading this and a joyful tear just trickled down his cheek.

What will it take for my library to be the place I want to spend time in?


  1. Hidden, unsmellable litter boxes.  We have the technology.
  2. Shelves of books, cataloged and organized in a librarianly way.  I am actually a trained professional in this area.
  3. Dust-free shelves, cat hair-free furniture, clean floors.  Just a little weekly cleaning, surely?
  4. Comfy furniture.  Done.
See?  I just needed to sort this all out in my mind to see that it's possible to have what I want.  Now if I can take my blinders off and actually spend some time in there, we'll be on our way.  So for today's 30 minute decluttering session in the library, I ran the Roomba, dusted the shelves, changed the air freshener, and wrote this blog post.  Baby steps.

The large closet in the library, full of miscellaneous bins of my stuff is another matter.

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