We’re probably half way through unpacking our boxes and setting up our new house. Losing some built in bookshelves means this process may take a little while – but in the meantime we’re figuring out what life in a new house, with a new family member, should look like.
Here are some resolutions we’ve made as we’ve unpacked, and arranged, our array of earthly possessions.
1. No clutter. If it doesn’t have a home – it’s gone, if we haven’t used it recently, and its not sentimentally valuable, aesthetically pleasing, or incredibly useful in a particular situation – then it’s gone.
2. No paper (see the post from the other day).
3. No “rainy day” kitchenware – the crystal glasses, and fancy cutlery, the punch bowl and cake tray (it’s a combined thing), and the platters – are out of their boxes and ready for use. Some have been in those boxes for 8 years, as 21st presents. If we don’t use them – see point 1. We will be having fondu in the next few weeks…
4. Books, DVDs, media things, belong downstairs. Only one will be brought up at a time.
5. Efficient storage. Robyn loves organising things. She has a label maker, and is ready to use it.
6. Open house – we want to have people around, to share our house with others. This has always been our policy, but we’ll be a little more proactive. We have a guest room. Come and stay.
7. Tidy house – one of the inhibiting factors for 6. in the past, has been mess. If we keep things tidier, as planned, having people over will be easier.
8. Regular cleaning of incidental stuff – one of the worst parts of moving out is doing those cleaning jobs you never do – behind furniture, in cupboards, all that stuff… we’ll try to tackle these on a more regular basis.
9. Neighbourly relationships – we really enjoyed living next to good, long term, friends in the last two years. We’ve already started to strike up a bit of a rapport with our neighbours in this new place. We’re thinking about copying my parents and holding street gatherings.
10. To the cloud – wherever possible files and stuff will be scanned and uploaded. Books will be electronic. Music will be digital. Movies will be streamed. Part of this is related to point 2. But not bringing in physical stuff that needs to be shelved is a big paradigm shift for me, and a bit of a sacrifice – I like tactile stuff.