Temporarily Interrupted

It's been 2 years since our little blackbird family was last in their nest in our neighbour's backyard.  They have made themselves comfortable in the old nest and now we wait to see what will happen.  The last time we had three little ones who flourished and learned to fly in our backyards.

Our little bird family 2 years ago.

This time of year is all about new beginnings (including our wildlife friends) as everything comes alive with the longer days and warmer weather.
And for those of us who have grass allergies it also comes with the inevitable lawn mowing season.  For me it's a bit of a love hate thing.  I love the warmer longer days, everything is turning green and the flowers are bursting into colour. 

But on the other hand, well there's that whole allergy thing, lets just say grass pollen and I are not on speaking terms.  So when the neighbour's started mowing the other day I was stuck inside when all I want to do was get outside.

So to take my mind off of things (allergies can sometimes get us all a bit down from time to time). I decided it was time to finally get serious about cleaning out some of the places around the house I had been putting off.
 
So I dusted things off, took another allergy pill, turned on some music and dived in.

 I had the usual recycle, garbage, sell, and donate piles and vowed to really get tough and get rid of some things.

I asking myself several questions when going through everything.
     

First and most importantly, do I really need this anymore?

Why am I holding onto this?  Is it something I truly want to keep and why?

If something has been in a box for over 5 years and still hasn't seen the light of day what does this tell me?  
Can I take a picture of it (especially if I'm just keeping it for sentimental reasons) and pass it on to someone who can use and enjoy it.  Or do I decide to use it or display it in a way it can actually be utilized or appreciated?
If it's multiples of the same thing...lets say your Grandparents set of liquor glasses but you never use them. Could you keep just one or two instead of all eight?  Maybe you can actually use them instead of keeping them in a box in the garage because you have no where to put them.

If it's broken or damaged can it be fixed?

 As for all that paperwork that has quite literally pilled up.  What can be recycled, what do you have to keep (are there any duplicates you can get rid of)?   Can anything be copied and saved online or to a flash drive to help save space? 

My Grandparents helped to fuel my love of genealogy and I have required a lot of articles, pictures, etc... .  I'm the type of person who just has to solve the mystery, and yes I was that little kid who always asked "Why". 
So one of those things I'm now trying to sort through are all the research on paper, the photocopies, newspaper clippings, letters and hand written notes that were passed on to me.  Not to mention the little mementos like Great Grandma's wire rimed glasses or the little picture frame with your Great Grandfather's baby picture and lock of hair. 
Most of the research can be copied, transferred and saved online and old pictures can be scanned.  But somethings like those little mementos must be carefully saved.                 

While I'm mostly finished the big "stuff" now some of the paperwork is still going to take some more time.
It feels great to have made a good size dent on that "need to do" list and forget that I was actually stuck inside.  I've already created some more space and it's much more organized and easier to access and find things. 

If you're looking for organizational ideas check out out Pinterest Board Getting Organized