This weekend, my husband and I were on a mission.  We have been trying for a long, long time to declutter and free this house of all the "stuff" that has accumulated over time. We have SO much stuff in this house!!

We had finally gotten fed up with the stuff enough to finally make some decisions...some that I didn't really want to make, but now I am glad we did.  One of the hardest decisions was whether to give away our piano.  We had a beautiful upright piano that I don't play that often, but was still in tune. I have had it since we got married, and it's got a lovely sound to it.    It was just taking up so much space.  I love that piano but I love my space more.   I will replace it with an electronic keyboard soon.     I posted it on the Freecycle group in our area, and by the next day, someone picked it up.  Freecycle is the BEST, if you're wanting to get rid of something. Many times, it only takes 1 hour to have something picked up.  

Then, we got rid of two sewing machines, one that comes attached with a desk. These are old sewing machines that I do not know how to fix up and make work...they are missing the cords and I kept keeping them, thinking that one day I'd get them fixed.  We finally made the decision to just get rid of them. So someone will be picking those up today. 

We got rid of my old computer desk (it was a really bad place for what Flylady calls "hot spots". You know, a place to pile paper and other junk).

We also got rid of three school desks that I wasn't using... the kids actually are more comfortable doing their schoolwork on the kitchen table, so these desks were really just taking up space.   As much as I loved those cute little desks, I finally just decided it wasn't worth it.

We got rid of so much other stuff...we have about 15 hefty bags ready to go out to the garbage...old books, paper, miscellaneous things we just didn't need anymore. (We decided to get rid of anything that we wouldn't use in the next year.    And that was a lot of stuff!)   We also have lots of stuff that needs to go to Goodwill. 

Finally, we had the sewing room cleaned out, totally cleaned out. And we thought, wouldn't it be nice to have some linoleum in here?         Our carpet has been getting so bad, so old...and the kids are always spilling drinks on it.... for years I have wanted to get something new in here, but just haven't had the money. 

Now, we finally had some money (thanks to Dave Ramsey) and we could buy ourselves a nice new floor. We went to Lowes, and picked out a beautiful linoleum that looks like a hardwood floor.  (We have always wanted a hardwood floor, but because our floor is concrete, it is not flat enough to lay wood down on).    We took the flooring home, and my brother in law came down and helped us install it.   It took several hours for us to get it all done.     And I am so excited about the results. It looks fantastic!!!    It is such a good pattern that it really fools your eye into thinking it's real hardwood flooring. I  was afraid it wouldn't really look this good, but I was shocked to see how beautiful it is.   

I am so excited about this, because this is the first time, since we got married in 1998, that we have had such a beautiful floor in this house. I am overwhelmed and so thankful!!!!!    (I am also exhausted and still have a lot of work to do--- our entire bedroom is filled with books that I need to sort through and put on the bookshelves).

Here is a picture of our livingroom after we put all the furniture back in....



And here is the sewing room, which I will be painting soon....