What’s hiding in your deep clutter?

That’s me ... throwing myself a little countertop chocolate milk party. It’s also evidence of my early need for fun and gratification—and chocolate. Always chocolate. 

This was my dad’s favorite picture of me. It was lost for years, and he would tell me wistfully how much he wished he and my mom could find it.
 
When my siblings and I were cleaning out my parents’ home after they passed away (within months of each other), we discovered it. I thought about how happy that would have made my father—to see that grinning chocolately face. (This one's for you, Dad.) 
 
It also makes me think of the lost memories in my home. I want to make this photo my inspiration to uncover those hidden treasures. I really regret that it was only after my parents were gone that we dove into the deep clutter. They would have loved sharing the memories with us and they could have answered our many questions.
 
So I am musing on what Rock Your Chores games I can come up with to go deep on clutter in 2019. I am hoping some of you will join me. (Like will you come to my house and help??!) 

I can say with confidence that most of what I’ll uncover is probably more trash than treasure. That’s pretty motivating too. Less trash. More chocolate.

​Sound like a plan?

Curator of The Happy Childhood Museum
Part of my personal clutter crisis is that I am holding on to artifacts from when our kids were young. Do they want these dusty relics of their upbringing? No—well, not in their own beautifully uncluttered adult homes, anyway. So I hold on. Can I finally part with soccer jerseys and science projects? 
 
If you have let go of this type of sentimental clutter, please give me a kind word of advice, as I aim to find the true treasures in our deep clutter time capsule. The Disney movies on VHS, you ask? No way. Those are staying. This lady is a sucker for the tramp. This fox needs her hound. This beauty ... OK, enough of that. 

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