2024 – And We’re Off! (And Cleaning?)

I finished off 2023 with a small lament about the need to do some clutter reduction at home. Now 2024 is underway, and so it is time to begin that project in earnest. It seems that home-organization is a universally-held goal at the beginning of a new year, because every major retailer is hawking “storage solutions”. Bins, shelves and hanging systems are on sale everywhere. But my goals are bigger than this – because I have to repurpose a room.

Our house has an odd floor plan. I finally figured it out years later when Marianne and I toured an open house in our neighborhood and realized that it was our own house, only flipped front to back. Our kitchen-in-the-front-living-room-in-the-back arrangement (which we like) was on display, only as if it came from opposite-world where the kitchen and living room were placed where the designers intended. One of the consequences of the original owner flipping the plan (and the other changes made to accommodate it) is that what was probably originally intended to be a guest bedroom became what the realtor called a “bonus room” off the kitchen.

It was an odd room – the ugliest vinyl flooring ever was paired with some late-1970’s vintage wood paneling suitable for only the best double-wide trailers. It was separated from the kitchen only by some swinging saloon doors, and also had an exterior exit to a screened porch. Marianne immediately saw the room’s value for us – it was a perfect playroom for our toddlers. Its proximity to the kitchen made it easy to keep tabs on the kids, and the room was so hideously ugly we didn’t really care if anything got damaged.

As the kids got older, we transitioned the room to a den, which contained a computer desk (for the desktop computer everyone needed then), an old upright piano for the piano lessons that two of them took, and an inexpensive sofa and television which gave the adolescents a place to hang and play videogames while Mother and I had the large basement family room to ourselves. ”The Den” was made presentable with some new carpet and the transformation of the paneling by the application of a dark stain/varnish (and some matching crown molding) that made it more like a “study” and less like an old trailer. I had started to remove the paneling, but after the first sheet came down I saw the most awful combination of surfaces underneath that rehabbing the paneling became the only solution that would not get us onto one of those televised house rehab shows.

When I tired of paying office rent during my stint as a lawyer in solo practice, the room transitioned again into my home office.  Out went everything that was there and in came my desk, credenza, bookshelves, file cabinets and even a copy machine. And office supplies. Lots and lots of office supplies. The room made a great office – compact but efficient. But then I went back to a law firm situation and the home office languished (other than a temporary re-use during the COVID lockdowns). It has now become the place where things are put “for now” – where things are placed when they need to be gotten out of the way, and then promptly forgotten until they are stumbled upon (with a surprised expression, like “oh, I forgot we had this.”). Therefore, it is not really being used for anything other than storage.

The goal for 2024 is to clear it out and turn it into a den/TV room for two mature adults who are tiring of traipsing up and down stairs between the downstairs family room and the upstairs everything else. The challenge the last time was to get rid of an old piano. The challenge this time is to find a home for my office furniture.

Not mine but very similar, except that mine lacks the bookcase/shelf unit atop the credenza.

About 1995 I plunked down some good money for a top-quality desk and credenza. I also popped for custom-cut glass to cover the tops of both – and amazingly, the 72×48 inch pane that covers the desk has never been broken despite a handful of office moves. But what do I do with them now? The heavy, impressive office furniture that seemed so right and classic in 1995 has become something that nobody wants now. It is way too big for most homes, and even law offices tend towards smaller offices with simpler and more versatile furnishings.

This furniture sort of summarizes the dilemma I have over so many of the things in my house. I remember how much I paid for the stuff and still see value in it. It would be wasteful to put it at the curb on “heavy trash day” and I could not bear to do that. But selling it brings its own hassles – finding anyone who puts more than nominal value on it, plus inviting strangers into the house to look it over. I suppose I could move it out to the garage to sell it. Or maybe find a used office furniture dealer or a consignment furniture store where it could be sold. 

But go it must, along with everything else in that room. I am not nearly as sentimental about the copy machine – I hope heavy trash will take it and that they will not treat it like the old tube televisions that must be recycled. Transport to a recycling center could be a pain, given its size and weight. 

A terrible thought occurred to me that I am sitting here typing about it and not actually accomplishing anything. But as I write this, it is still 2023 so I am of that hook, at least for the next day or two. But after that, it is time to get on it.

I once worked with a lawyer who had one of the most cluttered offices I ever saw. Every now and then he would stand there, look all around him and then muse “What this place needs is a fire.” I don’t wish for a house fire, of course. That would cause far more problems than it would solve (though to be honest, it would solve at least a few), never mind the health and safety issues. But what I do need is a sustained burst of energy to tackle this project and turn that room into version 4.0 of itself. 

Out with the old and in with the new is a common sentiment at the start of the new year. We are going to have to apply this idea for the start of 2024 in a most concrete way.

25 thoughts on “2024 – And We’re Off! (And Cleaning?)”

  1. Cities vary greatly, but might you have a Habitat for Humanity nearby? We have one close to us and they will take many things that are in good condition; they sometimes come fetch items, also. While you would be donating it, you can then count it as a tax deductible donation and odds are good it will find a good home. If not a H for H, there could easily be another such charity in Indianapolis.

    We share your desire to declutter. Were I am sitting in our basement (using our desktop computer!) there are several boxes and bags of items nearby that need to go. However, the items are seasonal and what charities will take them don’t want them at this time. Nothing like delayed gratification…

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  2. I feel for you, cleaning out old things, takes so much time, it’s not fun. It’s not an hour job on the weekend, that’s why we procrastinate. However, once it’s done, we feel so much lighter. It’s 2024, next week we expect results. LOL

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  4. I depends on what your area is like, stuff like that I would hope to just give away rather than throw away. We used to live in a sketchy residential neighborhood and items left at the curb disappeared within minutes. Our current home is in a better area and that tactic no longer works.
    Maybe when the weather warms up have a garage sale and sell it for 25 cents? That’s a fair price to be rid of the reminder now that you’re done with lawyering.

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    • My neighborhood isn’t sketchy, but we have folks who cruise our streets before trash day in search of treasures. I have gotten rid of the most amazing things by putting them at the curb – the old swing set comes to mind.

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  5. I’d take that desk off your hands–trouble is 72″ x 48″ is to large for my space. And we’d need a Star Trek teleporter to get it from your house to mine!

    When eBay & Craigslist first came out, I made a lot of extra money selling things. Now it seems no one wants to buy anything. This is hard to explain because buying and selling everything from cars to furniture to antiques is so much easier now than in pre-internet days. I’ve seen nice things on eBay, CL, & FB Marketplace that have been listed for months/years and they still don’t sell! I find this very frustrating. Maybe now everyone has all the stuff they want, and the market is saturated?

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    • Yes, I think I missed the window for peak eBay. I wonder if some of the stuff that doesn’t sell is because the buyer is too inflexible or unrealistic on price.

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  6. Donating is probably your best option although toting it out to the curb and putting a sign on it, “Free to a good home” could work, too. Some of the online markets like E-Bay might work but might take longer than you’d like. If you have a used furniture dealer or something like that you might give them a try.

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  7. We have a big office desk, table, bookcase and credenza that followed my husband home when the company he was working for bought new, smaller furniture. When the kids finally vacated our home, we used the furniture to set up a home office in one of the kids bedrooms. It is a snug fit, to say the least, but my husband is one of those people who completely lose interest in anything that gets filed in the file cabinet. All the yardage of the desk and table let him keep everything important in sight!
    I’ve seen seamstresses and crafters who were happy to get their hands on those big pieces of furniture to use as work tables.

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    • That was why I always liked the big desk surface, it was a good physical to-do list, by the way the files were arranged on the desk top, and there was still room for a work surface.

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  8. One of the blessings in disguise of our cumbersome relocation from Colorado was the sort-and-cleanout that happened before the movers arrived. A ton of stuff went to Goodwill and a ton more to the dump. Here in South Carolina, where we’re living in far fewer square feet, we worked very carefully to be sure rooms were minimally furnished and detailed. That’s not to say several closets don’t contain boxes of “stuff” we haven’t taken the time to go through yet, but it was significant progress to the task you’re describing here. And if we can ever afford “Southern” furniture (our “Western” look is a little off here ) we have consignment stores happy to take and try to sell the items. Hope you reclaim the room!

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    • We have some relatives who have gone through 5 or 6 relocations during a recently-concluded career, and they have told us that it is a fabulous way to keep from accumulating too much junk. Staying in the same house for three decades is the opposite of that.

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  9. When my parents moved about 10 years ago, they took some of their big furniture to an auction house. They received a pitiful amount of money from the auction house, but at least they didn’t have to junk the stuff, and most thrift shops won’t take donations of really big pieces of furniture.

    I’ll might as well share my own desk story since we’re on the subject. When I moved out of my parents’ house in the 1990s, my folks gave me a 1930s-era desk that my grandfather had used at his store. For years, it sat unused in my folks’ house, so they were glad to be rid of it, but since it had sentimental value, they didn’t want to give it away.

    I used that desk for years – during graduate school, and then later on it resided in my bedroom when I lived in various apartments. After getting married, however, my wife and I used her (newer) desk for our home laptop, so once again my grandfather’s old desk sat unused and just taking up space.

    In early 2020, I’d had enough – and told my wife I was going to get rid of it. Being a well-used 1930s wooden desk in average condition, I doubted anyone would want to buy it, so I was ready to just take it out the curb, and be done with it. My wife forbade me to do so, since it had family history (and since she’s generally averse to throwing ANYTHING away). I relented, and I kept it.

    Well, then the Covid closures happened, and I ended up working from home for over a year. If I’d have thrown away my desk in January 2020, I would have regretted it shortly afterwards. I still have it – and that’s where I work on my telework days (twice a week). I’ll probably be using that desk until I retire.

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    • That sounds like a cool old desk. I actually have a second desk in my basement. It is an old steel desk with a rubber desktop, probably from the early 1950s. I bought it when I went off to law school and it has stayed with me. It served as the home’s “business center” until everything got done on computers, then stopped being used. That is my secondary project, to turn that part of the basement back to the home office and place for keeping tax records and such. It is smaller than the big desk upstairs, so is probably a more practical thing to keep.

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  10. That’s a dilemma for sure JP. Maybe you could find a non-profit who would like office furniture, like a Legal Aid organization or a small start-up which is looking to outfit an office cheaply and they’d take the donation – hopefully as part of that donation they would pick it up for you. You might be able to sell the copy machine for parts – ask a service repair shop if they would buy it for parts or they could recondition it to sell it. When my boss/I left the Firm and moved to our office 20 years ago he leased a Ricoh for the office, but it was cost prohibitive, so he went ahead and bought a new Canon – if fact he had a small Canon and the larger one which is a printer, scanner and copier. When it broke down and was costly to repair, the repairman bought it from my boss to recondition it or sell it for parts and he sold us a reconditioned Canon which still works well.

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    • Those are some good ideas. It has been great to have a copy machine at home, but it is getting old and is seldom used now. The document feeder has gotten finicky and it is probably worth virtually zero today (if I’m lucky).

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      • That’s too bad and a hassle to have it carted out of your home to boot. I have a fax machine I bought when I first began working from home … I used it once as my boss just sent me work to be done/revised as a PDF. Thankfully I use the snipping tool to copy and paste that work into my Word document as I’d be in the poorhouse from fax machine and printer toner.

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  11. Ha! My grandfather inherited a huge specially made desk from a senior partner in his law firm. He passed it to my Mother. I would have gladly taken it but I was 69 the year before she died. I was the oldest child, so she told me to choose between the desk and my Dad’s Rolex watch. My perspective had changed over the years. I took the watch.

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