u/Right_Abroad3928

I’m the last on my side of my family, so there’s no one to pass family items down to. Hubby has a daughter, so his stuff is his stuff and his decisions. I’m down to one tote of family photographs.

I’m lucky enough to have a large storage room. Hubby has one wall of totes that are his stuff to figure out. Monday I pulled out the last of my totes and threw out one large garbage bag of stuff. Duplicate photos, blurry photos, photos of people I don’t have a clue who they are! One medium tote left.

I also threw out my two high school yearbooks. Not a bit of guilt there. Hubby did ask me to rip out the pages with my pictures so he can scan them to his Ancestry account (whatever). I don’t have fond memories of school. We moved every year or two, while Hubby has deep bonds with his high school friends.

Now for the “it was meant to be” part.

I pulled some pictures out of frames, and on the back of a picture of Dad and the dog was the dog’s AKC birth certificate: 8/17/1990.

I did this clean-up on 8/17/2026.

I’m taking that as the universe giving me a little nod that it’s okay.

I also pulled my paperwork out of the filing cabinet and will start a scanning project. It’s not a lot — maybe 2 inches worth of hanging folders. An old divorce decree from the ’90s, an old check fraud case, things like that. I could probably just shred all, but I’ll scan them first. I’m officially out of the four-drawer filing cabinet!

I had also brought home my Christmas decorations from work, and they had been sitting in a box on the floor for…this long. They’re now put away with the rest of the Christmas stuff.

I’ll admit it: I have two shelves of Christmas decorations, a box for a 7.5-foot tree, and a rolling ornament cart. Christmas this year will be a decluttering project. For now, it’s fine. The floor between the metal shelves is actually clear!

I do have a sewing machine I need to find a new home for. It might have belonged to Hubby’s mother rather than mine, and he says either way, he’s fine with it going. It’s an ancient Singer. It will probably go to the local no-buy group soon.

I also have heated seats for a sports car that I need to find a new home. That is in the works as well, if that person doesn't want they will be going in the trash week by week until pieces are gone. Yes I still have the sports car they fit, but I will never change out. I thought I wanted heated seats! (Hubby has all the original parts for my car as we did upgrades as well.)

We retired last month, and I’ve been carting around from various jobs an electric hole punch, pencil sharpener, stapler, labels, folders, notebooks…you name it. I put it all by the front door for someone from the no-buy group to pick up. He just started a new job and can use all of it. Perfect!

Finally, so the newly empty shelves wouldn’t immediately become cluttered again, I spread out our luggage on them. It’s actually easier to get to now, too.

It was a very productive Monday morning.

Apparently retirement means I’ve reached the “empty shelves, scan old papers, give away office supplies, and interpret dog birth certificates as signs from the universe” stage.

As title says I retired yesterday, day 1 here we go. I bullet journal and yes I created a separate bullet journal to start July 1st. I have five years or so of journals, covers supplies etc. It was a clutter mess on a shelf in a book case in our office. This morning, made a latte found my current journal that came home last night, grabbed a box from the old lady box collection (bottom of hall closet down for 4- 5 so that is okay) packed up all the journals covers, stencils supplies etc. I'm not ready to completely purge and the box was not huge. Took down to storage room and it's next to the two totes of my family stuff. When I'm ready I'll cull through that stuff and the box of journals. It will all be a throw out, I'm the last of my family so no one to pass items to. A few things like Dad's WWII year book I want to find a correct home for, but lots of it will be tossed out eventually.

For now Day 1 got up went for a walk, showered dressed actually put on make up, made a latte, and waiting on hubby to get up, he retired yesterday as well. I know me I will want to over plan regiment etc time to go with the flow, this was enough for today. I did also declutter two pencil drawers in the office couldn't help myself!

Edit for Dad's SeeBee yearbook, we actually have a friend who is a retired Army General. When I get a chance I'm going to ask the hubby for a suggestion from him. I'm thinking there must be veterans organizations who would love to have the book. sadly it's not in the best shape cover wise but the pages are in good condition. Dad was the same size as the native girls and they kept stealing his laundry to wear his pants! He enlisted at 16.

I'm a retiring soon and have been looking at the Lily bag for at least six months. Does anyone have this bag or want to push me over the edge to buy?

This is at the upper end of my bag budget if I'm honest it will be the most expensive bag I have ever purchased. I'm not a logo luxury bag person. I want to buy a really nice bag and carry it for the next ten years. The size may be a smidge small for me, my current daily is a Friday bag from Coastal Hillbilly in Texas Tea - I love the leather and own two Fridays. I like buying from small US makers. Go Forth Goods was another favorite of mine as well.

I see this bag fitting in the retirement life style, casual enough with jeans but a nice level up go out to dinner. My other retirement gift to myself is a beautiful Harris Tweed blazer - I'm always cold! This bag that blazer and I'm good to go!

I haven't found a negative review, all say expert craftsmanship, quality leather. I've even made a mock up paper size of the bag and put in my things in to see how they would fit last time. I was in a 30 days time out and in week three came to my senses I don't need a $500 handbag - but it's pretty! Your thoughts appreciated.