#electronics declutter

We recently decided to give away a large electronic device that was lying unused in our living room. it's a type of large portable speaker that you can plug a microphone into, I don't know what they're called in English. But getting that thing out of the house caused a minor domino effect: with that shelf space cleared, I could transfer to it a few boxes of papers we needed to keep. Those boxes were in a small cart. I could now use that cart for my supplements, painting-in-progress and other things that were taking up the limited space on my "personal station" (a side-table next to the recliner where I paint, use my tablet etc.)

I did need to find a place to tuck it where Baby won't tip the thing over on himself (...after he'd done it once), but that was simple enough.

We also took down the baby fence we had in the living room, because the little guy was starting to grow frustrated with it and attempted to climb over it repeatedly. Now the whole construction is stored atop his closet and our floor space is freed. We did keep the play mat around, though, since it doubles as momma's exercise mat.

I threw out a pillow that was already kinda gross, and I found one of Baby's unused blankets to be a fine enough substitute when folded, so I'm not buying a new pillow for myself anytime soon.

Partner took up sewing classes recently, so we gathered all the clothes and beddings and whatnot that we were iffy about, and now they're in a "projects box". He already flipped a dress of mine into a skirt, since I liked the fabric but wanted to get rid of the bodice :) After he gains some confidence I'll get him to buy some linen and fashion me a few more simple skirts, since it would be significantly cheaper than buying them pre-sewn.

Our recycling bags were starting to disintegrate, and besides, an open bag is now not the best idea since Baby can crawl up to it and dig inside it. So we replaced them with firm bins, same internal volume, with a built-in carrying handle so we wouldn't have to put liner bags in them - just flip the whole thing over the neighborhood recycling bin and chuck the contents in. And as if to continue the trend, our cooler bag also ripped just yesterday! We don't have the know-how to mend it, if it's even possible, so we'll have to say goodbye to it. I'll propose to replace it with a firm plastic cooler, just as we replaced the soft bags with sturdier bins.

The place is starting to look closer to how it was pre-baby. I feel so much better stepping out of bed into this living space now.

Excuse my change of format, if it ends up visible in the finished post. There's a technical reason for that. My laptop is showing signs of age, and I realized repairing/replacing it won't really serve my needs. I can downsize to the tablet my friend gave me (and on which I wrote this post) without issue.

So that's my project now, after we finished sorting through the physical papers. Decluttering the files on my OneDrive, backing them up someplace else and canceling my Microsoft 365 subscription - since we're only going to have the home computer and won't need access to several devices on the same account. If that means no Microsoft Office on the home computer, no biggie; my partner already has LibreOffice installed on it.

I just know my partner will be delighted to receive my wireless keyboard and mouse instead of his wired ones. We'll keep the wired set as backups in case the wireless set breaks; having a working keyboard and mouse at the ready has already proven itself useful to me, at home and in my previous job.

After all the backing up is done, we'll wipe everything from the laptop and pass it on to someone who would want to refurbish and resell it, or dismantle it for parts.