Patty, that kind of cold is the gift that keeps on giving isn't it? You get over the cold and then you have to get over getting over the cold. How far do you think you've gotten with clearing/organizing your storage locker at this point?

Propane is a topic I'm dealing with today; I transferred the tank from the old grill to the newer one, but to be prudent I'll take out a bowl of soapy water and a damp paper towel and do the "bubble" test - dab it on in the areas where a tank might leak and be sure it is still sound. Yesterday I used the wire brush drill attachment on the first cast iron grate and it looks much better, though it was getting dark as I finished and this morning I see I missed a few spots. The second grate has soaked in soapy water overnight before using the drill on it this morning. The cabinet wheels are kind of rough so I'll prop up the cart one end at a time and see if they need cleaning or replacement. I'm almost to the test fire point, and if it works I'll prepare the older grill for donation this weekend. I can't wait to clear out space in that part of the garage.

This morning the New York Times had a subscriber-only article about "Decuttering Sprints" to be done in 30 minutes or less. The first recommendation was to get rid of all of the old electronic power supplies, but mine are all in one place and are a handy resource to go with eBay sales, so nope, they stay.

Clear clutter from the car is the next, but I did that last week. She suggests wrangling all of the reusable shopping bags:

If you keep reusable shopping bags in your trunk, Pateras said, “the rule of thumb is to have as many as you use for your biggest grocery shopping trip.”

Ok, I do have an overflow of sizes and types of those. I wrangled the durable plastic heavy duty ones and some large cotton strong-handled ones and the rest are hanging in a bag on the closet door until I sort for donation. The crumbling basket on the SUV floor behind the front passenger seat that held Kleenex, vinyl gloves, a whisk broom, bottles of water, paper towels, etc. was emptied into a smaller cloth bin. The broken basket goes into the trash.

The third task in the article is digging stuff out from under the kitchen sink, but for some reason that area has never become the "shove-and-pile-zone" she suggests they can be. (Partly because I get mice in there sometimes and want to be able to set a trap.) I do intend to put in a new faucet one of these days and will have to move the current contents out briefly to crawl in to work, but it is organized.