I've kept the kitchen counters and small table free of clutter for several weeks, mostly since I've had houseguests and made myself pick up and put away instead of letting things pile up. One of my few "resolutions" for the year, formed recently and not on New Year's Eve, is to continue this practice.

I'm also making myself do at least one new eBay listing a day this week, to start moving the things piled on a table I recently moved into the sunroom so I could clear my working space to do those listings. I want all of this photographed, described, packaged (all but sealed - ready to go when someone buys it) and listed so I can move that table back out of my way. The cash will also be welcome as I'm resuming the frugal "no spend challenge" again this month. I did really well for about eight of the 12 months last year - but those four months were monsters! Everything from dog surgeries to a new air conditioner compressor, car repairs, and finally, a new vehicle. Oy.

Patty, you need to be very careful with those scanners that feed documents. And I don't think you can get very high resolutions from an item that is moving across a very narrow scanning area. Those are good for snapshots that don't matter, but the flatbed scanner is every archival librarian's first choice when it comes to preserving important photos, negatives, and documents. The good news is that you can get a pretty good flatbed scanner new, with the software for $150 or less (you might even want to shop software first, decide what kind you want to use, then find scanners that come with it.)