The Bin

For the past couple of months, I (Eileen) have been using some of my pre-job free time to tackle the very scary, very large (10x20) storage bin filled with stuff from my family’s ex-house plus boxes from both grandmothers’ attics. This place is now known in our family as “the Bin.” The object is not to get rid of the Bin (after all, where else would I store my Barbie Dream House?), but to downsize.

Unfortunately, there are no “before” photographs of the Bin, but suffice it to say that almost the entire room was filled floor to ceiling when we first started. Now you can see the back wall! (This photo really doesn't do the Bin justice.)


Although many of the boxes in the Bin contain a terrifying assortment of random stuff--or piles and piles of books (there must be at least 30 book boxes)--sometimes nice surprises pop up, like these ballet slippers I created in 3rd grade.


Even better was the discovery of my beloved Holly Hobbie Easy-Bake Oven and my sister's Suzy Homemaker oven. I'm tempted to bring them back to NYC and have a mini-cake bake-off.


My favorite box so far was the one labeled "Memories" in my mom's handwriting. I opened it to discover our harvest gold popcorn popper. I called my mom to tell her that the bin was full of crazy things, and she said, well, we do have good memories of making popcorn together. And you know what? She's right. I haven't given the popper away yet.