Bitter about clutter and the housing market

Feeling a little bitter tonight. Yet grateful for what we DO have.

My bitterness comes from the reality that has slowly set in recently about our housing situation. You see, DH and I bought our home at the peak of the housing market when seller's were still raping buyers and taking the highest bidder. Now the prices in our neighborhood have slumped far past what we can afford to pay out in order to move.

This realization of not being able to sell our house and move into a bigger one any time soon makes me bitter. I'm talking 5 years possibly if things keep getting worse with the housing market. Which means having a second child will cramp our living situation severely. That just plain sucks. Sure, we could manage and most likely will have to manage. There are plenty of people out there with less than what we have and they have more than one child -- some of them managing quite well, others not so much.

However, I'm a complete clutter-phobe so space is really important to me. After having lil' Monkey, our house has been invaded with the tons of stuff required to raise a little one (and some things not so much required but loved by him). So space in our home is at a premium now. My once sparse home with lots of visible floor, cabinet and wall space is no longer.

Plus, working from home, I need one area of the house to be a home office. Both DH and I are accustomed to using our computers simultaneously (I work while he plays WoW -- or sometimes works as well). So really we need an entire room for our home office, not just a desk tucked away somewhere like the kitchen or family room (plus that would set off my clutter alarm). Therefore, our office eliminates one of the rooms in our house. Luckily for us, the previous owners finished the basement and there's technically a bedroom down there (which used to be our office). This room will probably become our office again when/if child number two comes along and we need to give up the bedroom next to lil' Monkey's bedroom. This means I'll need to run up two flights of stairs if our little ones wake up screaming into the baby monitor and I'm working downstairs! This also means we'll need to put the guest bed and my sewing machine/table into storage. Which means during the Holidays, our relatives will either need to use an Aerobed or get a hotel room. It all just seems to snowball -- all because of the housing market!

Now I've re-read what is written above and here is where the grateful part comes in ...

At least, we HAVE a house, we HAVE jobs, we HAVE cars, we HAVE a computer for each of us, we HAVE a sewing machine, we HAVE all the furniture and clothes we could ask for ... we have EVERYTHING we truly need (and plenty of nice-to-haves). I can't in good conscious act like a "have not" when in fact we have a lot.

So after watching part of that 20/20 special on t.v. last night about anger, instead of just being bitter and angry about our housing/clutter situation, I'm trying to refocus my angst to what I CAN do. So for the next few months, I'll be spending some time weeding through my closets, cabinets, etc. to see where I can make space so at the very least, the clutter won't feel like it's closing in on me. I can take my bitter butt to Goodwill and give the things I don't appreciate anymore or no longer need or can't wear to those who truly are in need.

Anyone a size 10 in need of business suit pants, jackets or shirts?