Minimize existing clutter and excess possessions

Okay…in kind of a depressingly happy turn of events I’m donating clothing to the local VFW drop off. See, I just had a baby about 3 weeks ago and got some new things for Christmas…not many because folks didn’t know what size to purchase, but a few things. So, the other night I boxed up all of the maternity stuff and it needs to go down to the basement. I also went through my pre-preggo clothes and set aside those items that I know I won’t fit into ever again…or maybe it was those items that I know I wouldn’t wear even if I can fit into them again! At anyrate, they are gone. I still need to go through t-shirts and the closet. I did sort through the coat closet, though and donated all of that too. Linen closet will have to be on the list for sometime fairly soon!

The Christmas tree is down and ready to go to be mulched for the city parks! I am in the process of putting away all of the giftage and decorations.

Next on the list is to work on getting my office/sewing room cleared out! Maybe I will post a before and after…?

This is the “After” pic of my shoes in the closet. I forgot I had the shoe rack…it was in the spare closet holding 2 pairs of my husbands shoes.

I didn’t take a “Before” picture of the almost 50 pairs of shoes I had thrown in the bottom of my closet. Under my Shoes…entry you can see them (almost) all lined out on my bed, though!

I like the after pic MUCH more than the before!

Under my “Put shoes away” goal I discovered that I have way too many shoes! So, this is one of those goals that overlaps! I will be donating shoes! I have sorted out and have cut the number of shoes by more than half. I still have too many, but at least I’m getting closer!

I’ve totally stalled out on this one. I have stuff stacked everywhere and it isn’t doing me a bit of good. I can’t enjoy my home. I hate feeling like this and I refuse to let it take over my life!

I remember what it felt like to walk into the condo at the time share. No clutter no excess junk just calm…and that’s what I want. With just a few personal touches…just the things I love.

Okay, I realise I did this seemingly in reverse…I posted what I did and then got to thinking about the why.

Recently I have been feeling more and more overwhelmed by the “things” in my life. It’s like I can’t find a place to “rest”. All of this stuff is causing my life to be chaotic and not peaceful. I have “enough” of everything. I really don’t need more. I really don’t need half of what I already have.

My favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. They haven’t found a way to commercialize it, yet! Which, I suppose, is why the day after Halloween the Christmas stuff comes out! I don’t want or need more stuff and Christmas seems to be about stuff. I want to pare things down to the essentials. I want to focus on being thankful for the things I do have and not want more.

It’s about wants and needs and chaos and calm…I don’t want choas but I’m collecting it despite myself; I need calm and am doing everything I can to bring that into my life!

I have a lot of clutter. Some of it useful and some of it not. I am going through bookshelves and getting rid of books I don’t love or reference any longer. I have found I can let a lot of them go thanks to the ‘net! I’m donating to my local library…they will either add to the collection or sell them at the Friend’s of the Library book sale.

I took tons of magazines to the recycling bins in the church parking lot…doing several things at once: Getting rid of magazines, doing it in an environmentally responsible manner and contributing to my church as they earn $ for every so many pounds recycled. Not a bad feeling!

I’ve gone through my dresser and culled some of the clothing items. I can now put away laundry without stacking anything on top. I just need to drop the bags off at the nearest drop off…or wait until the vietnam Vets come around again. I have not touched the closet, yet…for some reason, that’s very scary for me!

I cleaned off the front of the refrigerator today, too! I actually threw away magnets! The free ones that people give as advertisments…I had a ton, even some from where I used to live 5 states away! The pictures went into my picture tub. That’s another scary place that I will someday sort through, but it’s not out of control yet!

Now, I need to move on to the dining room table…for some reason one of the chairs is in the middle of the kitchen and it’s been there for quite awhile. It’s just my husband and me and I have a feeling I’m the one that put it there…but I can’t for the life of me figure out why!