get rid of stuff i don't need

I’m torn. I haven’t woven since about 2003. Long story, series of very stressful incidents not really related to weaving but which were tangentially associated with it. Until then, it was such a passion for me. But I just haven’t been able to get myself to even think about weaving, much less to sit down on my bench. In fact, I’ve REPLACED that passion with a passion for watercolor painting …

Yet, I’m torn. Do I want to weave again, now or in the future? Or should I just get rid of one or both of these space-consuming devices (and the boxes of associated tools, books and materials) until such time as my interest returns? This decision is made more difficult by the fact that Dad did some beautiful woodworking to build a stand for the 8-harness.

I don’t know what I’ll do, but I would like to make a decision before March 1. Voluntary simplicity is “voluntary,” and I am not trying to be a ‘nazi’ about it. But I’m really tired of having these beasts taking up space and not being useful to me now, even if they once were and might be again ‘some day.’

It helps me to write it out. To see it here in black & white. I will decide by March 1. Weave now or forever hold your peace.

Day 2 went about the same as Day 1 in terms of dollars sold. That evening, I loaded LOTS of stuff into the back of my station wagen, and the next day I took it to goodwill. Tonight, I’ll put another load in the car. Feels good, except for the lingering knowledge that we still have a lot of stuff that will need to go into Garage Sale #4 next spring!

First day of 2day sale went well. Sold about $50 worth of stuff. Not much, but enough to pay for the ad and get rid of a few things. One guy indicated he may be back tomorrow to get 2 tables and an entertainment center. That would be great, since those are heavy and awkward to get rid haul away.

As I said, we plan to get rid of whatever doesn’t sell tomorrow. We’ll use freecycle, goodwill, and the dump. Good bye excess stuff!

Okay, we’ve scheduled it! The ads should run in next week’s newspapers, so we’re committed to it. I’m not hopeful we’ll get rid of much, so we are already planning to sort things for donations and dump. May try a “Freecycle” ad after the sale, too.

Have worked a bit on my clothes closet, finally. Wow. I’m thinking that in some ways, secondhand stores have NOT been a good thing: too many clothes, even if they ARE inexpensive ones! The good news is that in going through things I found that most of what I have actually gets worn fairly regularly. Still, I want to keep paring down. Something in = something out.

Actually, it’s good motivation! We are consolidating two households, so suddenly we have even more stuff in the house! AHHhhhhhh! It makes me crazy! But really, it’s a good thing: more motivation to keep on task!

I spent some time on this earlier this week, but it feels like small potatoes. I decideed to set aside a block of time this weekend to focus on it again, even if it’s only an hour or two. This will help me feel like I’m serious about it. And it will help me get ready for garage sale #3!!!

... helped with this goal, but we’ve got a long way to go. At least one more garage sale. I need to try Freecycle, too.

In order to keep moving forward on this arm of my Purging Triad, I will go through the following locations in the house, getting rid of stuff I don’t need:
- my closet
- the linen closet
- the top shelf in the mudroom
- one file cabinet drawer

... you’ll see that I have three in a row focused on the same general idea—cleaning up, getting rid of stuff I don’t need, & having a garage sale. Maybe it’s “cheating” to have three goals aimed at the same overall result … but if it is, I don’t care! I really want to get this done, and this is one way to motivate myself! I spent an hour or more thinning out books, desk stuff, winter clothes, cleaning supplies, bathroom cupboards and so on. I came away from each location with items in three main categories:

- garbage
- garage sale
- put it away (this falls under “get organized”)

I plan to keep on looking for things I don’t need and getting rid of them. One thing I’ve noticed is that mindfulness helps me with this task. There are some things I’ve just gotten used to having around (like the dead printer) that are only here because they fit into a special category not listed above:

- requires special handling in order to dispose of correctly.

So the key here, it seems, is to stop procrastinating and just do it!