get rid of unnecessary possessions

I had a bit of a deadline to get my old room in shape for the annual family Christmas party. It’s not like anyone ever really goes in there, but there’s always that one year when the nosy aunt peeks her head in when it’s a pigsty and doesn’t let you forget it for at least six months. A cross-cut shredder was my chosen partner-in-crime, and I seriously have never gotten rid of so much stuff before in my life. It felt great. I still have lots to do, but 3 and a half bags went away. I have a general idea of what I’d like to sell on ebay, so that’s part II of this saga, I think.

This entire weekend, I just cleaned and cleaned. My mom did the same. It’s weird - I think we finally “get it.” If we didn’t use the stuff in the past year, we won’t ever use it. I know I have some financial stuff and a few things in the garage I’d like to hold onto, but for the most part, it’s all going. I slept better than I have in years now that I got rid of 3 bags of stuff, and totally cleaned out an entire section of my room. I still have lots more to go, so it’s not over yet.
I’m just trying to figure out a good place to donate it all. Big Brothers Big Sisters was scheduled to pick up 6 bags of stuff, and they never showed. :/

Tonight! Out with everything! I’m going to have more floor space than furniture come 1:00am Wednesday morning, or I’ll eat those grape leaves that have been in the fridge since March!

It’s funny how I’m oddly super motivated when I’m at work to clean my room at home.

3 days into the New Year, and I’m looking around my room in ugly, ugly disgust. I wanted to move my things from one room to the other, and I did, but not in the way I had planned. So all the crap that was in one room, despite a few garbage bags, is in another. The containers are still there, as are the generous amounts of crap that the room’s prior occupant didn’t want, so I’m in all actuality worse off. Plus, I am missing my social security card. Quite vital. So now the process will be slowed down even more until I locate the little bastard. I have this nasty habit of hiding important documents in books. Problem is that I could fill a whole library with the books I’ve collected over the years.
Speaking of books, I was thinking of buying yet another book (go figure) from that guy from Clean Sweep on TLC. It supposedly has tips on how to break that emotional attachment to objects that you don’t use, which is a big part of my problem. I have the lair of a pack rat, and what’s more is that there’s a strange smell coming from somewhere, but I’d be 90 years old before I could find the likely source. Something needs to be done, and the ground-breaking ceremony will be held this weekend, come hell or LSAT prep.

So! I got rid of two bags of clothes to goodwill, and I’ve also thrown out a whole slew of crap, but I really want to sell some stuff on ebay so I can at least make some dough. Problem is, though, that ebay is flooded with sellers, and not a lot of buyers for the stuff I want to sell—lamps, trinkets, etc. Plus a lot of sellers are selling new, when I’m selling used. I’m whittling down from 9 49-gallon boxes of my crap to just one, possibly two. It’s hard to be brutal, but it feels good in the end.

While I’m totally going against one of my goals, I am moving rooms in my mom’s house. My whole reasoning for this is that when I move my crap from Room A to Room B, I can whittle it down to something more manageable, and then when I do get around to completing that other goal, I can easily pack it up in one or two bags and scram. I’ve already started the exodus of belongings, but most of it, thankfully, has gone straight to the garbage can, which is somewhat of a relief. This weekend is the big move, so hopefully I’ll have this goal so done it’ll be burnt.

I just started to do this, and it’s probably one of the hardest things to overcome. I am one of those people that save everything (as I’m sure a lot of us do) – a pack rat, if you will. I have things hidden under my bed that rival most time capsules. I have receipts from 6 years ago that I still hold onto. Why? I can’t return it! I just feel this need to line my room with crap, insulating it from civilization with receipts, scraps of paper, ticket stubs, junk- or rather – souvenirs, clothes that don’t fit and lamps. I have enough lamps in my room to light up the Meadowlands.

So far I’ve thrown out one bag of garbage—but that was mostly just garbage, not really in the “possessions” category. Other than that, I’ve just made the junk look more neat, fooling the side of me that wants to get rid of it and satisfying the other side that actually bought all of it.

I feel my motivation waning. Anybody need a lamp?