get rid of everything i don't need

Gosh, I didn’t realize until I started typing this entry that I have my trunk full of things I either need or don’t need, but need to sort through to decide this. I am writing to announce that the one box I failed to unpack when we moved has finally been opened and sorted through today. Not everything is in it’s place (meaning in the dumpster or someone else’s hands or in my house), but I am almost there with it and am at least pleased that I began the process. It didn’t take as long as it could have. Now, my car on the other hand…

Hey, why does everyone on 43things wants me to do this task the most. This ‘thing’ has the more cheers than everything else on my list. Is this a coincidence?

I had the privledge of cleaning out the closet full of stuff my brother wanted me to take when he moved to Alaska, I had started this on Saturday and went back for round two on Monday. Completely forgoing a work day to get the job done, I wish I could have gotten some work done, but at least I won’t have t o think about that closet and the nasty shit in it anymore. The things he had me save back were old trophies from when he was seven or eight years old, his friend’s old phone numbers, old feathers and bones and raw hide and shit (he is a Native American history and art buff). I saved all of the stuff I thought was of value to him and threw the rest out. I threw out a million letters that my parents sent him from camp, old empty soda bottles, hockey pucks and lacross balls, etc. If he can live without it in Alaska, why should I live with it in Minneapolis? Yuck! Dust! Eww! Now I just have to get the rest of it in the mail to him. Hello postage!

So after debating it, I started cleaning my room, but really ended up cleaning out our extra room full of junk. My brother moved to Alaska last year and left everything from his past at my house and said he wanted it all. It was crowding up our spare room and I threw away almot everything he left. It was ridiculous stuff, like cd jewel cases and old scraps of leather. Anything of value, I got together to send up to him and I pitched the rest. My husband went through all of his art supplies and weeded threw it and got rid of some very massive old paintings that he didn’t want anymore. It felt good, but I need to go back for more tomorrow. I like this as a weekend activity as it makes me more motivated to get office work done during the week. Polar opposites attract I guess.

Well today, for the last two hours, I have been trying to decide what to do thsi afternoon… should I go to the mall and buy this household stuff I will need when I move, or should I get rid of more stuff I don’t need? Since my hair is dirty and I want to drink tea, I am going to clean my room. I think I will take some pictures of stuff I don’t need to sell on ebay. My extensive collection of old metal lunch boxes will be a good place to start. Life is so great, I am stoked on doing this. One thing I don’t want to get rid of is my “back-up appliances.” I probably don’t need them, but if my blender or espresso machine break, I don’t want to spend a couple hundred bucks on a new one, hmmm. Conundrums, conundrums. I also don’t want to throw away some clothes I have, even though I don’t wear them. I will donate them out though, I swear, AND i will donate my dresser too. And I will try to get rid of all of the stuff sitting on top of my old dresser too. Uncluttered life, here I come!

I am starting to make this part of my life. Today, I posted a clucth on ebay. I got it as a present, never returned it, or opened it and it was coach so I think someone will want it. Not really my idea of cool, but everyone else’s apparently. I also cleared a bunch of clothes out of my closet. The one thing I don’t want to get rid of, but won’t have room for in my new place are my piano books. Hmmmm. I will have to come up with some kind of solution to this…maybe using them everyday will be the answer?

I started on my goal tonight, a Saturday night, when I got home from the movies with my husband. I work out of a home office, so of course things that don’t belong in my bedroom or kicthen, get set on my desk and forgotten about. I cleared alot of extra pens away, lots of uneeded receipts and weird tidbits of nothingness that I can’t even explain. For some reason, I decided I needed a Starbucks nutrition facts brochure and kept it. What is it they say? BABYSTEPS!