stacy

I’m going to weed my possessions – but instead of the annual try where I only manage to get rid of an extra rolling pin and a bit of clothes, I want to go overboard.

I think I own too much unnecessary stuff. It feels heavy and cumbersome. And I have a plan that’s ambitious. So I’m writing it all down because I know I will need a friendly kick in the pants to stick with it, and the 43 things is so good with the loving kicks in el pantelones.

So, here’s the plan. Starting today, it will last two weeks. I will weed on ten of the next 14 days. Each day I weed I will select one corner of my apartment to go through.

I will look at each letter, bowl, sweater, book, card, glass, piece of paper, etc. with a critical eye and propose drastic thoughts when deciding if it’s a possession I want to carry around with me… something like “If you had to pack up all your stuff and schlep it to the middle of Canada – would this thing be worth schlepping?”

The ten areas of my apartment that will soon come under attack (one per day):

1. Bedroom closet floor (shoes, knitting, weird music equipment, art bin…)

2. Bedroom closet shelf and bookcase (get rid of at least one box of books!)

3. Coat closet floor (go through those boxes with all those letters and notebooks and research.)

4. Coat closet shelf (see coat closet floor)

5. Kitchen cupboards (extra dishes, baking dishes I never use, any old spices?...)

6. Living room stereo area (My god, I’ll need help with this. It has a life of its own.) UPDATE 11.26.07: this is as done as it can be until I get a better storage system. I think I have decided to go with those binder things. And I’m at least a little embarrassed to admit that I threw away over two dozen cassette tapes!

7. Clothes in drawers & bins under bed (If you haven’t worn it in the last year, kiss it goodbye.)

8. VCR tapes (!) (At the end of it all, I want maybe eight video tapes.)

9. Consider buying those CD binder things that will hold 100 CDs in each, and get rid of all those damn jewel cases. (Or don’t consider it and just do it.)

10. Misc. stuff around the house. (corner by couch, bedside table, landing pad, bathroom shelf, etc.)

As part of this I’ll try selling some stuff on Craigslist and at the vintage clothes shops. But I also need to get okay with just donating the stuff and not recouping an of its value. And if I do the CD binder thing I need to find some company that will reuse the jewel cases… I know they’re out there.

Okay, Now… ready, set, go!

UPDATE
11.24.07
I am crazy-lady-on-a-roll. I swear I woke up smiling this morning because I knew my closet was weeded, cleaned and organized!

done.

i take the class.
and, to make it even better – my work is paying for it. plus, since i’m taking the class on a non-work day, i get a free day off sometime next month! i see a three-day holiday weekend in my near future…