get rid of as many physical possessions as possible

Last week K and I started the Big Clean Out in preparation for our move, and I am pleased to report that I am succeeding, big time, at this goal! In just a week, we managed to clean out our kitchen, coat closet, and my entire craft room. All in all, we got rid of about 10 large trash bags full of stuff. About 3 bags went to Salvation Army for donation, about 2 went straight into the dumpster, and the rest of the stuff is going to be in our upcoming yard sale.

I knew I had been holding on to a lot of stuff, but I just didn’t realize how much I truly had. Some of it is stuff that I can’t imagine getting rid of (and I am keeping), some of it was stuff I can’t imagine why I was keeping (and I couldn’t wait to get rid of), and some of it is right in the middle – that’s the stuff that I’m trying to force myself to get rid of.

Through this process, I’m learning that I need a lot less physical stuff than I think I do. I feel so much lighter without all of this junk around me.

This weekend, started cleaning out the “scary room”, a.k.a. our guest room/office/craft room. This is the room that contains all of the crap that we don’t want to deal with or that won’t fit well in any other part of the house. Lately I can’t stand to even go in the room because it’s such a pigsty.

But this weekend, I took a few hours and sat down in one of the scariest corners and just started sorting, filing, and throwing stuff out. I got rid of 2 boxes full of my old files and textbooks from when I was a massage therapist, because I figure that if I ever need the info again, I can look it up somewhere. I also sorted out a huge box of personal files, magazine clippings, etc., and got rid of a ton of stuff. Then I vacuumed the area really well, and it felt so much better in the room even though it was just one little corner that had been cleaned.

Ha. Victory over the scary room shall be mine! :)

Cleaned out part of the kitchen this weekend, and got rid of about half a box of cookbooks, and will get rid of more when I go through them again before we move. Felt good!

Also, last weekend I went through our bathroom shelves where we put our beauty products, and I got rid of about a box full of unused/unwanted beauty supplies! Our shelves look & feel so much better!

My closet is one of my main dumping grounds for things I don’t want to deal with, stuff-wise. It’s teeny to begin with..smaller than any closet I’ve ever had probably..and at this point in my life, I have more clothes than I’ve ever had. But this is ridiculous, because I only wear about half of the items in it more than once a year.

So this weekend, I started the arduous process of cleaning out the damn closet. I was hanging up my clean laundry, and I realized that I couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t, fit a single hanger more into that closet. So I just took a breath and went for it. Started ruthlessly throwing stuff onto the floor that I haven’t worn in a while. Some of it might have been hard to part with if I had given myself a minute to think about it, but I just threw about 20 things on the floor and had Kelly bag it up and put it in her car trunk before I could think about it again.

It’s just a start, but my closet (and I) can breathe easier already.