pare down all my posessions

...burning through almost a dozen candles of varying size that I’ve had for quite a while.

...and came back with only 2 books. Also, the pile of things in the donation pile in the garage is growing.

The sound of our toaster oven that stopped working about 4 months ago going into the dumpster. Suddenly we have so much more counter space!

...It’s all kinda vague, but it looks like we’ll be moving out of California in approximately 2, maybe 3 years. We’re targeting northern New England, which is where I’m from. It’s exciting, and since I’ve already made the move cross country once (5 years ago), I have a better idea of what to jettison and what to keep. We actually want to move sooner, but my husband has to finish some schooling, we need to knock out some debt, and I want to build some savings to pay both for moving and to float us for a little while, if we don’t start working right away. I’m also glad that we’ll have some time to sort through all our possessions, and give away some things to family and friends that we won’t want to take with us (like our 4 foot tall cactus on our patio) instead of tossing them.

We cleaned out under our bed because we wanted to store something large and flat under there… and found out we had six (count ‘em) extra pillows. We got rid of three, and the other ones are for guests.

I took a whole pickup full of crap to donate a month ago. Since then I’ve already found two more bagfuls. We’ve really been working hard to declutter and downsize. I had a goal a couple of years ago to get rid of stuff, but it’s something that needs to be revisited every once in a while.

Today in the garage I got rid of an umbrella that hasn’t been used in 5 years (I live in Southern California… hardly any rain), a bobblehead lobster, a basket, some plastic tumblers, and a tangled ball of extension cords.

In the apartment there’s another bag of stuff that I’ve been throwing stuff into… and I honestly can’t remember what’s in it… so I guess I obviously don’t need/want anything that’s in it!

Everything I now own is something I care to keep, as I referred to here. So this is off the list as well.

Now it is all about maintenance, and just having a simple lifestyle. And NOT buying things I don’t need!

Or sorta. But its such a weird feeling to be able to say I have stock of all of my posessions. Everything that I own is in my old room. I was so scattered before, and I had accumulated so much junk. Throwing away stuff, cleaning, sorting—my room now contains everything I own.

After receiving 20 boxes of books after a move, I forced myself to make them fit in existing bookshelves—and not buy anymore. I know there are still layers of books I will eventually get rid of, but for now, I feel I have shed a skin.

I’ve been interested in doing this for quite some time and have been slowly working on it. Its now defunct but I used to like reading the rucksack life blog as the writer had only 100 or so possessions. Also in the intro to Hooked the editor mentions having a friend that has a nicely decorated apartment with fewer than 250 or so items. Every time he gets something he has to choose something to get rid of. At least at first I don’t have a specific numerical goal, and I may never, but I like the idea.