reduce my material possessions

And it’s great! It’s an alternative way to rid yourself of clutter, and it’s quite satisfying too. Plus those things you thought you could never sell take on a different meaning.

If you’ve read my entries, you may know I’m getting married in May. That doesn’t leave me much time to get rid of clutter that has accumulated in the flat over the years.

I’ve narrowed my interests so that I can focus on them, namely fitness/mountain biking, photography and reading. Everything else is going.

This morning I woke around 4am and did some research. Then I got up and sorted out some excess clothes to go to a charity shop, set up my Freecycle and Charity sorting boxes, and got 2 black bags of rubbish/junk clutter – from my bedroom! Wow!

In the meantime, I’m probably going to live off the laptop, so I can pack my main PC away until after wedding. That will help save some space.

I have been naughty and been buying books, but like I mentioned, I want to read more, in fact I’m trying a book a month. It forces me to sit down, relax and read, which is quite beneficial.

In essence, I have about 3 months in which to finish de-clutrering and see what I have left to move with.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1812048,00.html

I read another article about this kind of thing probably a year ago… I really want to do this, especially during the break, as I will be less stressed. This is a good way to mark the start of a new year as well.

:) I hope I can do it! Maybe I should list these things down as a get rid of them so that I feel better about myself and actually make sure I get rid of 100 things.

I remember reading in the article that things such as magazines, clothes, etc, should not count as individual things, but rather 1 collective item. (so 100 magazines= 1 item, 3 clothes = 1 item). Now that I think about it, this task seems more daunting than I thought. This might take longer than I had expected. I better get off this site and start on my other “break” goals now!!!!!

Many many things have been packed into boxes, and have remained there. That shows I don’t really miss them. Unfortunately, I have bought some new possesions, but hey, exercise equipment is good right? I got a new weights bench, and I am using it for it’s intended purpose.
I managed to sell quite a number of DVD’s to a friend, but still have around 150-200 to go on that front. CD’s have slightly reduced.

I guess the only thing thats hard is where I know it was a present from someone, or it means something to me. But all these things are temporary, right?

So the rest of my now sorted posessions are due to go onto ebay. Hooray! I’ve started feeling much better now I’ve got rid of stuff (even if only into boxes)

I’ve managed to make a start – ebay is a good way to go.

I’ve got rid of the interesting but effectively useless technologies, like the ipod and pda, which gave me some funds, and got some accessories for the camera, with which I would like to do more, and maybe start selling on some stock libraries.

Yup, I’m looking at the ‘M’ word, or, as my girlfriend and I call it, ‘licensing’. However, we’ve agreed that some posessions need to go. I’ve started already, putting things on ebay, so it’s making some money back too!

It takes some time to sort things through, deciding what to keep/throw/sell, but the time taken now will make time later on. I now read more since I removed the projector and surround sound – and I’m a film buff too!