simplify my life and live with less

I’m tired of the stuff and working way too many hours. I want to enjoy life!

I getting ready to retire, gonna be tough, no nest egg, not old enough for Social Security – just retirement and hubbies Social Security. – Need some tips on getting buy on LESSSSS and Enjoying It!

With my boy moving in with me in 2 months, I am forced to get rid of things I do not use… things like the xmas dish set my Grammie bought me that I’ll never ever use… and the coffee maker that collects dust now that I use a french press. I will feel so much better when these things are out of my hands and off my floor.

I’ve injured myself twice this month navigating the furniture in my 100 square foot room in Brooklyn. What is all this dusty stuff? Most of it (like my shelves of CDs) I haven’t touched in months.

I said to my wife as we stared at the clutter in our basement, “how long would it take us to discover that it was gone?”

“Probably a month or six weeks,” she said, “if ever!”

There you have it.

For her it’s textbooks from grad school. For me it’s my train collection, a pile of stuff I took out of my mom’s house after she died (including stuff that SHE had squirreled away for years), and the usual suspects: The dead dehumidifier, the video cassettes from previous jobs, and a jar(!) of keys—no telling what they were for, but I don’t dare throw them out!

Mind you, it’s a small basement in a small condo…but you see the problem.

It’s better than it was…now I have to take on my office, the pile of magazines and trade publications on my side of the bed, etc…

We used to move every couple of years, or so it seemed, and we had a rule: if it was still in the boxes from the LAST move when it came time to move again—out it went (except for the LP records…still have those.)

My goal to “simplify my life and live with less” is to eliminate much of the excess possesions I have collected over the years in order to focus on the primary intrests in my life.

I found my recent move from Denver to Austin, helped jump start this goal. Through the sheer frustration of moving, it was very liberating to throw things away. Throwing something out meant not having to move it agian or make space in the Uhaul for things that didn’t matter. Moving aggitates me regardless, so when I found myself moving a box of items I could recall moving from the past couple residances without use I would become furious until I decided to move it for the last time to the trash. Once it crashed into the trash I instantly felt better.

Through this process, I can see how moves to places like NYC where your living space is much smaller would comprimise your options for excess. In this process one would have to make judgement of items deemed important.

A rule I used in my move was, if it sat in a box during my 15 month stay in the last apartment I must not need it. I didn’t worry about friends who might want the items I just either put it in my car trunk for good will or the trash, no thinking. It felt great.