The Purge (No, not the movies)
I have a lot of stuff. Like I haven't touched things in well over two years. We moved into our house October 2016 and we still had boxes that weren't unpacked. Or random things just piled up on my desk that I fully intended to use, but had no room because of everything on it.
I know I am not the only one who does this. We keep a shirt, a book, or a power cord that we have no idea what it goes to just in case we need again one day (which we never do). It's more to worry about when you move, more to clean and move around until it accumulates on a piece of furniture or a room in your house. Everything just kind of sat in our dog house/bookshelf/dog treat area. It made it look like we just moved in when people came over to the house and I was always trying to explain it away. Don't mind that, we haven't gotten through it yet.
We recently watched Minimalism, a documentary on Netflix about the journey of people, their attachment to things and how they became minimalists. (check out two of the minimalists here) The concept behind minimalism is to live with only certain items that are necessary, to not have an abundance of items that are not used and can give the feeling of freedom from a materialistic world. Now don't go laughing at me, but there is so much we have in our lives that isn't necessary for happiness or to accomplish a goal.
So I woke up with my coffee and looked at the crap room. Hair went up in a bun, the garbage bags came out and I got to work. Here are my rules: 1. if I have not used or worn an item in the past year, it goes to donation or trash. 2. If it is important, the item is sent to my desk to be filed. 3. If it holds a significant amount of memory or attachment it gets to stay.
I went through everything. I went through my desk and threw out so much useless trash! I cleaned the top and finally have space to work at it! The boxes underneath were cleaned and the closet is short a few coats. The hardest for me was the bookshelf. I love to read and I love my books. I am old fashioned and remember the first time I read one of my paperbacks that was on the shelves. I had them stacked vertically two rows thick in some places because I had so many! But I buckled down and chose only four series that I read over and over again. They still take up a lot of the bookshelf but I am donating over half of the collection to a used book store (aren't you proud of me)!
We now have my desk clean so that I can write and work at it, the drawers only hold office supplies and important documents. The shelves have been dusted and designated for certain items. We can now walk through the house and no have to make excuses for the room!
We are working on being more conscious of what we have in the house. I know there are some who only live with the barest of closets and furniture. I am not that crazy, I need my big desk! My closet is a huge battle but it is being narrowed down to only outfits that I wear all the time (we are not going to talk about the time the shelf broke in the middle of the night...).
It's a ongoing project, but something that can help make us happier, something that makes life easier and gives us more time to spend with those we love.
I know I am not the only one who does this. We keep a shirt, a book, or a power cord that we have no idea what it goes to just in case we need again one day (which we never do). It's more to worry about when you move, more to clean and move around until it accumulates on a piece of furniture or a room in your house. Everything just kind of sat in our dog house/bookshelf/dog treat area. It made it look like we just moved in when people came over to the house and I was always trying to explain it away. Don't mind that, we haven't gotten through it yet.
We recently watched Minimalism, a documentary on Netflix about the journey of people, their attachment to things and how they became minimalists. (check out two of the minimalists here) The concept behind minimalism is to live with only certain items that are necessary, to not have an abundance of items that are not used and can give the feeling of freedom from a materialistic world. Now don't go laughing at me, but there is so much we have in our lives that isn't necessary for happiness or to accomplish a goal.
So I woke up with my coffee and looked at the crap room. Hair went up in a bun, the garbage bags came out and I got to work. Here are my rules: 1. if I have not used or worn an item in the past year, it goes to donation or trash. 2. If it is important, the item is sent to my desk to be filed. 3. If it holds a significant amount of memory or attachment it gets to stay.
I went through everything. I went through my desk and threw out so much useless trash! I cleaned the top and finally have space to work at it! The boxes underneath were cleaned and the closet is short a few coats. The hardest for me was the bookshelf. I love to read and I love my books. I am old fashioned and remember the first time I read one of my paperbacks that was on the shelves. I had them stacked vertically two rows thick in some places because I had so many! But I buckled down and chose only four series that I read over and over again. They still take up a lot of the bookshelf but I am donating over half of the collection to a used book store (aren't you proud of me)!
We now have my desk clean so that I can write and work at it, the drawers only hold office supplies and important documents. The shelves have been dusted and designated for certain items. We can now walk through the house and no have to make excuses for the room!
We are working on being more conscious of what we have in the house. I know there are some who only live with the barest of closets and furniture. I am not that crazy, I need my big desk! My closet is a huge battle but it is being narrowed down to only outfits that I wear all the time (we are not going to talk about the time the shelf broke in the middle of the night...).
It's a ongoing project, but something that can help make us happier, something that makes life easier and gives us more time to spend with those we love.
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