Friday January 5, 2007
We are working to declutter our place. No matter where we move to, be it across town, or across the country, we are moving at the end of this semester because this place it too small and I am MORE than ready to get out of this apartment complex. So, since May will be insane with end-of-school stuff and packing will likely happen in a rush, we decided to do the thinning out now. We have done the thing where you move and end up realizing that you just spent huge amounts of energy and space moving stuff you should have thrown out. Do not want to relive that.
So…we started in the bedroom. Vowed to get rid of all those ‘oh, I will lose weight and fit into this’ clothes because, frankly, most of them are 10-15 years old now and I think that if we lose enough weight to fit into them, I probably deserve something a decade newer. Also the piles of “I might be able to sell this on ebay’ that just feeds into our hording tendencies, and the piles and piles and piles of hand-me-downs we have packed into every corner of our apartment and spilling out into our living space. So far we have given 6 garbage bags to our friend, who actually *does* sell things on ebay (and is extremely low-income, so this was a way to help him out without it being all uncomfortable that we are giving him money), and have the Olds filled with 3 more bags of stuff for him, and the Pontiac filled with about 4 bags of stuff for Goodwill. After we drop off the stuff at the Goodwill, we are pulling the mammoth stroller and the large high chair that aren’t good enough for consignment, but still good, and returning to Goodwill. With that monstrosity out of the way we will be able to get into our big closet to go through that.
Yeah, and we won’t talk about how many bags of trash were created. I don’t think even Goodwill wants the piles of shirts and pants with holes, broken toys, empty sour cream containers, coffee cans, sauce jars, 15-20 year old pebbles of oil pastels & crayons, 2 inch pencil nubs, inks and paints that have solidified in their containers and old shoes that are held together with duct tape. I need to go through the diaper stash and be a bit more brutal too…I am using rags as liners and I truly have enough liners without the rags, I just have a really hard time throwing something away when there is even an ounce of life left in it, even if it unravels and makes a mess in the dryer that I spend time untangling every time.
I swear, something happens to you when you are poor. You hoard, hoard, hoard because you live in fear of needing something and it not being there. You save even the most ridiculously worn items ‘just in case’. You hold onto things that are ugly, are not your style, are not comfortable, are broken, are gifts that you would have never gotten yourself but you feel bad giving it away because the person gave it with the best of intentions. The saddest part is, we have culled before, and yet some of this stuff didn’t make it out of the collection.
I am really having to work at this. It is painful and emotionally difficult to do this, but our lives are just being drowned in stuff that does not benefit us except to feed into the fear. So, we are cleaning out. Letting go. Telling ourselves that other people will be able to use the things and it can make their lives better instead of making our lives more stressful.
We have 3 more closets to do…the big one, the linen closet, and the playroom/bedroom closet, then we will work in the playroom, then the main living area. I think the food pantry is going to be the toughest, but we decided to do our best to eat out of the pantry until it empties out. Our days of having no food and no way to get food are most definitely affecting our food hoarding, but I need to actually USE the food instead of having this magical barrier of ‘reserved for emergencies’ food that just makes no logical sense. I need to get into a place where I have it stocked, but in a more orderly, healthy fashion so it is more useful.
I feel better already, and we are already about a third of the way through the mess.
You may not realize it, but you have really touched me with this entry. I have been dancing around this whole decluttering issue, and have more to say about it, but suffice to say, reading your entry has forced something in me to change. Thank you.
That’s part of things to do this year. I feel that the extra “just in case” stuff is weighing me down. I can’t wait to get started–after I finish my courses. lol
It is hard to de-clutter, but amazingly satisfying. I had to do a lot of that task in 2006 – getting ready for Aaron and also culling in preparation for the Army move. I feel so much more streamlined now.
Kudos, and keep up the positive work!
It’s liberating isn’t it?
I was just reading an article about clutter and feng shui, the thought premise being that when you get rid of clutter and useless things (to you) you allow room for new good stuff to come into your life. Dh and I have lots of stuff from our deceased parents and are trying *very* hard to get rid of it. We are using craigslist.org to give most of it away for free. There is something about the salvation army around here that irritates me. It seems to me that their prices are too high and while I understand that money must benefit someone, I like to see the direct benefit personally.
Good for you guys! You should take before and after photos for yourselves. Also, if there are things that I really don’t want but hold sentimental value for me I just take a photo of it and then get rid of it… this way I can remind myself of it when I see the photo and only take up room on my hard drive.