Wednesday 10 October 2012

{Thriving this Winter} Day 10: Clear

As I have been writing this series I keep feeling, well, a bit fall-ish. I know that I am trying to write about thoughts, habits and ideas that will last through the winter, but I am also doing them now, and right now it is fall.

Well today that is changing. Snow has come, and snow only comes in one season. So I guess winter is here!


Which leads me to my post for today about...... getting things clear.


Every single time Charming and I have moved our helpers have exclaimed sometime a long the way "Oh my gosh! You guys have SO MUCH STUFF!" And then they have just stared and stared as the boxes and furniture just keep on coming. Somehow it seems like our stuff just never ends.

This is from a girl who regularly goes on "getting rid of stuff" spree's, often counts random objects just so I can say, "do you really need 15 pairs of wool socks? why?", and has a permanent box just for giving stuff to the goodwill.

So sometimes I feel pretty good, like we're almost, maybe, sort of ..... minimalist?

And then other times (like, as in, now, times) I look around our house and the clutter bothers me. It makes my skin crawl and I want to throw everything away and start again.

So maybe there is a happy medium between these two ideas? Maybe I can just do something small, to start clearing a path. Start clearing away the excess, so that I can see what I really love. I tend to spend a lot of time, well, inside, in the winter. Of course I don't want to get rid of stuff I love, but I really do want to spend less time organizing and taking care of all that "stuff". Plus I want to be ready to make my house into a winter wonderland.... providing that it is easy to maintain.

Oh yeah, and to avoid dusting.

Today my own personal challenge (and maybe you will join me on it) is to get rid of 10 items. Like as in 10 full items. 10 pieces of paper in the recycling aren't going to cut it.


But actually when I started doing this I found 19 items. And I only looked in 1 room and 4 drawers. We clearly still have way too much stuff.

I simply looked in my dresser and kitchen drawers at what I haven't been using and really don't think I will use in the future. A few of these items have recently been replaced with things that work better, and some of them are just redundant.

Some of them were gifts from people I cherish, but you know what? They were gifts given long ago, and I have changed. Therefore my stuff needs to change along with me.

Truly there was no rocket science behind this. But there is a mindset. You have to actually want to get rid of things, and to make space for... nothing. This is not about making room for new things, it is truly about simplifying what you have. There is no reason to get rid of stuff you actually like, just to find 10 items or just to go out and replace it. Get rid of things you have no intention of replacing, things that no longer serve a purpose in your life. And get rid of how ever much or little you want. Or maybe nothing. No one else is counting.

Is there anything in your life that you need to clear out? 


2 comments:

  1. Yay purging! Sometimes I wish I had more junk just so I could purge it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At least most of the stuff you're clearing out is yours this time!

    ReplyDelete