I wish I could remember where I saw it, so I could give some credit to the author… Even if she didn’t come up with the idea herself, she certainly inspired me.
Well, that, and the fact that I have been feeling increasingly overwhelmed, burdened if you will, by all my possessions. As I once told my husband, albeit a little less eloquently, “We’ve got too much shit.” Not only is this probably the case with most people, it never becomes more evident than when you are packing to move…or unpacking after a move…still… Two and a half years later… And yet, often times I have a hard time letting go. My internal dialogue is usually a variation of one of three themes;
1) I may need it at a later date (we all know this one)
2) It was a gift from so-and-so (Guilt is such a useless feeling, and yet so persuasive…)
or 3) Well, just throwing it out would be a waste; I should find someone who can use it
So as I lay curled in a semi-face down fetal position last night, riding the thankfully ebbing waves of a migraine and trying not to puke, I began to think, once again, of all the shit I have. Not necessarily talking “hoarder” level here, just a lot of knickknacks and long unworn clothing and, well, just stuff we really don’t need.
Especially in this tiny apartment, I sometimes feel buried by stuff, tied down by stuff. If you wanna leave a place, you have to figure out the hows and wheres and whys and how-much of moving all your stuff too.
So I decided to give this unnamed writer’s ide
a a try. The concept is simple. Get rid of/throw away at least one item a day. At the end of a year, you have gradually, and in a non-overwhelming and non-invasive way, whittled down your collection of useless stuff. I don’t know if she has any rules. I’m just going to start easy. Today, I got rid of a couple of bottles of toiletries I don’t really need. Like, I said, you only need to do one a day, but I figured any extras I can get rid of on any given day would just be a bonus. After all, why hold onto it if I know I don’t need it?
Anyone else have difficulties letting things go and wanna do this with me? (Moral support, people and baby steps.)

Today is “get rid of cat that pisses on bed” day.
Just kidding…maybe.
Feelin’ ya, babe – the most stuffing ever gor rid of is when I had to box up all my crap and WEIGH it, to move here. I still moved a can of cranberry sauce that was about to expire, but didn’t move my cross country skis or my badminton set – both are regrets. I keep SOOO much shit. And it depends entirely on my knowing what I have and where I stashed it! Stupid! Thankfully I have family visiting in 2 weeks so a big clear-out is on the cards.
Toss it, toss it, toss it! They say if you haven’t worn something in two (3?) years, get rid of it. I’m guilty of that one, as I can’t be arsed to go to the bottom of my dresser drawers to see the crap I don’t wear 🙂
At this rate, maybe I need to double the goal. 😉
I just filled a bag with clothes I don’t wear!!!!
I wanna fill a bag with pounds I don’t want to wear. 😉 😉
Those kind of bags cost a lot more! And have a needle attached… did you ever watch lipo surgery being done? Gak.
If I remember correctly, it’s pretty revolting…
What a fab idea; I know that when I was moving to Turkey I was overwhelmed with the amount of crap I’d acquired
Wanna do it with me?? Yesterday hubby and I got rid of enough clothes to fill 2 boxes.
I got a shitload of stuff that needs to be thrown away, even though I cleaned it all out last month!
The problem is we keep bringing stuff IN to the house as fast as we throw it out, right D?
That is pretty much right, yes! Magazines I buy but never read. 😉