Stuff...

"The state of my house, is the state of my mind"...that's what I've been telling people for years now. And it's true, when my house is messy, my life seems to be a little out of control too! After my son was born, things really got crazy...papers piled up, things didn't have a home, and all that baby gear and toys began to take over. Personally, when my home is really messy I find it hard to concentrate and I feel somewhat defeated as I don't know where to even start...so I don't :)

My New Year's resolution, the first I've ever made I believe (and actually kept) was to get my house in order, regain control! I read "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh, a simple to read book that gives some great ideas on gaining "control" of the stuff in your life. He started his book with a little quiz on whether or not you keep too much stuff....and I thought, "hey, I'll do pretty good, I'm not so bad at that"...wrong...hmmm.

I tend to keep stuff for three main reasons:
1. Sentimental-they bring back memories.
2. They might be worth money-so it would be a waste to get rid of it.
3. I might need/want them someday.

Peter Walsh wrote that if things are too important to let go-if you truly value an item you need to show it honor and respect, otherwise it's really not that important to you. He also said we have to live in the present and make room for today, we can't keep stuff for somedays (plus it robs us of space and the things that are really important to us). Made sense to me :)

So, with the recommendations of Peter Walsh in mind, I started to purge. But being the natural thrifty mama that I am, I divided my stuff into categories...recycle, donate, sell (via garage sale or consignment), pass onto family/friends, and trash. And I went to work, one room to the next. And it felt good to let go of things, it really did!

*Papers-a big problem for me...but I decided that most of the info. was now available online so I didn't need it on my desk. My husband and I went thru all of our files and everything that wasn't current or important for taxes (keep back 7 years worth) we shredded or recycled.

*Books-I love to read and I love the feeling of having a big library in my house-you know some place for the kids to curl up and read someday. Well I decided to keep the most important books and let the library keep the rest of them for me! Plus using the library is a great way to save money anyway!

*Clothes-I've heard this before, but Walsh reminded me of the 80/20 rule-we wear 80% of our clothes 20% of the time...so true! I kept the clothes I wear the most, plus a few favorite outfits to show my kids someday and the rest we divided into sell, trash(we cut those up to use as cleaning rags), and donate. By the way, consignment is a great way to go for never worn or gently used items!! I've made enough money on selling my old/never worn clothes at consignment to buy new clothes each year (clothes are such a cheap thing, let em go!) And if you are keeping clothes around for when you'll fit into em "someday", just get rid of em, if you do get to the size you want you'll want to go shopping for some new ones anyway! Might as well make some money on em now!

I've still got some work to do on one closet and the garage, but what a difference! It felt so good to be able to find what I really wanted and needed. And as an added bonus, it became easier to clean each week when I didn't have all that stuff to move around or put away!

I think we live in a society deeply in love with our "stuff"....I really want to work this year on letting go of stuff and holding onto what I have right in front of me and what really matters: my hubby, son, family, and friends....now go start cleaning :)