I'm so far behind on my blog reading. Probably because I've been so focused on getting steps in, and fighting these allergies, and getting sufficient sleep, and finding work, and procrastinating with everything else that puts itself into my path.
So today, while I was out walking, I listened to a few podcasts from one of the blogs I read. YAY! I'm caught up on "A Life Less Frantic"! (for now, at least)... THIS really hit home for me. If you've ever felt yourself living in a cluttered space and wanting to get inspired to declutter, give it a listen.
Here's the thing. When we moved across the country the first time, the only shit we downscaled from our lives was whatever shit just wouldn't fit into the shipping container. Meaning, we didn't really bother to declutter before that move. That was mistake number 1348 out of an unlimited supply of mistakes made at that point in our lives. Hindsight.
When we moved back across the country, we got rid of everything we knew we'd be unable to ship. We knew that "stuff" is easily replaced. But we still shipped a lot of crap that we shouldn't have, and we lost/left behind some things that had meaning for us, because we didn't deliberately declutter. We're seriously considering moving One. Last. Time. I honestly don't care if we never buy property, but we're in the planning stages of checking to see if there's even a remote possibility of us being eligible to be homeowners. If we discover that we are, in fact, good candidates for home ownership, then that is a path we will continue down. If we discover that we are not, in fact, remotely eligible to pursue that course, then we will look for our forever home in the form of rental property. I honestly do not care which path we end up on, as long as we're in our forever home by the end of summer.
Which means I need to begin decluttering now. I need to take an objective look at my wardrobe, and just Get Rid of Shit there. I need to take an objective look into all the bins that we have Never Unpacked from the first move in 2009, when we combined our Stuff into one household. I need to downsize my kitchen, probably. I need to NOT transport anything else that has NO meaning or significance ANYMORE.
Maybe I'll feel differently, once I know where the forever home is. But for right now, I'm tired of knowing that I still "own" all this damn baggage that I've carried with me, everywhere I've ever gone. I want to start acquiring memories and experiences, and stop acquiring stuff.
My wife's been decluttering by selling all the stuff she doesn't want and donating the stuff that doesn't sell. There's a swap and shop on facebook in our community that she posts her ads to. I think she's made about $700 so far over the last year. She's determined to get rid of as much crap in our house as she can.
ReplyDeleteWe did that prior to our last move. Need to do it again, but not necessarily with "making money" as the goal.
DeleteIt's called "incentives". ;)
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