Due to the nature of what I've been spending a LOT of time doing lately (cleaning out my stuff), I've been doing a lot of thinking. Well... while I'm think about when/if I'm actually going to use the item in my hand, I'm watch my 13 month old and make sure her wobbly walking doesn't give her a concussion, and play "house" with my 3 year old, and I've been thinking! Have I mentioned that I love to think? I should have been an analyst. Anyway. Here goes:
Why have I kept so much stuff? I think I was hanging on to stuff in hopes that I would use it, I love useful things. That seems logical, right? Okay... but why? Other times I was hanging onto something because it held some great memories for me. [Infant clothes had amassed in a giant rubbermaid tub. Like, a freakish amount of onsies and pj's. I sorted through those puppies in record time and plan to share them with a friend of mine who's pregnant with a girl.] I am making some great progress, but at times I can get overwhelmed with what to keep. Everything? Nothing? How crazy am I going to get with this sorting thing? I'm working on finding a BALANCE that's right for our family. Not taking someone elses guidelines for important stuff and trying to fit my stuff into their categories and getting frustrated because it's not working for me (are you guessing that this has been happening? :) So while thinking, I've come up with some categories for my things that are listed below.
Here are a few categories for my things (our things, whatever):
I use it every day. Or near about every day. Or I absolutely cannot function without it. There are some obvious things that fall into this category like toothpaste and shoes. It's those things I use every once in a while that I'm having difficulty deciding if it needs to stay or can find a better home elsewhere (more on that category in a second).
I use it to create things. Sewing falls in this category for me. I simply LOVE to sew. I have recently discovered that I don't love to shop, as I had once thought, but only because I discovered how very much I love sewing. Now, I've actually had to question "creating" for once. Because creating for a need is worthwhile, whereas creating for excess is a waste of my time. So I've stopped sewing for the moment until my home has been cleaned out. Simple as that.
It brings me great joy. I love to journal and read, therefore I have lots of books and journals. I particularly love books that will make me smarter (ha) or that I find "useful," such as My art book collection which I once loved (I was an art major), have actually been reduced over the years. Quite frankly, I don't look at them any more. But I kept the really really good one's, one day I'll have time, right? Now, there is an entire shelf of our bookshelf in the bedroom with my journals. Hm... A few nights ago I said to Hubby "I wonder if anyone is every going to want to read those" and he looked quizzically at me and said "Are you ever going to want to read them?" My love of books has spilled over in to cookbooks, of course. But about two years ago we made some serious diet changes and I still held on to a lot of my traditional cookbooks. About 5 months ago I decided since it had been about a year and a half since I had used them, well... they got the boot.
I use it every once in a while. The bread machine, for example, is going on craigslist because I've recently found a fantastic (and I do mean fantastic) way to make bread that I'm a bit obsessed about and will blog about soon. Moving on.
I never really use it but like it. Hm... should I keep it then? Rollerblades fit in here. I LOVE to skate, I did it for years. But since I've had children, I haven't skated. I've run. The verdict is still out on the rollerblades, but I'm leaning towards keeping them because I hope to skate with my girls one day and don't want to have to run out and buy a new pair of skates/rollerblades because I was going crazy getting rid of my things and gave them away. I have a ton of other things that fit into this category, but frankly, I haven't really made it out of the playroom in 3 days because the sorting has been intense (hey, it's where all of my art supplies, the girls toys and craft things, baby clothing, office things, and attic is. I'll probably be in here for a while longer). Another thing that fits into this category is the china we got when we married. China! Agony. I'll have to think about this for a while. I never use it, but I like it.
I never use it. So why do I keep it? It gets tossed! Extra wires, cords, cd cases, strange fabric, clothes that don't fit, bags (I've had a very long love affair with bags and totes of all kinds), lamps, decorating things...
Now that I think about it, I've actually been reducing my stuff for quite a while. But I've still been holding on to too much and that's why I'm on this adventure!
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4 comments:
Your categories are great. Did you think these up all by yourself? Or did you get some help & do some research? I'm just wondering.
Came up with them myself! Aren't you proud, brother? Although I HAVE done research... I can't help myself.
China- okay this is going to sound tacky but I Craigslisted all our China, Crystal, Silver and the China Cabinet to boot! We NEVER EVER used it. I now have a set of melamine holiday plates/bowls that I use. I break out the festive cloth napkins and my everyday stainless steel utinsels and it looks just fine!
Extra Wires- a source of irritation in our home! C has TONS of them. TONS! I finally said if he wanted to keep them all that they had to be organized. I sat and neatly wrapped each wire and secured it with a fastner (old bread ties in most cases) and then dropped them into a giant storage bin. Is it ideal? No, but at least they are all in once place. I don't know how we got so many or why we need them but they are his so I can't really purge them. At least they are out of the way.
Bread- you need to tell me. We have a bread machine that has made many a delicious loaf of bread but it hasn't been used in awhile. I got lazy and started buying fabulous sprouted breads at Whole Foods because I just don't eat much bread anymore so I only needed two pieces a day for Carl's lunch.
My Wilton Cake pan collection is like your rollerblades. I like to bake and decorate cakes, I took the courses and have the cake decorating accessories but they take up a lot of space. But what if I want to do another easter bunny cake? I do better to keep it than have to run out and buy another. The same goes for like the bundt cake pan that gets used once a year or the springform pans.....I hate to need one and not have it.
I hear you on the baking pans! My springform pan is actually sitting on my counter right now because I need to decide if I'm going to keep it or not. I never really use it. I'm also going to replace my dark round cake pans with light pans (those dark puppies over bake everything).
I admire you for getting rid of your china!!! I mean, really, we never use ours either. I'm beginning to wonder if it's a generational thing. I've got to decide what to do with mine. I love the pattern, but china is a bit more fancy that I am. Hm. (I think I'll do a post about this...)
I can't purge Dan's things either. My tactic so far has been to leave it sitting out for a week until he's had time to think about if it's worth keeping or not. The verdict is still out on our panini maker and small set of speakers we never use.
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