Last night I decided to take control of the laundry disaster going on in my house. With all the drama at work lately, everything else in my life has kind of been on pause. I admit I haven’t been doing as much housework as I should any housework. And it shows. I brought up SIX laundry baskets full of clean clothes to fold and put away, did three more loads, and my hampers are still overflowing. It’s a hot mess around here and I can’t take any more.
Anyway, as I was searching all my closets for more hangers, it occurred to me that I’m always saying I have nothing to wear, yet the huge metal rod in my 8-foot closet is bending under the weight of all my clothes. And there are lots more clothes that need to be washed. And my dresser drawers are full. And I have an entire closet just to hold all my shoes.
I had a horrible thought at that moment - Do I have too much stuff?
It’s funny how we accumulate things and don’t realize it. 19 months ago, I moved into this house after my divorce with a dining room table, my clothes and personal items, and my son’s clothes and toys. I had to buy EVERYTHING all over again. And every day I think of something else I haven’t replaced yet - my George Foreman grill, bedroom furniture (high on the list), a clock for the bathroom (I have an obsessive need to know what time it is), a blender….
Despite all the things I think I need, my house is pretty full. My house is equipped with a living room closet, a hall closet, a bathroom closet, and an 8-foot closet in each of the three bedrooms. And a basement and garage. Are all of them full? Yep, pretty much. So what the heck is filling up all this space if I’m going without so many things?
Maybe I wouldn’t need so much storage space if I got rid of some of my junk. For example, I’ve been trying to figure out a solution for my books ever since I moved. A $90 bookshelf isn’t going to cut it - my book collection has killed several of those over the years.
Exhibit A (just part of the collection)
I love to read. But do I really have to own every single book I like? (In my defense, I’m an extremely fast reader and read all of my books many, many times.) These days, though, I do most of my reading on my iPad, phone, or computer. I don’t need all the textbooks I kept from college because the information is already outdated. I’m fairly sure my son could give up most of his baby/toddler books since he’s going into 8th grade. There are simply too many books in my house.
So I’m thinking I should go through some of my junk in an effort to decrapify my house. I want to focus on these categories:
- Clothes/shoes
- Books
- Movies (I don’t even remember the last time I watched a DVD)
- Papers - I have about 10 boxes marked “Important Papers.” Yet I’ve never needed any of them in the time I’ve lived here.
The week of August 1, I’m off work between jobs and I plan to do some major cleaning. I’m also adding a goal of going through each of the categories above to decide what I can sell, donate, or trash. I will actually get rid of the stuff by the end of August, with updates along the way. And I expect all of you to drive me nuts if I try to pretend I forgot about it. With any luck I’ll get rid of a lot of this stuff and make some money in the process.
Do you have too much stuff? Have you ever purged your home of all the unnecessary junk you’re collecting? Any suggestions for where to take all this stuff? I have a feeling I’ll need your stories for motivation!