good times, noodle salad

Dejunking! That's the word of the week! As David and I have started planning and dreaming and researching our future home, I think I am finally getting the motivation I need to toss unneeded, unwanted, and unloved stuff. I have two HUGE garbage bag of clothes plus a large bag of toys that are going. I cleaned out and tossed some plastic food storage containers, pulled out some "trinkets/collectibles" that I won't miss, and have cleaned out & organized a couple of my craft boxes. I still have a ways to go, and have to do some sorting through stuff that we have at David's folks house, but I am making progress. And it really does feel sooo nice to not have all of this stuff weighing so heavily everywhere. Heck, we might actually be able to find things. I checked out a couple of Don Aslett's books from the library, and they've been helpful. It's nice to have encouragement and some sound reasoning behind my efforts, as I certainly don't come by them naturally. Mom & Dad are both big-time hoarders & collectors. It's a struggle for me, as there is a strong part of my brain that wants to be frugal and therefore not get rid of things that might come in handy someday. But I'm trying to retrain my brain to think of how it is frugal to not spend time & energy (which equal money) dealing with stuff that I don't need at the present time in my life. It's a paradigm shift, but having too much really does cost us. We lose time because we have to sort through, organize & reorganize, and clean up around junkl And using time in this way takes away from more productive and enjoyable things. So the cost of dealing with it everyday is not worth the money saved by holding onto it forever.

I also like the idea of viewing gifts as messengers. Once you have received the gift and enjoyed the thought that accompanied it, it has served it's purpose. You can keep it around if you really love it, but you shouldn't feel obligated to hang onto it forever simply because it was a gift. Flowers & food are gifts, too, but after we're finished with them, it's okay to chuck 'em. So I think that perspective has some value. Another idea is that of it being selfish and wasteful to keep things around that you aren't using/enjoying, when there is someone out there who would enjoy it. I like that, too.

And my favorite part of putting the clothes that I'm KEEPING (some maternity clothes, kids clothes & diapers, etc) away: vacuum packing! I love to suck the air out of the bags with the hose! Ah, the simple pleasures of life.