Clutter

I just read an article about a woman who decided to clear out some clutter in her life. her goal was to get rid of 500 pounds of clutter in a year. I have probably gotten rid of that much in the last 6 months and still could get rid of another 1,000 pounds.Books weigh a lot and we have many.

Recently we decided we did not need the piano any more and sold it. I do not know what an upright piano weighs, but it is pretty heavy. We had 5 40 lb bags of sand my son left that have now been used. A son had a broken exercise gym with all the pieces that probably weighed close to 100 lbs and a man took that to recycle. My son took 3 large old computer monitors to be recycled weighing about 20 lbs each. We had a large solid wood headboard for a king size water bed that the DAV came and got. I've given away about 20 books in December. Just those things get pretty close to 500 lbs.

In addition, in the last 4 months I have given away 3 car trunk loads of sacks to the DAV, Children's Home Thrift store, etc,(probably 20 paper grocery sacks plus 6 33 gallon trash bags and a few plastic sacks) full of clothes, shoes, seasonal decorations we do not use, and all the odds and ends that accumulate. Those things were not all that heavy, except for the clothing. It possibly weighed about 100-150 lbs.

In addition to that, I have gone through my cupboards and thinned out things we probably would not eat or use that someone else might and given away about 8 paper grocery sacks totally full since December, many cans. Some of the things were cleaning products or hygiene products. There is still a lot more in there that someone could put to good use so I am not done yet.

I don't know if it counts that I gave away things I bought to give away, eventually. There is a lot more here I need to distribute. I get things free or buy them very inexpensively for the purpose of giving away. Sometimes it takes me a while. Today I delivered items for the Pregnancy care center that I picked up 2 and 3 years ago. Decluttering means going through things and making sure the items get to the places intended.

So much of what we have around here simply needs to be used up. I have plenty of yarn for knitting hats for children, which I give away. In December I gave away about 35 hats. I have enough yarn to make well over 100. I am using it slowly. In the last 4 weeks I have knit 6 hats. Lots of stuff around here is like that. The sand was too. It needs to be used up some.

There is the trash clutter too, the stuff that nobody would want that just needs to be pitched. It tends to weigh less because we recycle when possible on the heavier stuff.

I'm making progress but there is still a long way to go. Tomorrow I hope to sort through magazines again, it has been about 6 weeks, and there is a lady I give them to who distributes them to others. The amount has outgrown the 3 racks so it is time. The newspaper stack will be recycled this week.

If we ever decided to move into a different house, moving would be very difficult with so much stuff. I do not intend to move for quite a while, but I do think about it. So when I look at an item, I think, would I really want to move this? If the answer is no, it doesn't get to stay. Books are harder. Not sure why. I just love books.

Each day, it is my goal to throw away, give away and use up something, preferably several somethings that have been around a while. It's working out pretty well for me. Most days I can do just that.

I'm glad Valentine's day is coming. I found a stack of valentines and I want to use them up and give them all away. In November I found all the cards in different places in the house and put them all together by type, not it is time to use them up or give them to someone who will. They do not need to sit here for yet another year. But there are people who will enjoy getting a card.

I can give out the penny type valentines at random to people I see regularly in coffee shops, grocery stores or such on the 14th too. They enjoy things like beads on mardi gras, candy canes at Christmas, suckers any time, bells at Christmas, tomatoes in summer from my garden, etc. I give away anything I have loads of around.

The schwann's man likes to stop at my house because I give him things like homemade candy, fresh tomatoes, etc. I don't really buy anything though. I don't need to keep buying things. A person can only eat so much and I already eat more than is good.

The candy was made with things I got on clearance after Christmas last year. It was supposed to be for a women's group fund raiser but the women's group disbanded. It was still good, not past date or anything like that, but I had to use it up and give it away, so I did. My husband's coworkers think I am wonderful because I sent goodies with him many days before Christmas. I gave some to the man who fixed the roof, the man who fixed something outside, the men who cleaned my chimneys, my sons friends who stopped by, family and anybody else who showed up on the doorstep.

Because my house is a bit cluttered, I do not invite people over much, although some come anyway and that is okay. Family, a few close friends, people who need to talk, young adults and others. There are people who come to see us and visit. They do not care about whether the magazines are overflowing or the carpet hasn't been vacuumed for a few days or there is a bunch of mail on the dining room table or the ceiling needs painting. My house is fairly clean and relatively clutter free in comparison to many homes but you don't go to somebody's house to see the house usually. Unless it is something unusual or fantastic.

Then there are the people who believe it is their duty to evaluate other people's homes and critique them. They are not there to visit, they are there to give their opinion and judge. They go out and tell everyone they meet about every flaw they find. I've had a number of these types in my homes over the years. In my case, most have been church people. One lady, who came over to my house years ago in another town and said what a horrible mess it was, did not go to our church but she was a faithful church attender. She came over to ask a favor of me and not by invitation. There have been several such people, rude and unmannerly types who believe themselves to be above it all. I do not invite people over who think too highly of themselves or those who may be inclined to gossip. They have a problem and I am not interesting in allowing their abuse and boorish behaviors.

But I am going to clear out the clutter, for me, so I can find things easier, so there is more room to move around, so things get put to their intended use or are given away to bless somebody else. I'm making room to dance, because I love to dance.