cleaning house and mind

as you may have guessed after our last post, we have begun our purging of 'stuff' in the house. after hanging out in a 60 square foot camper for a month, we realized even more what we really do not want nor need in our lives. makes us wonder what we have been holding on to.

think about it...someone drops by and leaves some 'goodies' for you (add one more thing to your mix), then your birthday rolls around and people give you gifts, some needed and some not so needed (add 5 things to your mix), then comes the holidays, which we really don't want anything, but family insists and you end up with more stuff (add 10 things to your mix), and then you buy that 'thing' that you thought you needed (add on one more thing) and now here we are. it is january and you theoretically have 17 more things than you had in september. where do you put it? do you add it on top of all of your other stuff that you so call enjoy or do you stash it to only find it a year later? ahhhhh, too much to think about!


EXACTLY, it weighs down your consciousness and before you know it all of this 'stuff' has you so pinned down that you are 'trapped' by your junk. yup, that is how most people cruise along these days. thinking about all of their stuff. worrying about losing some of it, paying for it, not wanting it to get broken, needing a bigger house to fit it all in, needing more so you can keep up with betty jones down the street and before you know it, you are putting more energy and thought into your 'stuff' than you do into your own health, family and well being.


not us. get rid of it. if you don't need it, use it, want it or care about it, pass it on. we dug through our dressers, the closet, the crawl space, the pantry and more and man did we come up with some 'stuff'. mostly things that we never really wanted but took anyway, stashed it for a bit and now it is being purged from our lives and minds forever. you have options when purging. don't think that it is all one big trip to the thrift shop. a vintage guitar, surfboard, antique vase and some bike parts are going on ebay and will hopefully earn us a little chunk of change to pay for some home improvements that we are working on (yup, another one of our purging side effects). clothing is going to the local church donation bin and the rest of it to salvation army. if you have something that you may still have an attachment to, but you don't need it, share it with a friend. regift it? why not? not all gifts need to be new. well, maybe for betty jones, but not for the conscious purging soul who is regaining their independence from their stuff. have fun with getting rid of the junk and don't regret it. regret is only you still be tied down by the 'stuff'.


well, now don't you feel better. i know that your mind is going now. the ole hamster wheel is turning and you are thinking about what you can sell, share or simply give 'away'. yup, that old purse that you really haven't used since last winter (there are purse swaps online), those shoes that you bought for a wedding and you only wore them once because they killed your feet, that ugly sweater you aunt lily bought you and those skis that you bought 5 years ago and haven't used in 4 1/2 years. the possibilities are endless and like most people, you probably have more 'stuff' than you'll ever need.


THE MORE YOU HAVE, THE MORE YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT!