After of week of stress and disillusion, I thought I’d share that today I feel like I am freeing myself from garbage that I don’t need or want. I don’t know why today is different but it is.
Everything I throw in the trash or the give-away box makes me feel more liberated. I’ve read that this happens but hadn’t experienced it until today.
When we tell people (like the Real Estate Agents we interviewed this past weekend) what we are doing and why, we always get the same responses:
- “Oh, you are so lucky!”
- “Can you take me with you?”
- “I wish we could do that.”
Or some similar sentiment.
I don’t understand why they can’t, don’t, or won’t at least make plans for an extraordinary life if they are unfulfilled with the one they are currently living. What is stopping them (or you?) from living the life you really want to live?
For us, we were trapped by his job and our suburban life filled with bills, house maintenance, and maybe a belief that we are supposed to conform and live like everyone else. Screw that!
Shedding the trappings of this life is scary, thrilling, nerve-wracking, and liberating all at the same time. Just starting the process is creating the feeling that we are already living an EXTRAordinary life.
It as occurred to me that I will have to touch, or at least set my eyes on, every single thing that we own in order to make a determination about where it needs to go. I will have to SIFT though, SORT , and then STORE all the things we are going to keep. Lovely.
Step 1:
Sift though the pile. Today I sifted though piles of jewelry and keepsakes. By my chair in the living room are piles of memorabilia from all our trips and from holidays.
Step 2:
Sort usable items into the following categories:
Step 3:
Organize “Keep” items with labels for easy access. I am also making lists for the sides of the big boxes. (I have anxiety producing images of endless unlabeled and stacked boxes in an endless storage unit and all I need is my boots.)
Here’s an example of what I have done with my jewelry (which I still need to access because I am oh, so, fashionable). Putting my delicate chains into straws to keep them from tangling is genius (thank you interwebz).
Eventually, everything that doesn’t fit in one suitcase and one backpack per person will have to be stored. I’m working with that in mind.
If I don’t start out organized – I will never know where anything is when we get home. I have to remind myself that it doesn’t have to be perfect, just organized and downsized. It’s a process that my husband doesn’t understand but will appreciate later.
Jewelry Storage
Someday I will clean out the attic, go though the stored china, crystal, linens, Christmas stuff, baby stuff, and all the “saved” stuff I have failed to get-to all these years.
Someday I will sort through all the closets and clean them out.
Someday I will deep clean my kitchen, go through my cookbook, and reduce my gadget collection to a manageable size.
Someday we will clean out the garage and sheds.
Someday I will have to get the contents of this house downsized so it will fit in a small storage unit so we can travel.
Guess what?
SOMEDAY is here.
SOMEDAY is today.
I’m not sure how it got here so fast.
