Wednesday, October 1, 2014

31 Days of Letting Stuff Go - An Introduction



Hello and welcome to my inaugural 31 Days series: 31 Days of Letting Stuff Go!  I have been following 31 Days for a few years, and this is the first time I have jumped in.  I am excited to be writing with everyone, learning more about blogging, pushing myself to write more, and being a part of the great Nesting Place community.  Thank you for hosting, Nester!   #write31days #lettingstuffgo

I am also very excited to use the series as a way to bless my family in that I will be pushing myself to let go of the next layer of stuff.

I have been routinely decluttering for a long time now.  I regularly take things to Goodwill, recycle, or find other ways to give things away.  I get fairly twitchy when things pile up or hot spots burn up.


This hotspot is getting warmer.

But what do I mean by next layer of stuff?  What does that involve?

I might be surprised at what this entails, but I imagine the next layer of stuff includes things that might be harder to let go of: more books, more childhood things, more college memorabilia, more holiday decorations that I thought I couldn't do without.  Or whatever else is in my basement!

The interesting thing is that I have been doing this, but it's not enough anymore.  We have been slowly accumulating stuff for nine years in this house.  We came to it with one year of marriage under our belt, and we have brought home three children to it now.  We live in a two bedroom house.  We are blessed.  But it is time to get a little more radical.

If we accept that the house is a container, and the things we have must be contained in that container (no off-site storage) with a reasonable semblance of order (no piles, no things crammed into corners, there must be negative space), more stuff has to leave the house.



I feel calmer just looking at this.


This means letting stuff go.

This next layer of bigger, tougher items might be harder than I think.

This series will be looking at the nitty-gritty of how we make those decisions.  I will be thinking out loud, showing before and afters, and celebrating breathing room.  I might write in all capital letters if I get really excited.  Please bear with me if it gets to that.

Indeed, I sometimes do a little dance when things go bye-bye.

It might be tough, but the little mountain we will climb this month will be worth the effort because I just know we will live more freely, breathe a little more easily, and become more resolved not to bring in the stuff either.

Won't you climb the mountain with me and let stuff go?



6 comments:

  1. Wow! 3 children in a 2 bedroom house? And I thought our house was cozy! Still, as you said, we are blessed. I need to let go of things too so I look forward to reading what you have to say in this series!

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    1. I should say that they are all under 6 years old; so, little bodies make for easier squeezing into rooms! But yes, 3 kids and 2 adults in 2 rooms. More stuff needs to go! Thanks for commenting, Kristen. :-)

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  2. Anne, so excited to see you blogging often this month. I also need more inspiration to de-clutter!

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! You are too kind. I so appreciate your support. :-)

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  3. I love how you refer to this as the next level of decluttering. Definitely harder but I think it will probably yield a bigger sense of relief in a way. I can't wait to follow along!

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    1. I can see what you mean about a bigger sense of relief. I think this could lead to bigger letting go muscles, if that makes sense, haha! Thank you! :)

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