Moving, though I really hate it, is super helpful in getting rid of stuff that you never have or honestly will use. We moved stuff into our old house that we would “some day” use. “Some day” didn’t come in 2 1/2 years. I’m pretty certain that if we waited 2 1/2 more years it still wouldn’t come.
Like I’ve said before, my house is far from HGTV status (what house with a 2 year old and a 9 month old is…) but if you do look at all those HGTV houses the one thing you’ll find in common is the lack of stuff. Junk, Nick Nacks, Clutter. All of that is not there. Taking that philosophy to heart in my own house has done wonders for keeping not only Landon out of stuff he shouldn’t be getting into but making it so much easier to keep everything put away. Now I have my fair share of sentimental things that serve no purpose but bringing back fond memories – and those thing I think are important to keep a hold of. I’m not talking about those kinds of things though. Really if you think about it and follow what I was talking about last time it’s much easier to find homes for everything if you have less stuff that needs a home.
We gave away to Goodwill so much stuff that we really didn’t need or use. So much stuff – like a good 20 or so boxes. I hope that someone else will find something they need or can use. I find a strange elation over getting rid of junk. It’s almost like the feeling – near addiction some people have when shopping. At least this is nicer on our bank account.
Though I really don’t plan on moving again (I know I said that last time…) I do plan on pretending to move every year or two in the sense that I want to do an evaluation of what we have and what we have actually used. If we hadn’t used it in the last year, we probably won’t use it in the future years and unless it’s an item that is very costly we would probably be better off to get rid of it now and just buy it again if that “some day” actually comes. That is what they make stores for right?
One of my favorite blogs I follow http://www.memoriesoncloverlane.com/ has a 40 bags in 40 days challenge. We sort of did a 40 boxes in 1 week plan when we moved, but I definitely plan on doing some form of this deep cleaning yearly.
See the next in the series here