Beginnings

I started this blog with one goal, to declutter my home and make my life more simple.

My plan is, starting on January 1st, 2011 to throw away or give away one thing a day that currently is taking up space in my home.

My husband and I just moved into a new house with our 6 month old son and as I was looking at all the boxes piled up in the garage, all the STUFF we have between the two of us, I wanted to try and cut that back.

We both are pack rats, we both hold onto things for too long.

I think he has a harder time letting go of stuff than I do. Just in the 3 days we have lived here so far I have thrown some stuff away and he pulls it from the trash and asks "Why is this in the trash?"

The broken this, the old and nasty that... Isn't it obvious?

I think this journey will start off easy and become harder and harder as I cut down on the THINGS.

I am still debating some concepts as well. If I clean out my clothes, does each item count for the one a day or should it be shirts one day and pants the next? How do I get rid of things that technically are my husbands, but are no longer good. He has things like dried up old paint from highschool that hung out in our art closet for a year. But in that year, I never saw him paint, or even attempt to paint, but when I pointed out that it was bad after I tried to use it when I was painting a light switch cover for my son's room, he said "it's still good, I can make it work again" but never did.


Of course I will not remove anything of his that has clear sentimental value, but really... Old paint?

But before I get to his things, I have my own stuff to get rid of!

Onto other questions, should I put it in a covered box on the curb with a "Free" sign? Or just pile it into a bin and drop it at the Goodwill once a week?

How do I let go of craft project items I have hung onto for years now and carted from house to house to apartment and across three states? I keep meaning to DO something with them. Will this make me use them, but then what to DO with the finished craft?

Does it count as decluttering when I throw out something that technically is trash and useless (even though I have held onto it for years...) ?

Should I count outgrown baby clothes that I do not want to save for a potential sibling? 

And my biggest worry... Some things that I need to be rid of were once gifts from other people. Do I worry about them reading my blog and perhaps seeing something they gave me years ago in my Give Away box?  I do want to photograph each thing that I am getting rid of so I can mark my journey.

I will just have to solve all these problems by the first of the year and begin the process of getting rid of STUFF.

Here's to beginnings! May the Clutter be gone!