This Last Week or so has been a VERY LARGE Eye Opener to me... Moving Stuff from one place to another (whether it is yours or another) can really make you stand up and take notice of things in your life!! And one of those things is the amount of 'Stuff' we all can accumulate over the years!!!
For me it started as a child...(YES...that is Me in 1957 unpacking from one of our many family moves)...now mind you...this is but one of my several toy boxes...I did love toys and books. This 'illness' as I call it... grew with the years. Into my teens my stuff spread into two rooms. Moving into my first 'Pad' took me 3 days to complete...after I married Richard ...I combined 'stuff' for the first time (doubled in size over night) ... then our first big move to Oregon I felt like a wagon trail heading west with all our friends helping and their cars loaded to the roof tops with our 'stuff' ...coming back again to California...again the amounts doubled in size (good stuff to be found in Oregon) ... First move to Phoenix, AZ I actually decreased stuff before moving...so proud of myself... but quickly started to accumulate again... increasing the number of stuff by two once again when we returned to California 4 years later. Shed much of it before we headed out on our last move to Lake Havasu,AZ ...the load felt noticeably lighter ...but that was not to last... all kinds of 'stuff' started finding it's way into our home once again... and now, with eyes wide open from this last long and difficult move for my sister ...I actually am 'blinded' by the realization that I have WAY TO MUCH #@^&* !!!! There ought to be a Law!!!!
I swore to myself (and Richard) that This is IT!!! I am going to start my final Clean Out Phase of my life... and already I am feeling pretty darn good about it.
Now of course....we will start with ALL of Richard's 'stuff'...tee hee!! Kidding... as I am Queen of Crap... I will take the first hit...purging myself of trinkets, tid bits, doo dads & doohickeys, extra of this and and too much of that.... one does not need 67 dollies or 98 carved wooden dogs, untold amounts of old Kitchen gizmo's and gadgets.
I have had two goals this year.... pay off my credit card and learn to juggle...I now have a third.... Purge my life of unnecessary 'stuff' and to fill those spaces with the time to enjoy things left.
As I said... Moving 'Stuff' can be a real Eye Opener.... on so many levels.... and I am at level one of a New beginning....
I think I see a doll idea in here somewhere!!!!Hmmmmmmmmm
Happy Sunday All
Jodi
24 comments:
Hi Jodi, it's not easy but you can do it. I had a serious decluttering 5 years ago and it worked!! I felt much lighter when I found the courage of clearing my house ( and my head) of old memories. Some of them nasty but I had got used to them and I didn't feel like getting rid of them.I suppose that it has given me a fresh new start. And I had more space for new goodies of course (giggle)
Hi Rosanna...
It hit it exactely...this is what I am going for...and now that I know it can be done...I will feel better about the 'Declutter' Journey..
Thank So Much
Hugs,
Jodi
Jodi, Just don't toss out anything pertaining to your art! You will need it the week after you throw it out or give it away. I have done that a couple of times and found that I couldn't replace the pieces that I tossed! Good luck with the selective tossing!
I have a 4 bedroom house. I had 3 junk rooms and 1 bedroom. I now have a studio, a bedroom, and 2 clean rooms. I thought I had lost 25 pounds when it was done. I never knew how much the junk weighed on me. Good luck.
Boy I tell ya Casey...no truer words were ever spoken... it is always that way...toss it...you'll need it!! That will be part of the challenge... thinking ahead a few steps...all the way..
Thanks for the well wishes...
Jodi
Hmmmmmm 25 pounds.... I like that thinking Judy...now I will wonder why I didn't do it sooner...could have been thinner AND Younger!!!
Thanks for the well wishes...I am lovin how everyone can relate to this...I think it is more common than I thought...
Jodi
Sell all the good stuff on eBay!!
Good idea Tara.... I can pop pics and list like crazy... might as well be rid of excess, trim 25 pounds AND make a few buckaroos!!!
Cool...
Thanks
Jodi
Oh LOLLLLLLLLLLLL! You are too funny! Well, good luck with this phase! You know as soon as you get rid of that thingamajigdohickybobble...you'll NEED it! Happens all the time! Then there is the quest to replace it...or in my world...try to find it because I don't remember that I got rid of it!
XO
Jodi, when you have a chance, stop over to my 200th post!
XO
OMG Jodi, you have no idea how much this hits home for me....This clutter of collecting EVERYTHING, is making me nuts!!! One does NOT need all this "stuff" and I vow to do the dame:) I am renting a van and filling it!!! The problem is jay is a bigger collecter then I am so between the two if us our house looks like Sandford and son...hahaha EBAY here we come!!
Once it is done I know I will feel clearer in the head and I hope I loose 25 lbs too;)
Good Luck, and God give me strength to do the same!!
HUGZ
Jacqui
LOL Jodi, I can guarantee you will feel so much better after the clear out ......until you start searching for the stuff you think you kept !!!
Just be selective and remember that wonderful william morris quote "have nothing in the house that you dont belived to be beautiful or know to be useful "
I now have 3 grown up kids who wont leave home and all share my collecting passion........... now I know they are beautiful but are they really useful ??? oh the things I could stash in their rooms ;0)
julie xx
Hi Jodi and Richard, welcome back! My New year Resolution was to declutter and i went at it like a woman possessed, got rid of bin bags full of stuff from the kids room, and every room was newly painted ( I cheated and only painted a 'feature Wall in every room , too lazy to paint the lot!!) and all the little nicknacs we no longer wanted stuffed in the loft.
Well a few months down the line I wondered why I bothered cos it all looks the same again. Dont ask me how but the toy box is ten feet high again, and John seems to have squirreled a whole new load of 'collectables', so its back to square one! So have fun, and as for the credit card thing, good luck with that one, once its paid off make sure you cut it up or youll be the back to square one with that one too....like I am!!! Kate and John xx !!!!!!!!!!
WOW Jodi, good luck! I love all my collective crap and don't think I'm ready to part with any of it yet!(maybe I'm just in denial?) although my house will feel much emptier this week as no1 son is venturing out into the big wide world on his own :o( Ive seen how many boxes have come out of his small room and yep its unbelievable where it all comes from - & it just keeps coming! wonder how long it will be before I fill his room?? note to self.......I have ENOUGH stuff!
I really did loose quite a lot of weight last time i had a major chuck out. My house flooded and we had to move out. When the insurance company came in to put the house right everything that had been put upstairs to stop it getting wet had a good going through.
As the men worked downstairs ripping out floors and putting it all right, i spent days chucking bag after bag out the window. I filled the garden and you couldnt see a bit of it left by the time i was finished. Then of course had the major task of getting rid of it all. Luckily passers by helped themselves and so the piles went down quicker.
The whole house was like new and free of clutter, plus all fresh and newly decorated thoughout. There was nothing in this house we didnt need. We were totally clutter free, but...
Now several years later all the junk is back and can't close doors or cupboards, have to walk sideways around the bed and getting in the bathroom is a major task. My two youngest bring trash in off the street and just the other day they brought home loads of wood and sticks to build a ramp for their bikes. Plus a learner sign which they promptly glued to the fridge (for some unknown reason).
We also have about 30 bikes in the garage all broken but kept just incase.
Under our stairs we have 6 tv's just incase, and in the loft every dining chair broken or not is stored just incase. Everything becomes just incase.
The only room thats free of clutter is my craft room after the major tidy up a few weks ago. Mind you its starting to fill up again and can't see the window ledge again now... lol
I think clutter is a part of life and makes a person more interesting. This is what my husband tells me when our living room looks like a fishing shop and they have rell winders stuck to the tv as they wind... lol
Its when you are like me and you collect your kids teeth for future plans of turning them into art that you have a bit of a problem. Or like my son that has 4 compueters in his tiny bedroom and 8 consoles, 3 tv's and wires that prevent you from actually walking or even cleaning. Yes he has fantastic speakers and all round sound. lol, but can he walk? Nope.
Even my mobile is full of junk and storing numbers for people i have nothing to do with. Most are from when i did scouts and needed a childs number to phone their parents. These kids are all grown up now but still i keep them just incase.
Life i reckon is all about just incase!
Nikki... oh yes, have fun and dont chuck out anything you are unsure about.
Morning Oopsie...
That is soooo true...that's why I am 'starting' with Richard's stuff...to see how it goes...hee hee hee...he just purchased a Big Old Honkin Pad Lock....me thinks hes onto me!!!
Hugs
Jodi
Morning Jacqui...
Clutter has truly become my 'middle' name.... when you can't find stuff because it is hiding under other 'stuff' that you didn't even know you had because 'stuff' was in the way...then it's time to 'out with it all'...I am soooo there
Jodi
Morning Julie...
OooOooo I like that quote! If I was into tattoos...I would apply that one to my chest!
It's funny, my 65 year old sister has returned home to my Mom's for a short while till she gets her own place...My Mom who is 85 said "don't kids EVER stop returning home...and bringing their 'stuff'....that floored me with laughter...it's so true!
Jodi
Morning Kate and John...
OooOoo to rid myself of stuff by the bag full...glorious thought!
As for the credit card...I really hate them..and I am not much of a buyer of 'New Stuff'...give me the thrift stores and yard sales anyday... but this credit card still looms...not for long...I feel the freedom already...
Jodi
Morning Wendie...
I do that note to self stuff too....and by days end many a time I have no less than 10 stuck all over me.... I am a walking , talking Project in Progress....
Jodi
Morning Nikki...
Oh Dear...water damage is a hard way to clear ones self of 'stuff' sorry you had to experience that...
But glad that new stuff found it's way back into your life...
Jodi
Morning Joanna...
Boy ...we sound so much alike.... I look at it...and then walk away till later...and always, ALWAYS...it is still there when I return only it seems like More!!!... I think my 'stuff' is having babies....
Jodi
OMG are we litter mates??? Get outta my head, Jodi! LMAO!!! My entire life had been this... I have journal after journal of de-cluttering conversations. It's the artist's in us. Well, that's the big fat lie I tell myself ova, and ova, and ova again... I am working hard to get my life simplified, too. You inspired me.
Hi Lille...
How funny is that....litter mates!!!LOL..
Ahhhhh....that magical word...'simplification'... it eludes me so...BUT...I am getting better...stuff went out this weekend...I know I will 'kick' myself on Monday...but I gotta start somewhere..it even invades my dreams!
Jodi
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