Enough is Enough

Imagine my surprise, when a week before Christmas, TWO Women's Health magazines show up in the mailbox. Hmmm....what happened to Rule #3, no new subscriptions?? Heh. Good thing I did this LAST month.

Anyways. It can be a beneficial magazine I think.


So in December's issue (go to the library!), there is an article on page 105, titled "Enough with the Stuff". It's pretty spot on.

1. Recognize the problem. It doesn't happen overnight, it creeps in. Clutter is caused by NOT handling the item and dealing with it immediately. Same with over abundance of clothing and accessories/shoes. Having too many choices can make you lose time, which we all know, time IS money.

2. Makeover your mindset. Which is what 2012 is supposed to be all about for me. WH recommends that you focus on acquiring EXPERIENCES not things. I wholeheartedly agree. Remembering that less is more.

3. Know what needs to go.  This is a difficult one for me, although the day or two before the garage sale, I grab EVERYTHING that hasn't brought me joy in the last week. I think it's supposed to be in the past 6 months or so ... sort of goes back to the multiple black skirts I have. One for each stage of the month (you know, bloated, thin, achy, crampy, etc.)

4. Clear the clutter. Pretty much self explanatory. The first 3 items above should be leading you up to this regardless. I think I may have it covered under Rule #6 for replacement items with the one in one out rule. They also suggest a cap to the number of items, like 5 pairs of jeans. Hmmm. It's a thought worth keeping in mind.

How about you? Do you agree?

Accumulation of Stuff

We had our semi annual neighborhood garage sale this past Saturday.

Every year, April and late November, 3 of us get together and have it. It's really more of a socializing thing because the 3 of us neighbor ladies don't really spend a whole lot of time together, even though we enjoy the other's company very much ... just that every day life interferes. So yeah, we have fun.

But it amazes ME how much STUFF I can put out every 6 months ... and  yes, I sell the majority of it, CHEAP at about a quarter to fifty cents per item, just so I don't have to take it back in the house again. If I do have to load it up, it goes in the back of the Tahoe and off to Goodwill. May as well get a tax break where you can, right?

It's going to be very interesting to see how April pans out, and November should be REAL interesting as I won't be bringing any extra stuff in, providing I stick with the plan.

This time around, I sold alot of my partylight candle stuff that I've accumulated but not used. I got rid of my boxing gloves, hand wraps, both bags, and the Bowflex is listed on Craigslist.

I sold the two large duffle bags that the kids used to use (they've moved up in the world to real suitcases) and a few other odd things that were taking up space.

All in all, made $183. Not so bad for 4 hours of hanging with the old girls.

But more important, I can walk into the Florida Room and not have a slight anxiety at the clutter-ness of it all. All the exercise stuff was in there and it was very crowded, disorderly looking. Amazing. Now I can bring in the Christmas tree and not have to fret over where to put everything.

Less stuff = less clutter = cleaner lifestyle. My goal!