End of year purge

Now that the end of the year has arrived, it is time for that final household purge. I have boxes of items in my garage that have been tagged for removal, but either they have not been taken, or I never had time for that yard sale! So, they have been posted on Freecycle for a 'come and get it' opportunity.

During 2010, I purged many pounds of items from my house: fabric (some scraps, some yardage), baby bibs, quilts (small ones that I sold, gifted or gave to charity), tablecloths, glassware, dishes, clothing, Barbies, toys, puzzles, games, videos, DVDs, computer games, books, a TV, DVD player, hospital bed, wheelchair, entertainment center, tables, board games, as well as assorted household knick-knacks, in addition to recycling glass, cans, paper, and plastics.

I was just reading Katie's blog "Making this home" and she has wonderful thoughts that mirror my own: "I think we introduce a lot of unnecessaries into our lives. It makes everything more complicated than it needs to be. Our lives are overwhelmed and cluttered. Somehow, we find ourselves decluttering again and again. Criminy! This is a cycle I don’t want to be a part of. Now I am the only person on earth who can control how I live my life. You are the only person who can control yours.

Be true to yourself, not your stuff." (Katie at Making this Home)

At the start of 2010, I had a list of 10 tasks to accomplish in 2010. While I did not make all of them every month, and in fact I stopped blogging about them somewhere around the time school started, I did make progress overall. One of the items on that list was to "reduce my personal belongings"; that was the one that I know I managed to accomplish!

No, I am not going to make another list or resolution for 2011. I would like to keep track of what I purge from my life in 2011 though and how I accomplish that.

I often talk to people about my lifestyle and they ask how I managed to get to the point where I have very little, if any, junk mail. Or they ask how I manage to remember to bring reusable bags with me shopping.

My answer is always the same. One step at a time. It takes days, weeks, months to accomplish a change in behavior and attitude. It does not happen overnight and a lot of people get frustrated with themselves when change does not happen immediately.

So, slow down, take one day at a time and think about one change you want to make.

I am already in a mindset of reducing my personal belongings so this will be a manageable task.