There is still so much clean up to do after the flood. I don't know where to begin. I never want to have to go through this painful, clean up and sorting process again. The pile of trash bags gets bigger every day.I promise and swear that I will not indiscriminately accumulate useless stuff anymore! Anything new that comes into this house will have a specified purpose. No more buying things without careful thought and consideration.
Will this item help me do something that I need to do? Will it make my life easier and more enjoyable? Or will owning it become a burden very quickly? Will it get stuck in a corner, never used or loved?
Let's be realistic...I don't need a dozen bath-size towels, when we always end up using the same two. Having a couple of spares on hand makes sense but is it really necessary to have ten extra towels, taking up space and never getting used? I don't think so.I'm looking at everything with the same critical eye these days. I've been brutally reminded this past week or two just how costly all this extra baggage is, not only financially, but personally too. It is draining the energy right out of me. It's emotionally exhausting and stressful.
I hope that by sharing the difficult lessons I've learned, I will save some of you from a similar fate. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.
What area do you intend to tackle this week? What do you think you will find? More importantly, what will you do with it?
I really need to hit our attic and pare things down. I did go through my closet a couple weeks ago and got two large garbage bags of clothes to donate. We also just joined FreeCycle to get rid of a lot of the building supplies that a friend was storing in my backyard.
ReplyDeleteGood work. Every little bit helps! We've taken a lot of stuff (clothing, books, etc.) to Goodwill also. Let someone who can use and enjoy them take them home.
DeleteA few years ago we had some horrific fires blast through our area with the intensity of a big bomb. The clean up was horrific so I have a lot of empathy for what you've been going through. A lot of our clutter issues stem from accruing almost an entire new house of stuff that we needed to live with in the weeks that we couldn't get back into our own home while making it livable again. It's an utter embarrassment to me that we have all this stuff when our neighbors and friends lost everything. And yes, I feel ashamed too.
ReplyDeleteI've learned how important it is to let things go when their usefulness has ceased. I will not tuck it away in a corner 'just in case' I might need it some day ever again.
DeleteIt's sad to lose things to fires and floods, as you have no choice what gets taken from you. I'm sure it's hurting my son's heart to give up so much of his precious record collection, but it was a necessary step. He's accumulated so much "stuff" during his 10 years in that apartment, but we've been in this house for 38 years now, so you can just imagine the accumulation here. It would take that many years to sort through it all. I'm over whelmed, but working on it, one little spot at a time, thanks to this 56 week project we are doing online here.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you are having to go through that. Moving is what's having us sort through everything. We've moved into a rental for a year while we are having our house built. We donated lots of things and I still have more to go through. And just because we're getting a bigger house doesn't mean I want to fill it! It makes me realize how much "stuff" we have and what we really don't use or need.
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