Yesterday was Moving Day for me- the movers arrived and, four hours later, all of my things had been transported from my apartment to my new condo.
It’s rather disgusting just how much stuff I own. And I’m not a “stuff” person, either. I used to be a bit of a pack-rat, but several years ago I just stopped accumulating “stuff” and started getting rid of it. I don’t like owning “things”. So why is it that boxes and furniture seem to be spreading across just about every inch of my 700-square foot loft?
Half of all of it is my sister’s. I’m holding onto all of her things for the next couple months until she returns from travelling. Even so, there just seems to be a whole lot of stuff, even though I don’t own much in the way of trinkets or nick nacks.
As I’ve been going through the boxes, I’ve realized that most of it either belongs in the kitchen or belongs on a bookshelf. I don’t mind that. I love to cook and I love to read, and I enjoy having a variety of tools at my disposal to do both of those hobbies. With other little things, and even the odd dish or two that I don’t have any need for or sentimental value attached to, I’ve decided to get rid of. I’ve already started a pile of things that I’ll be giving away/throwing out within the next couple weeks (and this is in addition to the pile of “stuff” that I made back at my apartment, when I was in the process of packing up rather than unpacking).
It feels good to start clean and fresh by tossing whatever I don’t want or need. With each thing that gets put aside, my mind grows a little calmer and clearer. What we do with ourselves and what we keep in our living space can either relax us or stress us out. Something that we can do to play with that bit of stress is to slowly but surely tackle one shelf, closet, or room at a time, chucking what we don’t need and figuring out the reasons behind why we’re keeping what we do when we decide to hold onto it.
What are you editing out of your life today?