Saturday, October 16, 2010

In Awe with the STUFF that we have/had

I wouldn't call myself a hoarder, cuz I don't keep or collect garbage, but I have a  problem with throwing things away that. . . well some may say it is not necessary to keep around.  We haven't had to move ourselves the last 2 times and so I haven't had to be picky with what we bring and what needed to either be thrown or given away.  So with each move, we accrued more and more stuff. 

I had a breakthrough this week though.  When we decided to get the bunk bed, I had to do a lot of rearranging and it gave me the perfect opportunity to finally sit down and go through all of our "stuff" and decide what I really couldn't part with and what really didn't matter.  The throwing started Tuesday after the "bumpy bed" got set up, and whenever I didn't have something else pressing on my time, I was in my kids' room sorting.  I really didn't get through it until sometime Friday.  Sad hu?

In the end I threw about 1 garbage sack full of broken or ridiculous toys, gave 3 boxes and some big toys to a family in our area, who just lost their 13 yr old daughter in a car accident (by another 13 year old classmate who stole her aunts car and went joy riding) for a garage sale to raise money for the family, and gave another 2 boxes to DI. . .of just toys.  That's not including my ever-growing pile of DI stuff that has been in my basement for about 10 months, cuz you know DI is sooooo far away from where I live, not.

Now I have to go through my room and the basement, which really doesn't need to be gone through as much as it needs organized.  I have boxes of baby girl clothes and a few more toys that I'm going to sell in the not too distant future. Then I think my house will finally be free of the "stuff" that has been piling in my home.

What I have realized is that my kids love being in their rooms now.  It's not chaotic anymore, they can actually find things and they are happy to just be playing instead of watching TV.  The girls have rediscovered their barbie house, Micah loves to play with his trains again, and Malia can get to all of her baby stuff.  It's amazing.  Why didn't I do this sooner?  Things are so much more calm now, I love it. 

I hope I can keep this up and keep most of the clutter at bay.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not cured, I know that in a few weeks/months/years (who knows how long) I will have to do this again, cuz let's be realistic, I am ME and I just can't get rid of things right away.  I wish I could just throw things on a whim without really analyzing, do I need it, am I going to use it, can someone else use it or is it just garbage?  Or I could immediately organize papers instead of just letting them pile up to the point of them falling over before I go through them. I don't have that gift, I am my mother's and father's daughter for Pete's sake, but I vow to TRY and throw/give the "things" away (now if I could just keep my kitchen in order, I think that might be an entirely different post though).

1 comment:

Sister Tara Bowen said...

Thanks, Katie, for all your swimsuit guidance. My friend from West Virginia offered to send me her swimsuit and I keep thinking, "Will it come to the middle of my ear?" Thanks:). And I am so jealous that you're such a hiker. I love being in nature, but we don't get our acts together to hike almost ever. We casually stroll through nature and could do better!