Totally off-topic post here, but I am so tired of living with so much stuff. It isn't exactly clutter, just stuff that only serves one purpose once in a while. We have been bitten in the past by getting rid of something only to think of a new use for it a day later all too often.
We do our best to reuse items to keep them out of the landfill. We donate stuff. We give stuff away. We sell stuff. We eventually toss stuff. But it seems like there is always more everywhere I turn.
I have read every organizing and decluttering book and blog I have been able to get my hands on. But the stuff never seems to go away.
I'm tired of moving stuff to clean stuff. I am tired of storing stuff. I am tired of looking at stuff.
Every time I start going through my stuff I reminisce about my past life, before I was a wife and mother. I start remembering all the ideas I had for the stuff; projects I never finished, and often never started. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. Often I get overwhelmed and just pack it back up and stick it back in the closet.
I tried not buying any more stuff and figured out it is almost impossible with kids.
I tried creating keep, toss, donate boxes, but never actually take the stuff with me because I am too tired to deal with it after I sort it.
I have tried listing stuff on trade groups, ebay, freecycle and craigslist to get rid of it. But there is no guarantee it will actually leave my house. (Maybe that is how I justify keeping stuff.)
I have held yard sales - and made no money.
It is so hard to live with less when everything in your home has emotional or monitary value. Or when you suffer from guilt over throwing it in the landfills.
So what do I do now? How do I let go of good intentions? How do I get rid of faded memories? How do I toss things out, knowing I would have to re-buy the same thing if I needed it, when we don't have ANY disposable income?
I am determined to figure this out. Determined to be happy with less stuff suffocating me.
How do you deal with your stuff?
