Out with the old, in with the new?

Last night I went out and bought new ski clothes. What I had was ill fitting...and outdated, I'm told. The pants I was using were about 2-3 sizes too big for me and the jacket, big, puffy and outdated. I didn't think I looked that bad, but I did know that there was more comfortable gear out there.

After about $200 (clearance prices), I have a cute new outfit...and things to get rid of. Well, sort of. I don't want to get rid of the puffy coat because it's cute. The black pants, yeah, they can go...at least I thought so! My guy said, "I like your thinking! BUT, maybe you should keep them for sledding." He said this so I wouldn't ruin my new white pants. Good thinking.

What to do?

For now, I'll wash and store the old stuff. By next season, I'll definitely want to get rid of my "dated" fur hood, JLo lookin' coat!

Accidents happen

Do you know what happens when you have too much stuff and no room for what you do have?

Accidents.....

The good thing is that since I've been de-cluttering, there really wasn't anything on the floor where this glass fell so it was fairly easy to clean up. I only had to move two garbage bags in order to vacuum. If I had less clutter in my room, I could fit a proper side table where this glass could be set down.

In the past, searching through bags and moving lots of things around just to clean up the mess would have been necessary, only to find that I had missed some pieces...months down the road!

On the bright side, now there is one less glass in the house!

It's been over 10 years

Sometimes I wonder why I feel the need to hold on to things. In the case of this cell phone, I think I kept it so that "one day" I could go through and get any information/phone numbers I had saved on it to transfer to another phone, or make a phone book. Well, nobody told me that "one day" never comes and if I really wanted something or the information was so important, I would have done it right away.

This old Nokia has not been used for over 10 years! I doubt I even have the charger for it anymore (wait, I probably do!)...and if I did, what could I possibly need from this phone?! Out it went...one small hunk of clutter gone from my life, never to bother me again. Whew!

That reminds me...I think I have a broken iPod...somewhere.

Donated and Trashed

The car is lightly loaded and ready to be donated. I will take it today. I was able to get rid of:

• A comforter that was never used along with matching shams and pillowcases (I think)
• A good pair of Sketchers I haven't used in 3 years!
• Leg warmers (not sure why I even had these), a shirt and a pair of pants.
• Nice and soft Wamsutta Pima Sateen bed sheets. After buying some Wamsutta Dream Zone sheets, I felt ok letting these go. I'll just have to buy another backup set of what I have now. ;)
• A brand new under the bed rolling shoe storage rack (my bed sits on the floor as I don't have a frame)
• One book
• Almost forgot...the mosquito net curtain thing. :)

I also threw away:

• One pair of DKNY shoes which I LOVED when they were intact!
• Two mismatched shoes - I'll probably find their mates in my de-cluttering process.
• An old tank top that I also used to love, but it was so worn out that I would never wear it again. It was in with my pajamas (which I have too many of!).

Below are pictures of my garbage can with the trashed items, and donations ready to go:

Dreaded Hand-Washing

Yesterday I didn't go home, so couldn't get anything done. There wasn't anything pending for eBay, and I wanted to spend time with my guy after housesitting/caretaking duties were done. Honestly, I didn't even think about my clutter!

I guess the only thing I did to help my clutter situation was to wash two sweaters and one blouse that have been in my "to be hand-washed" pile. Of course I wouldn't actually wash them by hand, I threw them in the washer on a very delicate cycle at the house where I am staying!

The reason I chose to do wash away from home, is because of the lack of space at home, and the abundance at this house. I was able to lay out these three items to dry without wandering aimlessly trying to figure out where I was going to lay them out.

Later today I will bring more items from the "to be hand-washed" pile and get them done! Then, maybe I can keep it under control at home and not have so many to do at once. There are clothes in the pile that I haven't worn for months!

Small step

Yesterday I wasn't able to do much, but I did try to consolidate my Christmas decorations, unsuccessfully.

Part of my Christmas stuff is in the basement, and I'm not going to touch the items stored there until I'm done upstairs. Therefore, it's basically off limits for now and I couldn't continue. However, I do have Christmas items in two boxes in my bedroom, so if I can fit them into one, that will be good.

On the other hand, I did secretly throw something out. It is mine, but I felt like if my mom saw it, we'd be keeping it for the next yard sale. This gadget was some sort of CD labeling device. Like anyone uses this stuff anymore!

Was also happy to sell some older stock eBay items I've had sitting around unlisted and taking up space.

Secretly getting rid of things?

Coming from a home where my mom liked to save everything has really made it difficult for me. It seems like in my early childhood things weren't this way. The house was always clean and for the most part, tidy. However, things started to change over the years and the clutter started to pile up. It's embarrassing to have anyone over for a visit which has been the case for just over 2/3 of my life.

Yesterday I was looking for something, yes, I was only 90% sure of where I put something I sold on eBay which wasn't in my room. Anyhow, I had to pull things out of a spare room which is basically a storage for a multitude of items which are not being used...mostly my mom's and very little is mine. While doing this, I threw out a curtain / mosquito net type thing I purchased at IKEA a few years ago. I don't have a use for this thing and frankly, I don't like it anymore. My mom saw this in the hallway and said in almost a panicky tone, "You're not throwing that mosquito net away, are you?" All I said was, "Relax," in a *sigh* "What on earth do you want to keep this for when you already have one?" tone.

For now it is back in the room, but when I do get rid of it, because I do plan on it, I will have to be discreet. Just like I was with my old plastic shower curtain with a cute black, silver and white dotted pattern! I'm not sure if she will ever notice that it is gone. She may have been keeping it to sell at a yard sale...but it was mine and I didn't like it anymore. The white cloth one in my shower now is much nicer! The best part, I only paid about $2.00 at a yard sale for my new cloth curtain!

I know my mom and I are going to face more of these, "I can give it to so and so," or "Wouldn't you rather sell that and make some money?" issues. - Boundaries. I need to have them in order to not give in. The items are mine, and I can do with them as I please. Period.

That being said, I have a lot to learn and struggle with to change some old ways in order to meet my goal of being clutter free!