Get rid of it!

I’ve been feeling the energy of the clutter on the sides of our house and in the garage the entire winter now. I can’t tell you why, but all that stuff that’s just sitting there collecting mud from the snow has been getting to me.

It’s not something I can throw out myself. My husband told me to make a list and we would tackle it this weekend. It’s like the “gods of less clutter” were on my side yesterday. My friend called to see if the boys could come over for a play date. Magically, we had a few hours open up in the afternoon to minimize.

De-cluttering … ahh what a feeling!

We started with the tool sheds that were holding so much stuff that either wasn’t working or broken. We pulled out a huge trash can and just started tossing stuff away. All the extra space in the sheds now was able to hold the items that were needed but were sitting out.

Next we moved into the garage where the bikes just sat there in the middle of the way. My husband bought hooks to mount the bikes onto the wall. My mountain bike that has now been replaced by my “happy” bike (my cruiser) needed to be moved out of the way. The trailer that we have for "the day we are going to pack our picnic" also got mounted out of the way.

The Halloween items that were just sitting there finally got put up. The goodwill items got dropped off. The empty boxes got recycled. Helmets, gloves, bats, balls and the list goes on, all got put away where they belong.

Such relief when all that stuff is gone

The energy of all that clutter being in my way every which way I turned was really getting to me. It’s like I felt suffocated every time I went through our garage. I walked into it this morning feeling such relief. That light, energetic feeling you get after a major purge is so awesome.

Consume it first

I decided a few months ago when I did a huge purge inside the house that I wasn’t going to get rid of stuff just to replace it right away. It’s made such a huge difference in our house.

Normally, by now, I would have bought my kids a ton of new shorts, t-shirts, shoes and whatever else they wouldn’t really need for about three months. This year, I’m saying, we’ll wait to see what they really will need and then we’ll go out to get it.

That idea works for the refrigerator, the freezer, the pantry, clothes and toys and so on. Consuming what we have and then replacing, has made such a difference than the other way around.

Your thoughts … I’d love to hear them

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I think my next project is round two of my closet!
Mary