For those who follow Besides gardening which I am still doing though fall and winter. (the darn ground hog ate my Italian broccoli) I have started following a minimal vlogger called Minimal Mom and a vlogger called Clean My Space (She also has 19 natural cleaning recipes that she uses in her cleaning business). In Oct I had planned to work out more and lose weight. At the end of Oct, I only lost 3Lbs but they have stayed off and I am still working on losing weight and if I lose 3 lbs. a month that is better then gaining 3 lbs. a month. But I got rid of many things in the house that I have not dealt with since mom died then Jonathan and rick moved in. I am not a minimalist. I am a Metaphysicist (I know yall thought I was a true Pagan but really I am not I do call myself that more often then not because it is easier)
and an environmentalist who is tiered. I like to be prepared and I like to not spend money on things I don’t want or don’t have too. Sometimes the tiered wins. Having Ehlors Danlos makes some days Challenging. Gardening Organic reusing tp tubes for seed starting etc. well now I am trying to live intentional again. Every time someone dies, I help and end up with things I took to save someone else the guilt. I have been going though things big time but one small space at a time. I am setting a goal of 2 storage unit boxes a week gone. As you have seen I unburied my kitchen table my air hockey table and the water fall desk. I am taking it one spall step at a time. I got rid of 7 coffee cups then cleaned the top shelf and moved the set of 13 that matches my plates to that shelf we use them mostly for high holidays so they can live there when not in use. I cleaned the refrigerator and got rid of some where around 22 jars of things and leftovers. If I miss it, I can re buy it. I am working on my game shelves. Yes even my game shelves. I am packing up the sets I take to events to set up labeling them as such and finding a home for them in the SCA area. And even with that done I have 2 personal Chess sets that I am keeping. Gone are games missing pieces games 8 extra packs of cards, (still have around 5)and all games are being brought to the dining room for wed game night we pay them and decide if they stay if we don’t even want to play them right out. 99% of the time we want to play uno or phase ten. The questions to ask are
Have I used it in the last year?
Can I replace it for 20$ or less?
Would I purchase it again?
Is it living out the Purpose it was created for?
Am I keeping it out of guilt?
If someone game me $ would I part with it?
Could someone else use it or love it more?
Do I want to handle it again?
I am scheduling time each day to do a small thing towards this goal. I Decided to call it 10 min tackle. And I decided not to time myself. Because I don’t need that in my life. I know that I can do 10 min but If I feel I can keep going I do till I am satisfied with the progress or till I am tiered.
During this expedition I uncovered my family photos. I discovered they are not as big a collection as I thought (because If I remember back I did does a lot of things in the fire. So I am scheduling a time to go though and sort them and then make a few albums.
The hard area I will get to is sentimental. In order to respect the sentimental stuff, I am going to have to look up the value of each Item and figure out how to sell them. I have Things from Occupied Japan and Hong Kong and fist addition books. To respect the people who these items use to belong to my heart says I need to attempt to sell these Items. What ever the value though I am willing to sell at half the books will more then likely go to a rare book seller if nothing else maybe for store credit.
Some items Just needed a better home. I am cleaning areas of the garage and cleared shelves so that little kid toys and Lagos can live on the top shelf out there to come out for indoor company. Tax records same place.
I am starting to pull out the Christmas and sort it and donate what I don’t want. Asking myself what year did I last use this? Why am I not using it now? What would change that would make me use it next year. Then donating it. It has a shelf in the garage with a laundry basket that I put to go away stuff. Then once a week I drive to Fairview Heights and donate it at Savers. I have invited my house mates to look at their things similarly. I also am trying to set up room for them to better have access to their things. I am bringing back the Garage food pantry. This means larger stocks of things like canned or boxed soup that is safe from bugs and vermin will have a shelf out there. Also, I will have a cooking shelf out there for my larger cooking stuff, so I don’t have to get on the floor to get them from the cabinets. I keep 3 extra stock pots because I am SCA and I use them they don’t need to be in my cabinets. I have 5 bread pans, 3 or more pie pans, 2 or 3 bunt pans, and 3 or more spring form pans. I need these. I use these, and I don’t want to have to re buy these. I would only part with any of them for my children.
Clothing was not easy. As an SCA member and traveler I collected T shirts. Other than those shirts though I sorted my clothes into outfits I wear. Got rid of stained, or holey, clothes and things that didn’t fit. I can buy new clothes that fit when getting smaller or getting bigger I am worth it. I then found the holes in my wardrobe and made a shopping list so that when I am out and find a thing if it fills that hole, I will get it. As such I bought 3 pairs of pats and a pack of underwear. Anything that I just didn’t wear because of any reason I got rid of.
You are welcome to journey with me. As I battle the forces within me that say save that it is useful, or it is environmentally better to save it. While the minimalist says let it go you don’t need more than one.
