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Ok, here are the first round of pictures: I think these books that I'm tossing have a hint of irony in their titles, don't you? The very books that preach the principle of lessness become victims of my purge. I'm still keeping my Don Aslett Clutter's Last Stand though. That book is golden. Now I'm going to start on the clothes and toys and that should equal at least 2 more garbage bags, if not more.
Oh, and if you live close by and want to come rummage through this stuff before I donate it you have until noon tomorrow to do so. I have playtex baby bottles, cookbooks, megablocks, brio trains, lincoln log accessories, etc, etc, etc. Think of it as a free yard sale. =) Today I want my cup to be half empty. I want everything to be half empty, like my closet, my shelves, my corners, the toy box, the laundry room, my dinner plate, etc...

Pictures are coming soon but this is taking longer than I thought. I've also had to stop my dejunking tirade to help a neighbor of mine. Because of unemployment, and a teetering pile of other family issues, this family of 7 has to be out of their house by 9am this morning. All last night we were taking van loads of boxes and stuff to friends' houses and to a storage unit. If anything was going to help refuel my desire to get rid of stuff this certainly did. Mind you, the mother held 2 yard sales and has has a continual pile of FREE stuff outside her house for the past 2 weeks. Yet I could not believe the amount of things being shipped and moved around. But as I judgementally sniffed at the items they were keeping I suddenly imagined some poor sucker having to move my junk and seeing what I thought was so important I had to burden their back with it and it made me just that much more anxious to toss more stuff.

So, hopefully I will have some pictures on here in the next few hours. However, if any of you have decided to dejunk with me and you are more on the ball than I am and have a post to share, please do. I haven't been able to figure out that elusive Mr Linky thing-a-ma-jig, but just leave a comment and I will add your post link to this post. Thanks!
Posted by Ice Cream at 7:46 AM Labels: cleaning, Self Improvement 
Okay, this is my loose commitment: I really want to clean out all my kids pajamas and stock up again for the winter. I have a pile of displaced basement boxes that need to be sorted so the items can go into the new storage piece of furniture purchased to hold them. And I'm feeling a strong desire to trash half my kids toys before the whole holiday season hits. I can't promise any deadlines because I haven't even caught up on laundry for a year, but I'll do my best.

October 3, 2008 at 8:33 AM 
We went on a pretty big stuff diet when we moved and now that we may move again this summer I am even more committed to not adding to our pile of stuff.

October 3, 2008 at 11:37 AM 
Moving somehow cures the accumulating of stuff. It makes you think to yourself "why am I keeping this? why did I buy this? or who the heck gave this to me?" My Grandparents moved into my Great-Grandparents house after they died. My Mom had to remove almost 100 years worth of stuff. It involved the largest Garbage bin I had ever seen. Think of a 800 square foot house. Now, paint it bright green, w/o windows, and metal. We had it filled to the top, and then some.

October 3, 2008 at 1:13 PM to buy penny stocks said...
October 3, 2008 at 1:49 PM 
I think the best part of moving is the de-cluttering that it forces. I can never believe how much stuff I get rid of as I pack and then am equally shocked (or mad at myself) at all the stuff I get rid of as I unpack.

Kudos to you for doing it without the force!

October 3, 2008 at 2:21 PM 
keep it up! that has got to feel great. i miss your posts, though.

October 3, 2008 at 5:01 PM 
Looks like you are doing great! Keep it up! :)

October 3, 2008 at 6:10 PM LizzyP said...

You rock. Motivation to dejunk is an embedded blessing for helping someone move--I believe Heavenly Father knows exactly what he's doing when He sends us into those situations. Keep going! I just love shedding stuff, too!

October 4, 2008 at 5:37 PM 
I know what you mean about stuff just getting on top of you when you have too much. I got rid of 4 black bags to the charity shop this morning and I could easily get rid of 4 more with a little bit of hunting. I'm going to keep watching to see how you do :)

October 6, 2008 at 12:10 PM 
Woohoo! Good riddance to clutter!
I need to work on my paper clutter and my kids clothes clutter, oh and garage clutter too. I keep saying I am going to work on it and then, well, never do. This week! I will work on it this week!

October 7, 2008 at 7:31 PM 
That is awesome and inspiring! But why am I still standing here in front of the computer???

October 7, 2008 at 8:39 PM