Spring Cleaning......in Winter

We have a lot of crap. I don't use that term lightly. We just do.

Fact.

One of the downsides of having your own place is that, over time, it is slowly filled with a lot of useless things, or multiples of things, that you don't really need, but hang onto. When Tim and I moved in together he already had a house full of stuff, which is to be expected when he had been living in the place for 10 years prior. Add into the mix all of my stuff and all the donations of extra items from our families over the years, put all of this into a small place with a serious lack of storage and, well, you have a problem. So after all the years of procrastination, it's finally time to get rid of it all. My goal for the rest of this year, and as I head into my 30's, is to become as minimalistic as possible ( for me anyway). Now I don't expect to completely transform and banish all my hoarding ways, that is going to take time, but after beating my issues with Luggagitis earlier this year, I am going to give it my best shot. It's time.

So, how am I going to achieve this monstrous task? Well, thankfully, Tim is on board with the plan. He has come up with the idea of two boxes -

1. Rubbish

2. Salvation Army

and at the end of every week we need to 'collectively' have at least one box full, so that by the time Christmas comes around, our lives should be 'de-cluttered'. Seeing as Christmas is 5 months away, I think that is pretty do-able. However, knowing my own track record with throwing stuff out and the tendency to 'over sentimentalise' objects, I have also given myself 3 simple rules:

1. The standard 12 month rule (which I never usually follow) - if an item has not been used/worn in 12 months it has to go! No 'ifs' or 'buts' or 'I might use it' - it's gone!

2. If I find something I 'forgot I owned' I clearly don't need it, so it goes.

3. If I own multiple/excess amounts of any item - it goes!

At this stage I need to be pretty ruthless on myself. I really want to avoid in 10 years time, being featured on one of those 'excessive hoarders' shows. So, by actually writing about this and putting it out into the world, I am hoping it's going to force me into actually achieving this goal.

Stay tuned for updates on my progress....