Living light

Do you ever get the feeling that you are about to suffocate from too much stuff in your house? I feel like that all the time lately. Its ridiculous the amount of stuff we have yet don't use. Now granted there are some things that you may not need right now and have to hold until they are needed (ex. seasonal items, hand-me-downs, yard maintenance tools, tools in general, you get the point), but there are a ton of things that we hold on to for no really good reason at all. Those things would be sentimental or possibly items that you think you will use but probably never will. I have a lot of that stuff.

My house is fairly small (not quite 1200 sq ft) and so I don't have a lot of room to hold all the things that most people have hidden away in closets they never use. I have a storage shed outside that has mostly household repair and yard maintenance items and one wall dedicated to those things that we need to hold on to for seasonal whatever, and I have one closet stuffed full of the things that just don't fit anywhere else. It also has a bunch of things that I probably will never use.

Because of all this I think that it is time to purge the unwanted junk and live light for a while. I have always liked living without a bunch of stuff. When I moved out on my own for the first time, I had one box of stuff that I kept in a closet that I wasn't sure what to do with. The rest of the things I had were very basic. I had my dishes (way to many of them since I got a set of 8 from my aunt and already had a set of 4) and silverware, clothes, bed, dresser, radio, computer and a couch set that I bought for $50. I didn't need a TV because I hate the feeling of being sucked in to it and not being able to do what I wanted. I had books to entertain me and my radio for the noise. It was a one bedroom apartment and it was really nice.

So now that I have a small 3 bedroom house I think its time to get back to the basics. We've been in here for a year and its been very cramped. So here's how I think I am going to tackle this issue:

1. The Shed - Clean it up. Get out the rest of the thrift store items and garbage so that we can make room for the things that matter.
2. The Living room - Put things in their place. Once the stuff is where it belongs then we can deal with each room appropriately.
3. The Bedrooms - Purge! Each room has a lot of things that no one wants or uses. There's a lot of excess clothing that still needs to be removed and a lot of toys that the kids just toss around and don't really care about. Its time to make them choose their faves and stick with that.
4. The Bathrooms - Remove the unwanted. Who can honestly say that they don't have unwanted junk in their bathroom cabinets? I know that I have a couple of boxes worth of stuff I don't use and haven't really put thought to since we moved in.
5. The Kitchen - Trash the container lids! Okay ... how many lids do we need for five containers? I think its time to toss the box-o-lids and possibly the containers that go with them and find a small durable set that will fit easily in my small cabinet space. Also, How many glasses do we need? I have way too many and really want to get rid of all the excess.


I think that will do for now. I wonder how long that will take me. At least I will have help with the Shed. My hubby wants to do that one because that's his space. I get to go thru the rubbermaid tubs but the rest is his. MUAHAHAHAHA!!! *evil grin* I will try to keep a rolling update as to how Im doing with this. I might even try to have a yard sale with some of the stuff. I have already taken a van load full of clothes and stuff to the thrift store and so much more to go. Weeeeeee!