Clutter

I come by it naturally.  My grandmother was a bad case.  She never threw anything away.  Of course, she lived at a time where basic needs were rationed and at times she had very little and scrimped and saved just to make it.  I hold onto too much stuff.  I am the sentimental sort and I also am creative. This is a bad mix.  I can always find memories in stuff and I can always think of ways to make things out of stuff.  I have a 3800 sq ft home and can pack it full but when it is... I am miserable.  I want less stuff.  I want to open drawers and cabinets and have room to put things away.  I hate cleaning and more stuff means more to clean.  So I am working on letting go of stuff and only keeping what is really important to me.  I also want to make the shift in thinking from quantity to quality.  I know that nicer things hold up longer and thus I need less of them but yet the urge to buy buy buy takes over.  Shoes and bags are good examples of this.  When I get the thing I really want, I use it like crazy. When I get the thing of the moment... well usually, it sits after a few weeks never to be touched again.  I have decided to start making my way through my house getting rid of things I don't love.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of things I love and won't be parting with but I also have a lot of just ok stuff.  Now obviously if it serves a functional purpose, then I'll be keeping it.  But if it is hanging out in the back of the closet, tucked in drawers never to be seen again... I'm finding it and finding a new home for it.  Today I started with a bag of clothes I had previously weeded out.  I donate a good amount to Goodwill but things have a lot of value still... like things with tags still attached (sigh)... I am selling on Ebay, etc.  Lucky for me, I am not much of a collector... other than just general stuff so I don't have any collectibles to disband.  My family on the other hand... all 3 of them... collecting fools.  So things need to have a place... a home.  I also made my way through my jewelry box and got rid of bunch of junk jewelry.  Did you know if you let the cheap stuff just sit for years it starts to get crusty and green... yuck!  Anything sentimental is still in box but things that are old, not wearable, no longer my style have left the building.  Wish me luck... I have a feeling this is going to take all year.