OK, so a few weeks ago I wrote Week 11 of this series when I was getting rid of 34 books from my bookcase. This alone was pretty good news and I was pretty happy with my accomplishment. However, soon after I finished bagging those books up, I went crazy… in a good way. I went back to the bookcase and pulled another 31 books out of it to get rid of! I now have only 4 of those squares in my bookcase full of books; I guess it’s time to get rid of the case itself, huh? But, it gets even better – I then pulled everything out of my office closet and methodically went through it all, removing the following items I am getting rid of this week:
– An electric guitar I haven’t played in years
– A stand up fan
– A portable cd/tape player
– A rubber horseshoe set
– A wooden wall clock
– 2 model cars
– 2 shoeboxes full of cables/cords/adapters
– An over-the-door hanger
– A walking stick I made myself but have no need for
– A shoebox full of 4-track tapes from my days of being in bands
– 2 curtains
– 5.1 surround speakers I no longer use
All this “stuff” doesn’t seem like that much when it’s all put away in boxes, closets, and shelves. But once you start piling it up in the middle of a room it seems like a lot more. I looked at my 5 bags of books and all this other stuff and realized that I had paid to move it all here to my new apartment only to now be getting rid of it. I thought I had gotten rid of all unnecessary stuff back in New Mexico, but I guess not! It really is amazing how much crap we lug around “just in case”, isn’t it? I am on a quest to get rid of everything in my house that I don’t use on a weekly basis, and so far so good.
Are you still doing the 10 Things Challenge? Seems I have accidentally turned it into a 50+ Things Challenge but hey – who’s counting? Next week I will tell you about what I did to my master bedroom closet, so stay tuned!
what are you doing with your guitar? i have a couple i’ve been holding onto for years, simply because i don’t know how to get rid of them..
Heather, Try to use Craigslist. I generally go on a hunt to find things to post and deposit funds generated into a slush fund for fun things to do. It adds up.
You second choice could be eBay, but you will have to deal with the hassle of shipping.
I’m still into the Ten Things Challenge! Week 8 for me now, which means that I’ve gotten rid of at least 80 unnecessary/cluttering items since January 1st. Also, I set myself up with Weekly Challenges to help the decluttering process- this week I had/have to throw away all the old glass (here, it’s collected separate from the rest of the garbage and there is about three years worth of old glass in the basement), take old batteries to the chem cart, clean out one shelve of my closet (that’s the hardest part for me, clothes), and make at least one ride to the thrift store to dump the unwanted stuff. So far so good, thanks so much for the inspiration!
Greetings,
Jemma.
I’m still participating. A few months ago, I was convinced I had done all the uncluttering I needed to do, but I was wrong. Last week, I took 120 books to the library resale shop and 3 bags of clothing plus a big box of kitchen/household stuff to Goodwill. I’m planning to move into a smaller apartment in a year so I will continue gradually purging my bookshelves, closets and cupboards.
I love the 10 Things Challenge! I keep a bag in the entry closet to put things to go to Goodwill, and I end up filling it often – even though I have a pretty decluttered, small apartment. I just took some of my husband’s clothes, a few books that I finished reading, tablecloths for our old, smaller dining table, etc. Even though I just took the bag today, I can’t even remember some of the stuff in it – clearly I don’t miss it!
10 things for this week:
lava lamp (sweet!)
2 xbox games (duplicates)
4 measuring cups (already have one all-purpose cup)
2 stirring spoons
Trivial Pursuit board game (already have 2 other editions!)
I’m almost where I want to be in terms of how many superfluous possessions I have! Now I look forward to moving instead of dreading filling all those boxes with stuff I have no use for. 🙂
Thank you for this inspirational excersice. I’m embarking on a simplification journey of my own (see blog) and I think your way of approaching it 10 items at a time is perfect! A nice easy goal that one can do in a week without getting totally overwhelmed. I can’t wait to get started!
How’s it going for you? Did you give it a go?