What Is Stopping You?

Can we have a serious talk?

You are here because you want to learn to lighten your load, i.e., get rid of stuff. So, what is stopping you? For me, it was tons of boxes in the garage that were weighing me down and taking up too much space. Here is where I am at, and maybe it will help.

I have been getting rid of a lot of stuff for many, many years. You would think that this recovering Type A would have had it all done in a short amount of time. But let’s face it, it takes SO-MUCH-TIME! Plus, I have three adult children who kept moving in and out of the house, leaving boxes and what not in my garage. As is life, there were many setbacks.

Blogging

After posting the latest Decluttering Series, I realized I need to move faster and do more – more often. You see I have a list of projects to be completed at any given time. Some need to be planned for, such as painting our bedroom. Others are for when I have time alone and want to focus and take my time. Yesterday, I had alone time to focus.

If I were a super great blogger, yesterday, I would have remembered to take photos of my decluttering project. (No, the image above is not my garage.) I just get so focused that I forget… I had my iPhone and took photos of the TV stand I was selling, but for some reason forgot to take photos of everything else.

It Starts

Yesterday morning, I woke up with a sudden, deep, determination to follow through on a statement I made in my blog post: Stress Free Living. Here’s what I wrote, “I would also love the extra cash from selling some things. However, it is not always worth the stress of planning a garage sale. I have given myself until the end of June to gather enough for a garage sale, or I am taking everything to the thrift store or a charity.”

Well, I did it! And I did it by June 3rd, not the end of June. Yay Me! Not only did I “DO IT,” but also I did even MORE! I pulled out the 6 boxes of office supplies (also mentioned in my blog post Stress Free Living) and got to work.

Office Supplies

If you know me at all, you would know that I absolutely LOVE Pendaflex products. However, at one point I purchased lower quality brand hanging file folders and regular file folders. Did I mention that I love office supplies? If you are the type, you can relate. I may have to do some research on this addiction. My parents and uncle had it too. I wonder if it is hereditary. But, I digress…

How Many Is Too Many?

Over the years I collected so many hanging and regular file folders that I doubt I will ever use them all. It was here that I had to make a decision. Honesty is the best policy when dealing with yourself (or anyone for that matter). I had to say, “Susie! You are NEVER going to use all of these. Just get rid of them!”

Then, I visualized my how I want my garage and office to look. Nope, those file folders were not in the picture. If it is all too much, get rid of it and when you need more, get a fresh new box of files or whatever it is you got rid of.

Now that I am an addicted card sender, with Mailbox Power, I no longer needed tons of greeting card stationary you print on your computer. You see, after my rubber stamping days (I still have 16 or 18 5 boxes of rubber stamping products), I changed to using computer software to print greeting cards. That was almost as much work as rubber-stamping. So, the greeting card stationary is GONE.

The List

I can only tell you what I did in words because as I stated earlier, I forgot to take photos.

1.   Made a full pot of coffee and ate a piece of chocolate chip banana bread.
(I needed some fuel.)
2.   Pulled out all boxes of items that I was getting rid of via garage sale, thrift store, or otherwise and lined them up on the driveway.
3.   Pulled out all 6 office supply boxes and lined them up in the garage.
4.   Pulled out and put together the TV stand I wanted to sell.
5.   Took photos of TV stand and posted to local buy, sell, trade groups.
6.   Sitting on a stool in front of office supply boxes I pulled out all hanging file folders, sorted them by brand and color.
7.   Took a pile of lower quality filing products and put them in the giveaway pile.
8.   Pulled out all tiny tchotchkes such as key chains, key loops, bike pump tips, etc. Sorted and threw away or put into tchotchke drawers.
9.   Pulled out all staplers, scissors, and pencil sharpeners.
10. Put some in the “to go pile” and some into the “new” office supplies bin.
11. Brought labels and other items I had a place for into the house and put them away.
12. Packed up items I am keeping into two bins and put them on the shelf.
13. Put boxes of items to go – into the car and drove them to a friend’s garage sale for her to make some money if the items sell.

I now have 6 empty spaces on the shelves in the garage. The TV stand is gone. (I sold it by the end of the day.) Next, I am going went through my rubber-stamping items, packing materials, and more storage boxes, etc. I posted several more items on the buy, sell, trade list for FREE as I just want them gone and preferably recycled.

Do you have a decluttering story to share? Please do so below in the comments!

Cheers!