Zen and the Art of Decluttering

I am a master at purging items. I have no problem going through my stuff, packing it up, and delivering to a charity or second-hand resale. I tend to go to Goodwill as it is convenient and easy. I have a lot of stuff but then I don't have a lot of stuff.


My rule of thumb is that if it has not been used in a year or doesnt fit or is disliked - toss it in a pile and take it out. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Whichever. If an item is stored and has great sentimenal value - then keep it. Like I have lots of little trinkets from all over the world. I have my memories of these travels but no place to display the actual items - so they are packed up neatly and safely... just in case.

If you paid a lot of money for the item and you are keeping it because of that - why? What good is it if you are not using it? You are paying in space taken up (especially if you live in a small apartment or small crowded house). Donate it or something.

Gifted something you never use or honestly dislike? Don't be afraid to regift or donate (even if it is from me HAHAHA). See the pattern here?

Love to read and have TONS of books laying about. Are you REALLY going to re-read all of them? Have you even finished all of them? What about all those VHS videos of blockbuster "hits" that EVERYONE has a copy of? I love Half-Price Books... I'm keeping the hard to find videos/DVDs I have... but Pirates of the Caribbean and so forth - SOOOO outta here.

I do hoarde my CDs though. I'm entitled. =)

So, anyway - that's what I do.

I'd declutter other people's homes but I just have not gotten around to doing so. Too busy. Maybe this summer since I am taking Summer semester off. The thing with this is that I have to have carte blanche on the decluttering. None of this, "oh no... not THAT! I got it on sale!" stuff.

I will ask if something is special to the owner and why. Tell me the story. If it's "I got that from the office white elephant gift exchange... I simply can't part with it...The dinner was sooo good." Sorry - that isn't special (unless it's made of gold and diamonds). But "that belonged to my grreat great great grandparents when they arrived on the Mayflower...." Then - I think you can keep it. =D

OK, back to it.

I'm keeping the rune stones Ric made me, the Japanese figurines I bought at the Japanese Garden Gift Store, all my anime DVDs, and all of my Umberto Eco books... You get the picture. Or actually Goodwill is getting the "Girl with Grapes" picture. My 11x14 framed photo of The Modern's staircase will be donated to work for the United Way auction that is coming up later in the year (hopefully it will fetch at least $50 to pay for the frame and matting - going to good causes and stuff).

Nothing New

Sorry I have not been updating. I've been super busy with work and school that everything else has been put on the back-burner. No time for hobbies or anything else.

I did, however, get an email from the wife of a doctor here in FtWorth who asked me if I wanted to hang my photos on the art wall in his office - where they like to display local artists. The wall gets lots of view time and she suggested a price list too.

I wrote back saying I am interested but have not heard back. *shrug* I take my stuff down from Starbucks this week. I might take it down tomorrow because the weekends are the only times I have available to even think about anything other than work and school.

Finals are coming up... then I am taking summer off.

That's about it. Not posting a photo on this post as I dont have anything new... or even old that I want to share.