Too Much Stuff

How is it that we suffer under clutter?

We all want the same thing, right? Useful items in easy to find places, items that make us happy. So why is it so many of us drown under STUFF?

I don't know. I have a heck of a time keeping my home in any form of neat/clean. When school started I did get into the habit of every morning once the family has departed to clean up the entry way and the living spaces. I'm no longer embarrassed if someone knocks on the door, as long as they don't see into the kitchen. Because for what I do, it's still never enough and I find myself having to do another spot, another area, another dusting, another purging.

Breaking up with Stuff is so hard to do.

I cannot wait until this weekend to have a (hopefully dry and successful) yard sale and dump so much stuff that is filling our home, especially the boys' room. I should take a photo of the pile that has been there for weeks waiting to be sold off or gotten rid of. This weekend we did bring a big box of books to the Used Book Store and while they only took half of them it still ended up at $50+ worth of credit to the store. Not that I want to replace all those books with new books, but I'll let the kids go in and pick up a few items they'd been looking at anyway. The rest of the box, rather than bringing it back home, went right to the library donation desk. We also dumped a big bag of clothes into the Goodwill collection box. Still Too Much Stuff. My garage is chaos, my basement is a disaster, the dining room is overflowing, my bedroom... ugh. Katherine and Becca are bursting out of their rooms.

We're moving next summer. This stuff cannot come with us. Even as we buy new sets of bookshelves for the girls' rooms in Jordan (white ones they can decorate themselves) and other odds and ends to fill State Department furniture issue gaps, what's already here must get pared down and much disposed of. Most of the furniture will not even return to storage as it is at least 10 years old and definitely showing its age.

It takes a strong will to do what needs to be done and not live in the "we might need it later" realm. Here's hoping we all have the backbone and stomach to see it through.