31 Days of Adventure - Day 3: Downsizing, Simplyfying and Letting Go.

Day 3 - Downsizing, Simplifying and Letting Go


Call me Linus.   Well not really, but like Linus, I have a bit of a security blanket.   I'm trying to  lighten the visual load in the house, so some of the things I haven't been using are going to make an exit.   It's been a long time coming and will probably be ongoing for a while.   I'm downsizing, simplifying or as my 4 year old friend said this weekend getting rid of some "junk".   I like to call it stuff, but no matter what you call it, some of it has to go.

When I moved to my current residence, I moved out of a one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom townhouse and the only thing I had to buy was a bed for the guest room....now that's ridiculous!   How did we have enough stuff in a one bedroom apartment to furnish a 3 bedroom townhouse.  I'm just shaking my head here.  I had enough "stuff" then, but still kept buying.  My "what if" and "someday" projects that have been sitting, now have a time limit on them, or they will have to go too.  Today I ordered the supplies to finally put my race bib project up on the wall.  It's been sitting on the floor in the living room since the beginning of the year as I add race bibs to it.   The other day, I had a stroke of inspiration on how exactly to complete the project and that will be done within the next two weeks courtesy of an Amazon gift card that I've been hanging onto for a while.  I'm just waiting for the delivery of my supplies.

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated" -  Confucius 

Next up, I'm sorting through my closet and will be using the Project 333 as a guideline and will be done by the end of this month.   If you don't know what Project 333 is, check it out here at the333project.com.   While you may not go full Monty Project 333, it has helped me get that closet somewhat tamed for a while until I reverted to my crazy habits.  But I'm willing to give it another shot.   I may need to enlist a style minded, analytic friend with no emotional attachments to assist here.  That part of my plan is sure to be an adventure, although I may have to draw the line at shoes...we'll see what happens.

The truck is coming tomorrow and when it leaves I will have less "stuff".   The plan is to cut the emotional attachment to some of this stuff, but it's hard.   I may have to have another truck come in a few week...we'll see.

There are somethings that I'm clueless as to the final disposition of some of this stuff.   For example:   What does one do with a lovely wedding album with a unique wood cover, since one is no longer married?  It seems a shame to dump it...but what exactly does one do? Maybe my mom would like it?   But for what?  Do you display something like that?  Do I take out all of the couple pictures and leave only me (HAHAHA!)   Should I offer it to my ex? Would that be weird?   Maybe I'm over thinking this, but I'll get it figured out.

So I guess this is an adventure in:
1) Letting go (I may go through the stages of loss)
2) Living with less (Hopefully without buying more)
3) Living a simpler life (Clearing not only the house, but my head)

This is hard stuff!   I'll let you know how it works out or if like Linus, I have to hang on to my version of a security blanket!