It could be better. It could be worse.

My First Blog Post! I never thought I would be a blogger, but here I am. As of recent I have "stumbled" upon an amazing and inspiring blog of my good friend from high school and started thinking, maybe I could blog. Check our her blog here Goal! Getter! Gurt! As you will see from my friend's blog she has made significant changes in her life over the past several years from organizing, minimalizing, re-prioritizing and even revamping her entire wardrobe! Recently she achieved her ultimate goal of starting her own business and just got it up and running! Check her business out here Minneapolis By Bike She has inspired me so much by reading all of the changes she has made to make me want to STOP THINKING and START DOING!

In all honesty my main goal in having a blog at this time is for myself. Sure it would be cool to have followers along the way, but at this time I just need a more tangible and visible way to track my progress as I work towards some major projects that are underway in my life at this time. I will briefly touch on these "projects", but will go in much  more depth as I blog more.

FIRST PROJECT: Out, out, and away - clearing out the billions of things I don't need but for some reason hold on to that now clutter up our entire house.

I have recently become very overwhelmed with the amount of material items in our house, but for a lot of different reasons have only made minimal success in clearing things out. I have realized that I can't do this alone and so I have turned to the literature for help. I picked up a very good book from the library recently called "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh. I started it yesterday and am already on page 53 if that tells you anything.

It is my hope that this book and others like it will help me to let go of things, gain a better relationship with and understanding of emotional attachment to material items and purge many things from my home so that it feel more like a HOME rather than a storage unit, full of things I never use or look at.

Some of the problem I will admit is just lack of knowledge, there are things I could get rid of today but I just don't know where to take them. I don't need them, but I don't know where to donate or sell them so that someone else can enjoy them. So, I keep them boxed up for the garage sale that I will have one day (but never have), hence taking up more space in our house.

What are some websites, blogs, or books that you have come across that have been helpful with organizing and decluttering your life?

Are there ways that you get rid of things you don't need? Where do you donate them or sell them? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!