There is still hope for me

Beginning last weekend  9/10-9/11  I decided that since I am back to working 5 days a week that I am using my weekends for ME! Usually I feel obligated to do things on the weekends that other people want me to do, but I am going to do my best to use my weekends as I want to since they are mine and the only reprieve from work that I have. So, for the past 2 weekends I have stayed home and the only time I have left the house was to go to church on Sunday morning (my choice). I spent all day both Saturday and Sunday clearing out the house. Now people probably do not find that to be something that they would enjoy doing on their weekend off, but to me it is incredibly rewarding as I can visibly see the difference I am making and it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I feel like I am finally getting somewhere and I know that with continued hard work and dedication that I will unleash our house of the mounds of clutter laying around and get rid of things that are not needed.

I have made great progress in my "It's All Too Much" book as well. I only started it last Friday 9/16 and already I am 2/3 of the way through it and Peter Walsh has great advice! I have realized that while I do have a mini hoarding problem (as does a vast majority of the rest of our nation), I am not doomed. Some of the positive things I found as I was reading the book I made note of and these are some of the reasons I am not doomed:

1. I do not have an issue with shoes. I actually have the minimal amount of shoes a person would need. I have 2 pairs for work (brown and black), a pair of tennis shoes that I wear often and a couple pair of flip flops of which I wear often! I in the past had other shoes that I was not wearing and easily was able to get rid of them (aside from one pair of flip flops that I absolutely adored, but were beyond repair - that was hard to throw them out, but I am on the search for a pair of the same brand, probably won't find them though because I bought them like 8 years ago. Sigh...). So that is good news for me! While I hold on to many things and over buy certain items SHOES are not one of them!

2. There is nothing underneath my bed and I mean nothing. Some people use the space under their bed to store things but I am proud to say I store nothing under my bed!

3. Junk mail - It comes into the house and goes right into recycling. It does not sit in piles on the table for very long and I feel that while I do have massive amounts of saved paperwork that none of it is junk mail. That's an easy one for me so I just rid myself of it immediately.

Now after listing some of my strengths I do know that there are going to be some troublesome areas.

1. First of all my books - I am saving that for much later because I know there is going to be some issues when it comes to weeding out my collection. In all honesty I know that I have way too many books, way more than anyone could ever read in a lifetime, however I have somewhat of a sense of pride in my book collection, but all my bookshelves (4 to be exact) are stock full and not another book could fit - so what have I done - I have not bought any books in the last 6 months. Was it hard? Incredibly, but to help I unsubscribed to email updates from my favorite book vendors and refused to peruse the isles of bookstores. I now read the books I have and/or go online to my library account and order the book through my library consortium and it arrives usually within about 3 days and I can pick it up right at my home town library!

2. Another problem area is going to be most anything that was given to me as a gift. I feel an incredible sense of guilt getting rid of a gift even if it is something I don't need, don't use, or don't even like. So, if you want to help me with this area please give me permission to purge gifts you may have given me that I no longer need. I would be ever so grateful to be released of that burden.

3. Stuffed animals! For some reason over the years I have come to the conclusion that stuffed animals are like pets or something. I don't mean this in a crazy way like I feed them or pet them and talk to them, but I find an emotional attachment to my stuffed animals and feel that I need to give them a good home. What that has come to is having a collection of about 100 stuffed animals when I probably only need about 3-5. There are a handful of ones that I would never get rid of like the bear my dad gave me when I was very little or the monkey that my mom gave me and a few select ones that Justin (that would be my husband) gave me, but overall my collection needs to be decreased and this is going to be a hard endeavor.

Along the way I'm sure I will come across more strengths and difficult areas and will talk about them further, but for now - my weekend progress...

We have lived in our house for almost 6 years now, I JUST hung up the first pictures on our walls. And I did it all by myself! About time! These are beautiful paintings that my husband's grandmother did.





Bin full of papers BEFORE
(Note stacks of papers beside the bin as well)



Bin full of papers AFTER







This may not look like much of an improvement, but believe me, IT IS! I could not see the floor before the stacks of papers were so abundant. Here's to progress!



Are there things that you have in your life that you wish you could let go and get rid of? What are some of the things that you treasure and never would dream of getting rid of? Have you made progress in any area of your life lately that you are proud of and would like to share with others?