GIVE 500 update

I have not forgotten about this project and I am seriously LOVING this project. While at moments it is hard to think about going through another box or another closet of crap I am loving the space that it is opening up. I wonder WHY on God's green earth did I have all this stuff sitting around in boxes and in my closet aimlessly. I don't need this much stuff. I don't need a different outfit for every day. I don't need to hold on to everything I have ever been given.

This project has been liberating. This may seem strange but seriously somehow it has given me the permission I needed to be able to give stuff, that is perfectly usable, away. Now I am not counting socks with holes in them or stuff that is broken and needs to be recycled or thrown away, I am counting stuff that I seriously just don't need. This has been a wonderful project. This project has set me free.

I am not certain what my count is at and I am fairly certain I have long surpassed the 500 mark, I have hauled a couple loads of books to the library, a couple loads to the good will, and a couple loads to the church rummage sale pile. Somehow I had bought into the world, I had bought into the idea that I need to have more, I need to have a different outfit for weeks upon weeks and I couldn't repeat them in a couple weeks. (No one notices what I wear unless it is horrible - I have a bunch of clothes still don't worry but now the difference is I actually wear them all - and they get rotated between each other and have many combinations.) I don't have totes of crap just sitting upstairs in my attic "in case I need this stuff" - seriously I haven't missed it - I do still have boxes of holiday decorations but those are different, it is the crap I had been hauling around for years, for no reason.

I got rid of stacks of books and movies (I love both of these things) and I have kept some of my favorites and the ones that I like to re-read and re-watch but the ones I have no intent of watching again any time soon are gone, I just don't need them, if I want to watch or read them I can check them out of the library or get it off netflix. There is freedom in no longer being bound to stuff and needing more stuff. I have realized that I am not justified by what I own or don't own. I am not justified by what stuff I have or don't have. (deep down I have always known this but.... my actions had me held to another standard)

By no means am I promoting getting rid of everything you own and living in a tent - more I promote evaluating what you have, using up the excess stuff that you have been storing (I apparently was a hoarder of reams of paper and shampoo) I have more than I need still and have less to dust and less stuff sitting around and I couldn't be happier.

• Anyone else have this type of experience when getting rid of stuff? 
• Anyone else have tips on how to keep my stuff to a minimum so I don't just revert back to acquiring tons of stuff?
• Do you like to have stuff around?
• I must confess there is a piece of me that still says... what if I need ___________ - How do you sort out what to keep and what to get rid of without going crazy on either end of the spectrum?