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?

134 items & counting

I am slowly but surely making progress on my commitment to the Give 500 challenge. My current goal is to have 500 items given away by March 1 (I figure it will get me through the winter and it can seriously be a winter project). I am in love with the process of going through everything, seriously before I moved to first call everything I owned (I owned no furniture other than my beloved papasan chair and didn't have a dog) fit into my car. It was freeing to know at any given moment I could pack up and move. Although now that I have a house (and copious amounts of furniture - or really enough to fill my house - this way of moving is impossible) and have acquired lots of stuff (some justified some I just don't need) I am realizing how easy it is for junk stuff to build up. So I have committed to downsizing. Not to mention in June Marc will be moving in and I should probably have some space for him to put his stuff too.

Count so far:

• 91 books (seriously I have way too many books after undergrad and grad school not to mention I LOVE TO READ) - I gave a bunch to the library (librarians were jazzed, or at least faked it if they weren't) and a ton of graduate school books to an old camper/camp staffer/friend who has just entered seminary (seriously nice to be able to pass the books off and know they will be used again)
• 4 pairs of shoes (why I have been hanging onto these shoes is beyond me, they were uncomfortable and I hated wearing them and still attempted to wear them when I forgot how uncomfortable they were - so I finally got rid of them)
• 38 pieces of clothing (seriously I owned way too much clothing - and some of it didn't/doesn't fit. Why in the world am I holding on to it?!)

Updated count: 134 items given away, 366 items to go

I will succeed.

Side note: I am also taking into consideration things I buy or acquire, so if I bring something new in the house 2 must go. I don't want to have this much stuff, more importantly I just don't need to have this much stuff! I must stop living in such excess! I am only donating stuff that people would actually want, I am also throwing some stuff away that just needs to go in the garbage. I am not donating things like socks with holes in them, throwing them away and those are not going in my tally.


Do you go through your stuff often?
Any tips on how to prevent crap stuff from building up in your house?
Where do you like to donate your stuff?

Give 500

It is time, I am joining up with the joyful abode in her give 500 challenge. All through college and seminary all of my stuff fit in my car, everything I owned fit in my car. Every time I had to move I was forced to go through all of my stuff and determine what I needed and what I could get rid of, it was wonderful, it kept everything in check, I couldn't get too much stuff, I needed it to fit in my car to move. Now that I have "settled" down a bit, i.e. I am not moving every nine to twelve months, I have realized that I have a TON of stuff, some of it is necissary like my bed and couch, other stuff has just built up. I am hoping to give away 500 items by March 1, 2013. (no real reason why I chose March 1 other than it gives me all winter to work on this project.) Feel free to click on the icon above to learn more about the give 500 project.

Anyone else have excess stuff and want to join in the give 500 project?