Today I took all my clothes out of my closet and dresser, chose some things to go to the Salvation Army to make extra room, and tidied up my remaining stuff. My closet and six dresser drawers are still pretty full.
I looked at the pile of clothes and realized that I am pretty GD spoiled.
We have a walk-in closet in our apartment that literally has nothing in it but DVDs. Like, 600-700 movies. Do you think we'll ever get around to watching them all? Not a chance. But do we stop buying new DVDs because we already have lots of things to watch? Nope...
I have clothes I haven't worn in over a year. They fit and they're essentially brand new. I have dresses with the tags still on. I haven't worn them because I haven't had a chance yet. What a problem to have, huh? I have about 35 pairs of shoes and I rotate between maybe half a dozen of them. Do I need 35 pairs of shoes? Does anyone?
I have jewelry that rarely leaves my jewelry box. I have stacks and stacks of books waiting to be read. Yet I'll still go to the bookstore and browse or buy another book. I'll buy another dress, another skirt, another nail polish or book, and it's the last thing I need. What do I actually need? Friendship and love, food and water, exercise, sleep, fun, music, free time. I don't need things.
This is the first time I've experienced guilt over the things I have. I'm blessed and very fortunate and appreciative. I don't necessarily want to give anything away or have any less...and that makes me feel greedy and guilty. I've worked really hard to get the things I have and the feeling of comfort and security is hard to beat. But if my apartment were to burn up tomorrow, for example, would "stuff" matter?
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ARG! I HATE BLOGGER
ReplyDeleteI wrote this long post and then half way through it died.
I was going to say that I was at that point about 2 years ago, and that's why I'm a minimalist today because I just felt like I had too much stuff. Felt bloated, fat...
I still feel bloated, and I want to get rid of a LOT of books and hopefully get a Kindle next year or something similar.
I try not to go crazy with paring down too much (clearly, I just bought a new, pretty yellow bag) and I have my sister & sis in law as benchmarks because they have SO MUCH STUFF... that it makes me feel so zen in comparison lol... it's a nice balance.
I've heard good things about kindle. I thought it would be hard on the eyes, but apparently not. Wish you could "sign out" books on it for free like a library...maybe that'll be a version for the future! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the bag btw!
I think I need to institute a new rule about when I buy something new I have to get rid of two items I already own. I hang onto everything until the sheer volume makes me crazy! Sometimes I think it's better to just throw stuff out and risk having to buy it again later, because the expense of that purchase is still easier to deal with than being up to the ears in stuff!!
Goodluck with the cleansing and purging.
ReplyDeleteYour closet sounds just like mine. Lord knows I need to roll up my sleeves, dive in and finally let go of my sentimental clothes. Why are some pieces so hard to let go-even if you know you'll never wear it again?
You inspired me to log off and start cleaning. :)
@me melodia i cleaned my kitchen today too, like took everything out of the fridge, removed all the shelves and scrubbed them...that kind of cleaning...it's hard to get started but feels awesome when it's done!
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