500 Things I Don't Miss

I have a friend who recently moved out of country and across seas with her family.  Leading up to her move she spent several month sorting, pricing, and selling just about everything they owned.  It was actually quite inspiring.  To me it sounded like freedom.

In fact, at some point I would like to get rid of at least 50% of what we own, and maybe more than that.  However, at the moment, with two small kids, that felt physically overwhelming.

I decided that I would do a 500 Thing purge for the month of November.

My brother later asked why 500.  I tend to count while I tidy things up.  Because of this, I happen to know that 100 items could almost go unnoticed in my living room.  Things get shoved behind furniture, hidden under piles on surfaces and tucked into shelves and drawers.  I wanted to choose a large enough number that it would actually make a dent that I could feel.  500 just seemed like a good number to me.

The preparation was easy:
1. I set an empty box out for donation items.
2. Next to it I put a marker and paper to keep a tally.
3. I plugged in the shredder where it would be accessible, but out of reach of the children.

Even though this picture doesn't show the paper and pen, keeping track is very important.  It kept me moving.

I was ready to start.

I only wanted to get rid of items we didn't use.  And I wouldn't count things I normally throw out anyway (like cleaning old food out of the fridge or throwing trash in the trash).

These are some of the things I got rid of:
1. Make-up/lotions/toiletries
2. Clothing
3. Kids clothing
4. Stacks of paper piling up on the desk.
5. A sewing project I finished and mailed to my sister as a Christmas gift.
6. Borrowed items I returned to their owners.
7. Extra sippy-cups that were barely used because we had better non-leak sippies.
8. Craft supplies
9. Fabric
10. Wrapping paper (I even got rid of some of the uglier gift bags by giving batches of cookies to friends in a plastic bag in a gift bag.  They were kind of ugly gift bags, but I don't think anyone cared. I never would have used them on a formal gift.)
11. Old cords and electronics
13. Old curtains tucked away in a closet that I had bought at a yard sale.
14. A couple broken chairs that sat in the garage
15. Toys
16. Bar stools we didn't use.  (These were quite nice, so I sold them on craigslist.)
17. Things of which we had more than we needed or used (like spatulas)
18. Boxes or packaging to items I knew I wasn't going to return.
19. Broken items (like stretched out hair ties, for example)
20. Items that sat at the very back of bathroom cupboards and had been forgotten
21. Books
22. Pens and markers that no longer worked
23. Old magazines
24. Old calendars
25. Wood panels from a broken dresser.
26. Other miscellaneous items.

As the box would fill up with donation items I just stuck it in the trunk of the car and put out another box in it's place.  (My kids are in diapers, so I had plenty of boxes that I purposely kept for this.)  Then I would drop it off when I was out doing errands.

Each item I placed in the box seemed to take up no room at all.  Was it really making a difference?  Well, I filled 5 or 6 boxes full of things that didn't take up any room at all.  So, I would say that it does make a difference.  Not only that, but many of the items I threw away (like magazine and pens and broken stuff).

The paperwork took up a lot of space too.  Much of that got thrown away, but what got shredded filled a big bag.   (I didn't do an exact count on paper.  Usually a small stack of paper counted as one.....unless it was a difficult piece of paper for me to let go of for some reason.)

I hardly noticed the difference when I was done with my 500 things.  The things I used were all still there being used.  I did feel like I had more room in my cupboards.  And it was easier to find what I needed because there was less clutter to sift through to find it.

Here are some things I have learned:
1. I don't miss those 500 things!
2. I have way more stuff than what I need.
3. By letting go of excess stuff, I gain time, space, and clarity.
4. I'm less inclined to buy junk. (And I can better discern which items quickly turn into junk.)
5. I can let go of things sooner now.  (like those hair ties and pens that no longer work....I'm not actually sure why I kept those longer than their usefulness in the first place.)

I finished the 500 things in two weeks and even went on and did another 100 (which I also don't miss.)

Life is not about stuff.  Let go of the excess and make room for what matters.