Wednesday, December 15, 2010

How Did I Do It?

This year I accomplished something I really did think might be impossible. It had me paralyzed for a LONG time. I had a lot of shame associated with it, and that just exacerbated the problem.

I moved into my house in the spring and in addition to bringing the stuff from my apartment that filled my house, I had two storage bins that were each a house full as well. One was from a previous move and was just "temporary" storage until I decided where to land. The other was full of my mother's things I had inherited when she passed away the previous year.

Besides the fact that I just had too much stuff for one person, I had to make some serious decision about how to get rid of it.

One day I decided to take the plunge. I scheduled a day for the movers to deliver everything from my move the previous year. Not only had I been paying hundreds each month to have them store it, I had lived with the weight of it on my shoulders. That was worse than losing the money.

They brought it. It filled up every inch of my two-car garage but a tiny pathway to the door. It was piled to the ceiling.

I wasn't going to live like this. I hadn't bought my house with a garage to have my car parked on the street because I had collected too much crap.

I dove in. In 3 (LONG) days it was gone. I had gone through every box and every bag. Each item went to either the Goodwill, the house or in a box ready and labeled my Ebay pile.

The weight was gone. I pulled my car into the garage and to this day, each time I do I smile and say "well done" to myself.

Now just one storage bin to go!

4 comments:

Miss Jan said...

Hey, Lazy Girl,

Have you considered hiring outside help with your decluttering efforts? (i.e. professional organizers, etc.)

If so, I'd love to hear stories, or those of other readers.

Buttercup said...

Hi Miss Jan!

Interesting question. Ya know, actually, my biggest problem is not my organizational skills, it's FOLLOWING THROUGH on what I know I should do. I LOVE to set up systems, and am very good at it. But following those systems is a whole other discussion. :)

What I really need is a maid! LOL! But, since I can't afford that, I'm stuck trying to develop my own motivation.

I suppose like all of us, when I put my mind to something I can get it done. Like my garage. I probably went through close to 200 boxes in 3 days. But try to get me to put the tools back I got out for a garden project and you'll find me stubborn as a mule. And maybe a little lazy too. :)

Like blogging. I'm really suprised that I've gotten this far. I love figuring out how things work and how to do them, but once I have, I'm bored with it. But since I actually had you stop by and read and comment, it's given me energy to keep going.

benning said...

So your storage probs are over. Now why not do some posting? January seems a tad over-long between posts, even if you are a procrastinator.

I lost mucho belongings through lack of funds - a storage rental I could no longer pay ( so I let it go and they sold or tossed thousands of books), and my next-to-last move which saw me leave many things behind. No room in my newest apartment.

Now this apartment is slowly filling, but what I miss most are the lost books. *sigh*

Now get back to posting, not just commenting on Patrick's blog!

Square Peg Guy said...

That is Awesome! Well done!