A Keen Slate

Lately my general response when I open boxes that have been packed away for years is, "Oh my gosh ... I had completely forgotten about this!/I still have this?!/I thought I donated this?!" Which, based on my reaction, likely means that the item/s were not so valuable (if not completely vexing) to me. Despite the feelings of overwhelm they incite, it also means that sorting through it all is probably a good thing.     Yet, there are those relatively rare moments when a long-lost item does, as Marie Kondo would put it, "spark joy". Over a decade ago, I visited an antique store in Zionsville, IN, with my sister, nephew, and my parents. There I found a whole trunk full of black and white celebrity photos , probably from old magazines, that some meticulous soul had taken the trouble to laminate. Since many of the images were gorgeous and so reasonably priced, I (a broke graduate student at the time) couldn't resist. I was most attracted to photos of glamorous actress...

Right now I'm focusing on a new challenge : to get the garage cleaned out and sell some stuff on marketplace. Last year my dad came to visit and brought a beautiful 'new' table, one that my family had used as a dinner table when I was a teenager. Made by Mennonite craftsmen, the ingenuity of the pull-apart mechanism and the hidden leaves is exquisite. My dad had painstakingly refinished the four chairs, so the set is also a reminder of his handiwork. Although we loved our square breakfast nook table, now we can actually welcome more dinner and anytime guests.  So what to do with the old table? I thought about selling it, decided to keep it for one main reason: The sticky issue of cleaning out the garage. As I mentioned in the new challenge post , I would like to clear out the half of the garage occupied by boxes, totes, and other items so that both vehicles can fit inside (and we can get rid of stuff we have now dragged through two moves!).  The dilemma was being able to ta...

For anyone just starting out on their decluttering journey, I would be the first to advocate donating. Why? Because selling items online via Ebay or Marketplace, consignment, or garage sale is time consuming and often aggravating ... And the money 'earned' is usually not nearly worth the effort.  If I have learned this in the past, and if this is what I say to others, then why am I being a hypocrite (and perhaps a fool) about it now?  The truth is, I have a bit of a dilemma. I have made a lot of progress on my decluttering journey by donating or recycling a lot of items. And, after I first realized how hard it was to sell things, how little I would get for most of them, and that the money is already gone, donating felt pretty good. But now I am left with half a garage full of items that need to be re-homed. I know that a significant number of items would probably sell, and now I live in a neighborhood where I see people are constantly posting things on the community page. So w...

I am using my knowledge of the power of the present moment to change how I motivate myself, and therefore how I show up in my life and for those around me. Here I share my current goals for simplifying and letting go. My space:  To let go of anything that doesn't serve me. I know, pretty nebulous. The more concrete goals I have planned for 2023 are Operation Clear Garage and Operation Sell Stuff on Marketplace (OSSM sounds a little like 'awesome' doesn't it? Ha!). Since the garage is where my family's clutter still has a stronghold  and  the space where I take pics for putting stuff on marketplace, these two goals go hand in hand. I hope to start a month-long challenge for this soon.  My body:  I want to be more conscious about the food and drink I put into my body. I want to become physically healthier and lighter. To let go of cravings. I know what you're thinking: Isn't this just a fancy way of saying you want to lose weight? Yes. But not to be fancy, jus...