moving things out

visitors from out of town are coming and it's time to clear things out.

we live in a house with very limited closet space. 

 in other words... there is no place to hide.

so every month... i TRY to declutter 
to regain some valuable space and more importantly, 
some peace of mind.

my method is simple but it really works.

i call it the 'garbage bag' method.

if we don't use it, or if we have doubles of it... it goes in a black or green garbage bag.

clear bags don't work as well because seeing the soon-to-be discarded contents 

increases the tendency for retrieval.

the items sit in the garbage bag for a month... 

and if we don't miss it, need it, or crave for it within that month...

it gets donated, recycled or thrown away.

it has worked really well for us.

we've tried having garage sales... but my children tended

 to bring half of the sale items back into their bedrooms (mid-sale).

donating the lot feels great.   

to know that all this stuff can be resold and reused makes the letting go much easier.

every month... i wait for that phone call, from big brothers, big sisters or 
from the canadian diabetes association.

i'm sure they already know to include our house during their neighnourhood pick ups.

but this month...because we have visitors coming to stay with us...

 we decided to deliver our extra big load of giveaways.  

it feels really good to clear things out.

having no storage space... has become such a blessing.

it has allowed us to be very conscious of what we buy/accumulate/bring into our home.

and it has allowed us to continually practise the art of letting go.

erica

xoxo