Balancing the Stuff

At heart, I am a minimalist.  Unfortunately, at my house...I am a collector of too much stuff.  Too many clothes, too much furniture, too much of many things.  In an effort to balance life, in a simple Zen way, I want to get rid of things.  I am pretty good at getting rid of things I simply do not use or even things that are no longer working.  I also am a pretty neat person.

At times in my life...I have been called a neat freak.  I like to keep things in order.  I am getting to that point, in the interest in balance...AND in the interest in the fact that too much stuff eventually drives me nuts, that it is time to get rid of stuff.

I am thinking through getting rid of the things that I do not use or just don't matter to me anymore.  I kept a lot of things from my mother after she passed away over 3-years ago.  I am now interested in keeping just a handful of things that REALLY mattered to me from her.

The fix:  Garage Sale!

I am starting to collect things for a garage sale this Spring.  It is exciting, cleansing, and allows me to feel more in line with my journey of balance.

Balance.

I find it interesting that getting rid of things and knowing they are gone, to a good home, is so liberating.  At the same time, it is easy to recognize how much money was wasted buying the things and how much better off I might have been if I never bought the stuff in the first place.  But that is another issue for another post.

So...where do I go from here?

1.  Collect the stuff to sell (and give away)
2.  Get ready to enjoy the freedom of the space.

There is a song by Sheryl Crow where the lyrics go something like...

"its not having what you want it's wanting what you've got"

And that is it.  Sometimes you have so much that you can't enjoy it.  Not that this is my case.  I just want to be simple about what I have...especially if it feels like clutter.  I want my stuff to fit into my newly balanced life.  That is the plan, anyway.

Peace.

Mark.