Sunday, November 20, 2011

0004 - Dropping the lbs

I'm starting to take this weight thing to a whole new level. Today I went through a bunch of magazine clippings... recipes... articles... craft projects, trimming off every spare centimeter of excess paper. As I did it I tossed the clippings into a plastic shopping bag because it's easier to contain that way, but it also made me realize how much all those scraps weighed. So now me trimming off excess white space isn't just some weird OCD tic of mine - it's actually important and/or useful. :)

Seriously though, I'm in the process of packing up the house bit by bit, and going through things to decide what stays and what goes is part of that process. Today I focused on getting rid of magazines and recipes I've held onto for years, and honestly, I found that some of them didn't interest me anymore anyway. So it begs the question of why I held onto them in the first place. Here's a non-paper example of my typical rationale: I had a t-shirt so threadbare it was almost transparent, but I held onto it, telling myself it was comfy and I shouldn't get rid of it until it completely fell apart. I've had it since the seventh grade, so it was an astounding twenty-six years old! I haven't worn it in over a year, so I finally threw it away (it was a sleep shirt and I tend to hold on to those for much longer than clothes I actually wear out in public). Anything still wearable that I decide to toss, I'll donate, so Goodwill is going to love me this year.

Getting started is always the hard part because I have to create a shift in my thinking, and I am sometimes illogically attached to things (as I've pointed out). In some ways I can understand the hoarding mindset. I don't like to let go of something because I'm afraid the moment I do, I'll need it or want it or miss it, plus it's genetic, my grandmother holds onto everything. By the same token, I hate clutter, so what that means is that I typically hide my clutter in drawers and closets and cabinets. In the very near future, I won't have all the nooks and crannies and hidey-holes I have now, so it's best to transition toward minimalism sooner rather than later.

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