Well, I wouldn't say that it's all done...but a lot is! Sunday I took a CARLOAD (subaru outback full) of stuff to Value Village (one of my fave thrift stores, always good finds!). It took me and the guy 20 mins to unload. WOW. I felt 100lbs lighter. I felt like I purged so much from my life.
The weekend before Ryan and I had been pretty ruthless in clearing our closets. I stopped counting when we'd each hit 100. I took 7 bags of clothes, each having approximately 50 items in them. The bag of baby stuff had to have more, but I rounded it all up to 350. I also put a bag of about 40 items aside for another mama I know who's little girl is smaller than Ruby. Whew. Amazing. I also dropped off 20 books. Books I've read more than once, and need to share. Books I probably won't read again honestly. Truly, it felt fantastic to get rid of it all. My parents had stopped by, as they drove from Seattle to Eugene, and my dad helped me load up the car while Ryan worked in the garden. My mom asked if there was anything left in our closets. Sadly... they are still full, but they are much more representative of who we are and what we really wear.
Today, after morning nap, Ruby and I went back to the thrift store, as I was looking for a clothesline and some clothespins (I forgot to look for them... I got sidetracked in baby clothes) and a wooden push toy for Ruby. I ended up leaving VV with 3 dresses for Ruby and a pair of Hanna Pants for someone else - or a future baby (sz 60) for less than $10. Several of these dresses she won't wear till fall or winter, but great buys! I then went to Village merchants, another amazing local thrift shop. There I found a box of wooden blocks (just like the ones I had growing up!) for $6 and a wooden xylophone (doesn't make much noise, but that's ok by me!) and suction bowl for Ruby's self feeding. Again, spent less than $10, and had so much fun. I just love thrifting. Everything seems like a treasure when its got a red dot sticker with a hand written price tag.
Ryan came home from work a little early, took Ruby to the coffee shop and left me alone for 90 mins to work on my treasure map. I had cut out most of it while Ruby napped on my back this morning (that will give you a sore back, I tell ya!). As soon as they were out the door, I put on my favorite music mix and got to work. Within an hour, I had a good portion of it laid out and glued. It went so fast, and random pictures and words fit so well. I did my TM with the Feng Shui Bagua, the structure helped, as I'm too tired these days to really be super creative. I left space for affirmations, and will think through this in the next day or so. Sigh.. it feels good!
I've also had a few minutes here and there to craft! Knit mostly while Ruby naps on my chest in the wrap... but it's dinner time, so I'll tell you all about that later.
Decluttering is so freeing and yet so tedious! We're moving out of our house for remodel and it's forcing us to revisit all the stuff we've been gathering over the years. It's refreshing but definitely time-consuming. And all the waste! Our house is like one big trash can it seems. Probably because I'm a packrat and don't want to come to terms with the fact that even though I can invent a use for all things, I won't exactly have the time to put them all to good use. Definitely going to be a kibosh on acquiring new things while we're in our temporary digs too, so that will be refreshing. Thanks for inspiring me to work hard on my own de-cluttering... sometimes a little extra inspiration is all the motivation I need.
Posted by: Shetha | April 24, 2007 at 10:34 AM
It is so nice, isn't it? We have been doing that over here too! I can't believe some of the stuff I got rid of, and I remember while putting some things into a bag, how... HAPPY I was too see it go!
I LOVE spring cleaning!
-H
Posted by: Hed | May 02, 2007 at 12:44 PM
So much to declutter, so little time. We're still in process over here, but we've come a long way.
I can't believe Ruby's almost walking...
Posted by: Jenn | May 05, 2007 at 03:45 PM