We've been working inconsistently over the last 12 months to rid ourselves of 30+ years of clutter. We've moved so many times and each time took all the clutter with us, yes we packed it up and moved the crap instead of throwing it out. We never knew what we may need in our new house, our new city, our new state. Was there another child to be born, etc.
We've spent the last 16 years in San Antonio. Our two children attended high school here, and went to college with this being their home of record. They studied abroad and again this was their home of record. At the end of each college year they brought home that years worth of Everything and returned in the fall leaving last year behind in their home of record. Our son then started medical school and again, San Antonio was his home of record. Our daughter graduated from college and went into the military (yes ROTC paid for an Ivy League education). Again her college stuff was left at home........"HEY KIDS, ARE YOU EVER COMING HOME TO TAKE YOUR CRAP?".
NO they didn't, it stayed here at their home of record and we've gotten tired of looking at it, shuffling around it, we want it out but it has too much identifiable information so it has to be gone through piece by piece and shredded. We're currently on our 4th shredder but this time we got smart, we bought a heavy duty sucker and it's been a dream come true.
We do our best to ensure that twice this amount goes out twice a week with trash and twice a year during brush pick up (where they pick up anything that's drug out to the street except for dangerous chemicals).
We are hoping that before the end of this year, 2008, that we can recoup much of our house space that's been taken up with the remnants of our children's lives.
3 hours ago
4 COMMENTS:
We finally did a big weeding out at our last move (though, granted, nothing like the grander scale you are talking), and I'm trying not to let more crap accumulate. It annoys me that I even own as much as I do when it wasn't long ago that everything fit into the back of the car I drove out here in post-Japan. I think you are on the right path having a plan and working at it little by little with a goal in mind. Anything else can be too overwhelming or too easy to keep putting off, at least if you are how I am. How nice, too, to watch it slowly take shape as the year marches on. Cool!
We did this two years ago. We were a military family and dragged everything with us for years because we were always unsure of what we would need at the next place. We retired 7 years ago and it took me awhile to get used to the idea that we weren't going to move again. Once I realized we were growing roots...I began to declutter...and have been working on it ever since.
I've been working on that, too. We'll be moving into our new house in less than 2 months, and the junk has to go!!!
Your family sounds ... normal. If they were all nice and got along, that'd be dysfunctional!
Forgiving is the important thing. It can be hard to do. At least you guys try, I've seen to many families that refuse to do even that. Life's too short to let grudges hold you back from spending time with the ones you love.
We've only been in this house for almost 5 years and also need to declutter. Only problem is that everytime I bring out the garbage bags, my husband goes through them and brings half of the crap back downstairs. It then sits in bags in his workshop for a couple of years (because I *told* you we didn't need it, honey) until I finally go down and lug it out to the trash while he's at work. Sometimes, it's better if they don't know what's going on. LoL.
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