One of my employees was talking about a 1,2,3,…,20 day challenge where you get rid of one thing in your house on day one, two on day two and so on. It got me thinking about the things in our home and whether they are essential to our everyday living and at what point do “essential” objects just become stuff and getting rid of it will make life a little simpler. So I thought I would categorize items from essential down to stuff that I can definitely do without. If you are like my father-in-law, he would just build another garage to put all his “new”(gems found at auctions) stuff that does not fit into his house or other garages. If you are like this employee, if she didn’t use it in the last month, then it is more than likely unneeded and can be gotten rid of. I am somewhere in between leaning more towards my father-in-law.
Essential-
There are a few things in my life that are essential to me that I would hate to ever get rid of. My lazy boy, piano, bed, 3 favorite hats(by 3 I mean ten), guitar, golf clubs, and coffee maker I could not part with. These are probably not the only essential items I could not part with but a good smattering of ones I can recall instantly. The reason I am in between the two people above is because there is more than likely a few things my wife could pull off the shelf that I have not seen for years that would pull my heart strings if I was forced to part with it.
Close to Essential-
High school yearbook, old family photographs, Settlers of Catan, my Honda Civic, laptop, few books I own, and TV are a few items that are close to essential. Some of these items I could lose or not see and not remember but when I do run into them, I could barely bare to part with them. Also listed are items that if a newer improved version of the same thing came out, I probably would part with it but would be tough. Why I keep my high school yearbook I don’t know, but for some reason I just think I should keep it. I rarely watch TV but when prime sports are on, like I written about before, I get tugged into watching.
Tough To See Go-
Sports Illustrated magazines, old sheet music, old clothing, shoes, old wallet, little bit of oil left over from oil change, and much much more. Clothing is probably the toughest for me unless it is in complete disarray that I will not be able to wear it even at home without being embarrassed. Old music that I do not even play anymore, shoes that I will never wear, wallet that used to be great but got replaced with a newer better version, just so many things that I should get rid of but man would it be tough.
Got to go-
Raggedy clothes and socks, broken tools, tile that I took out and replaced with wood, old paint cans, all the junk that is still in boxes from when we moved into this house 8 years ago, boot dryer that doesn’t work, old cabinet parts, and where do I stop? I do have a lot of things that have been laying around just waiting for that perfect day that I will need to wear, use, reuse, fix, replace parts, and so on that I will need that piece of stuff to do it with. Problem is I have not done it yet and more than likely won’t ever. But my father-in-law knows exactly where that large gold hinge that he took off that cabinet from the farm home was put because he could use it for his sauna door.
So my plan is to start with the got to go and see how far I can make it into the tough to see go. Maybe shed a few tears along the way as I part with my valuable and sentimental stuff. Maybe have a little less cluttered house when it is all said and done. My wife will enjoy it as she is not her father. At all. Especially when it comes to stuff.
Well made it the whole 30. Had some setbacks in the final weeks with tomato based products so maybe found some foods that caused issues. I have not really added anything back into my diet yet so have gone 33 days now. Tough because I really want to add chips and bread but gluten is supposedly one of the last things to add. Will see how long I last.
