Minimalism

Ok. Really? You think... On a cloth diaper blog? Yep. On a cloth diaper blog. I know I for one have way. to. much. STUFF. And cloth diapers is a part of it. Yes, I actually said it! I have too many cloth diapers! But, I am so not ready to go to the minimum number of diapers I can get away with. Not yet, and probably not ever. I did though, start with getting rid of some random pocket diapers, some way too big prefolds, the gDiapers I don't use, some wool that doesn't fit, etc. Not all of it has sold yet, but I am trying! Its a start right? I think so.

But anyways this brings me back to the rest of the STUFF. My house is over run with it. What is it you ask? Well its just that, its STUFF! Small appliances we rarely use, too much clothing, WAY too many toys, knick knacks stored away in boxes, shoes, extra dishes and those plastic cups from restaurants. Yes, we have those, they make great bath time cups for rinsing out shampooed hair, but do we need all of them? Naw.... So I have challenged myself. Get rid of all the excess STUFF! It's going really well so far! I have been moving slowly, because I have to do it during nap times, and still run a household, but I have gained perspective on life. While I have been cleaning, reorganizing, cleaning and reorganizing again and again, of the same old stuff, I could have been spending more time with my family! Some one out in the internet world calls it the Sh** Shuffle. Yes, you read that right, the Sh** Shuffle. And it's so true! So as I go through my house, I think about each item I go through, Do I NEED this, will I USE this? Or is it something that I may use, or that I may need somewhere down the line? This has greatly helped me, in letting go of things.
My hang up though, is the sentimental stuff. Toys I had as a kid, old birthday/holiday cards. Someone had the great idea, of keeping those things for a year. Then the following year, toss the old ones, and keep the new ones. That way (now this is especially true from the cards from older relatives and friends), if someone happens to pass away, you have the last card they sent you, and that card can become something you treasure. Another idea was to keep those cards that had a special note written in them, because its not the card itself you will treasure, its that note that means something to you, because it was from someone you loved and cared about.
This goes for all places in your home, why are  you hanging on to all that stuff? For me, its because we could need it somewhere down the road, and I don't want to have to buy another of it. But chances are, I got a good deal on it, picked it up at a garage sale of thrift store, and it is replaceable. Getting that mentality down has significantly helped me to see that we do not need all these things taking up space, and our time, in our home.
So I challenge you, to do the same. Start small. go through your DVD collection, because chances are there are a couple DVDs in there you have no interest in watching, and are just taking up valuable space. Then move on, do your closet, look at each piece, does this fit? Will I really ever wear it again? If those answers are no, get rid of it!
Now you ask, ok, I have all this stuff, what do I do with it now? Well, the volume of things I am getting rid of is so large, that we are going to have a garage sale. With that money, I am going to buy a really nice stroller, that will serve as a double, or a single, so I can get rid of all my other strollers, because right now, I have 4 in my garage! EEK! yep, 4 strollers. I would rather just get rid of all of them, and get 1 stroller that I really like.  So you see, there is a reward for me at the end of all of this. And whatever does not sell, I am doing to donate. There are many charities around me, always looking for donations, so that's where everything else will go.
I want to feel liberated from all my STUFF. Don't you?