Monday, May 21, 2012

Kicking the Clutter, Yard Sale Style


You're not a victim.  You allow each item in your home to be there.
Do you love it all?  Do you find it useful or beautiful?" 

The quotes are from Simply Organized, one of my guidebooks for this year.  It's been my mantra the last few months as I've tried to purge my home of all that I don't really love, that I don't really use, that isn't really beautiful. 

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a home you could clean in its entirety in just a few hours so that you could devote the rest of your weekend to enjoying time with your family and friends?"

Yes! This is what I want, especially as we start fresh in our new home.

"A decluttered, simple home will remove much of your physical stress and exhaustion. You won't feel overwhelmed when you walk in the front door....and you'll be able to guiltlessly kick up your feet and rest, enjoying the few things you do have because you truly enjoy them all." 

Amen.  I want this so much - a simple, decluttered home, where I truly enjoy the few things I have.   This is a challenge when I also really love to decorate and be creative and the knick-knack and crafty stash tends to get out of control! 


Sister purged too, and last Friday and Saturday the purge culminated in the mother of all garage sales. 
(Wish I would have gotten a better picture, but since my phone was stolen at our garage sale last year I was paranoid about even taking it out of the house and ended up hurriedly snapping a couple and then taking it back inside to safety ;)

It was Huge. This picture does not even capture the size as there are three more tables and a whole year strewn with stuff.  Honestly, it was humbling.  Sure, there's always going to be kid's clothes and toys that are grown out of and need to go, but a good bit of the stuff on the tables were impulse purchases, things I never really needed, and things that I just had carried around to for six years and never used once.  Seeing it all out there strengthened my resolve even more to keep the clutter out and simply to be a better steward with what God has given me.

It was the best getting to do it with my sister.  Would not have been any fun without her. 
Picture was taken the second sale day as the rain was coming down.  Yeah, I was ready to be done. ; )


Entrepreneurial cousins set up a little shop to raise funds for their Club House.  Cute-Cute.



So thankful to be all done.  Now to take the heaping left-overs to Goodwill and start packing!

6 comments:

  1. way to go, Cailan!
    Would have loved to come to your sale! :-)

    Thanks for sharing those quotes from "Simply Organized" - you're such an inspiration to me!

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  2. I wish we had space to do a garage sale :) I just went through a lot of my stuff and it does really feel so good to get rid of it! Plus, it makes me feel a lot less stressed!

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  3. I read that book a while back and did the same thing. We purged our home (twice) and sold the items at yard sales. I feel like we still have too much stuff and it needs to be done again. Like you, I love the idea of my home being filled only with items that I truly love and/or truly need. I was recently told by a close friend that she considers us to be minimalists. It was the most wonderful compliment, and made me feel like we are well on our way to that goal :)

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  4. great job on the sale!! i did this before we moved and sold SO MUCH STUFF!!! it really was humbling!

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  5. Congrats on lightening your load!
    I keep reminding myself "Less stuff is less to dust, clean, pack, unpack..."

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  6. Good for you for getting rid of all you excess stuff! We just had our whole house painted and I not only had to move my furniture, but all my knick knacks, stuff on the walls, stuff in the closests, etc. downstairs into the basement. Now that I'm starting to put stuff back into place, I realize that I seriously want to minimize that "stuffy" look! I'm liking the clean look of not so much stuff on the walls and knick knacks.

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