Getting rid of the clutter in my house has been freeing. Detaching from particular items has been freeing.  Opening up my cabinets and seeing space and not having to think about which glass to use has been freeing. All of these little steps that I’ve been taking have helped me to feel lighter and less overwhelmed in ways that I wasn’t really anticipating. It’s improved my life in ways that I didn’t realize needed improving.

I didn’t do the standard ‘sell’ ‘donate’ ‘trash’ boxes that are recommended going into a project like this. With the exception of a few higher end pieces which will go on eBay, everything has gone into one giant dumping place, resulting in an as of yet undecided continuum of should I or shouldn’t I have a yard sale.

So, what I have is a huge pile of clothes in the spare bedroom closet, and a huge pile of “other stuff” in the garage.  And a relatively small pile of items set aside and listing on eBay.  And the nice thing is that my over ambivalence to selling or donating these items has resulted in giving away a lot of items to friends that needed them.

Now granted, I’m allowing my friends to decide what they need and not pushing my new-found belief system on them. Sometimes I feel guilty about that, that the old stuff that was cluttering up my life, is now new stuff that is cluttering up their lives. But I don’t really feel that it’s my decision to make. And receiving these items have made my friends quite happy. My friend K who lives on a very limited budget for her and her son, was happy to receive high quality sheets and sweaters and some books from my collection. I gave my sewing machine, which never got used, to my friend whose own sewing machine was broken and sitting in a state of disrepair for several weeks. I delivered fabrics and sewing notions to another friend who is growing a side business selling handmade quilts and quilted accessories. And what I realized was that it felt REALLY GOOD to be able to support each of them in these little ways.

That being said, I think I probably will donate what remains after my friends have gone through what I am removing. Knowing that someone will be using items that they need and maybe could not afford to purchase otherwise makes me happy. Happier than the $100 or so that I would be bringing in from a yard sale.

No one has ever become poor by giving.