Konmari all the things.

In the past two days I have gone through sweaters, shirts, pants, skirts, scarves, socks, bracelets, shorts, necklaces, rings, bags, books, notebooks, binders, magazines, and pictures.

We made one massive trip to Goodwill with another planned. I recycled three paper grocery bags full of papers. I condensed over three boxes of photographs into one. I freed up my half of the guest room dresser, half of my daughter’s closet and two under-the-bed storage bins from clothes. I took two banker boxes and one under-the-bed bin’s worth of memorabilia down to a 14x11x6.5″ box.

I don’t feel incredibly changed at this point. I thought I would. I don’t feel less frantic or more put together. I don’t feel tidy. I do feel disbelief over how much space we devote to things that have outlived their purpose. And even after focusing on those items that give me joy, I feel disbelief over how much stuff we have in general. I feel guilt over items I purchased to purchased. And a bit of shame over having gotten rid of so much stuff and not really noticing a difference. 

Fred told me yesterday that everything looked the same after two days of reducing. I don’t think it was meant to be a judgement but I walked him around the house to point out all of the nooks and crannies that were once full and are now free. Boxes. Bins. Baskets. Shelves. Drawers. Closets.

Clothes from high school. Binders from college. Jewelry from weddings. Blurry pictures. Things from Target. Past joys turned into burdens. Irrational fears of letting go and devaluing a relationship.