Today I have been cleaning out our storage trailer. A lot of items have been in storage for years, and as I was going through it today, I just had to question myself as to why I am keeping all of this stuff.

I find it hard to let go of stuff. I’m a hoarder and that scares me sometimes. I don’t want to grow old and have so much stuff that I can’t manage it. Then it’ll be left for someone to take care of when I’m gone. I don’t want clutter and mountains of junk to be my legacy. So I’ve been trying lately just to let things go.

‘Clean House’ has become one of my favorite shows. I watch it to get the courage to let some things go. I did good today as I have another truckload to donate. I think we will be down to two boxes – mostly books, yearbooks, and items I just can’t part with. We still have a lot of comics and some other items that I want to try to sell on eBay.

I threw away today letters from high school that I had been keeping for whatever reason. I used to love to read old letters but now it just seems like ancient history and not really relevant to my life. With that in mind, it is making is easier to let things go.

My husband would love to live as minimalists. The first time he brought up the idea I balked at it but now I’m thinking it might be a good idea. That is, if we can ever thin down our stuff to a small, manageable amount.

For the month of August, we are going to cut out any unnecessary spending. Of course, this scares this shop-a-holic, believer in retail therapy to death. But I’m hoping that this will help us keep more of our hard-earned money. I’m an impulse buyer but only on items under $10. If an item is $15, then I will fret for weeks about buying it but in the meantime I might spend a $100 on smaller items.

During the month, we are also going to do some major decluttering in our home and in our storage. August is the hottest month in Mississippi, so I might have to do some of this in the middle of the night just to beat the heat. But I really want to get as much done as possible.

I just need to tackle a little each day and then hopefully I can start seeing some progress which will motivate me to keep going.

After reading about Don Aslett on a post over at The Lazy Organizer, I was intrigued by it enough to check out who he was. He has written several books on cleaning and clutter.

Having a ton of stuff that I feel is weighing me down, I wanted to buy one of his books. So, I found one on Amazon that looked promising and will hopefully help me kick the clutter habit. It’s Clutters Last Stand and while I’ve only read a few pages, I’m ready to de-junk my home.

Clutter affects me daily. I put off doing things because I have to clean a spot off to do it. It takes forever to clean because of the clutter and putting away everything. I’m so ready to make a change and live with less. Hopefully it will take less time to clean plus my mind will not be on the clutter and hopefully I can be more productive.

So far I have taken one load to the thrift store. It felt so good to not only sort through some things but to get rid of the stuff we’re not using anymore.

I live in a state of chaos. The older I get, the more it bothers me. So it’s getting to the point that if I don’t do something about the clutter, then I could lose all sanity.

To tackle the problem all at once would be a daunting task. In fact trying to do it all at once will literally drive me insane. Today I’ve decided to list everything that needs to be organized and then prioritize the list.

One of our problem areas is our board games and card games. My husband has a tone of Magic the Gathering cards which he is willing to sell a lot of them but will probably keep at least 25%-50% of his collection. I’m thinking that our games and cards will be the area I focus on this weekend. My solution involves buying a storage cabinet. I had thought a bookshelf would serve our needs well but like the idea of a cabinet better. That way I can just close it up, not looking at the clutter inside should it get messy. When a bookshelf is cluttered, it is on display. At least a cabinet can be closed, hiding the mess inside.

We’ll see how it goes. I might change my mind altogether once I see what cabinets are available locally.