Autumn Cleaning?

The "Goodbye, have a nice life!" Pile

I don't know if it's just a case of "great minds" or what, but I seem to be stumbling on a lot of lovely lady bloggers who are currently along journeys to simplify their lives. Whether that means getting rid of excess clothing, letting go of overcomplications in their lives, or even pressure to blog, many of us seem to be "cleansing" right now. I know I am. Maybe it's the change of seasons?

Out of apparently nowhere, I went on a bit of a tangent around my house. We'll call it "The Great Purge." Don't get me wrong, I've gotten rid of things before, and I even occasionally purged, but there always seemed to be some kind of invisible line that said, "This far you may go, but no further!" which robbed me of real, dramatic freedom from my things. I introduced myself to the line, its name is "Good." It also goes by, "But I miiiight use it someday!"

See, the truth is, it's not that I have too much stuff in a general or realative sense. In fact, when I told my sister I was getting rid of stuff, she said she was actually surprised I had enough stuff to get rid of anything, ha. It's true, I'm still a bit of a newlywed, and H and I are still collecting the things that fill a home. But I guess what I realized is that I've allowed things to come into our home to fill those spaces just to fill those spaces, instead of because I actually love them! And, before we get all worked up about "loving stuff," the love I'm talking about is {obviously?} not the same "love" I hold for God, or my husband, or my baby, etc,etc. I'm just talking about an enjoyment. A happiness in looking around your home and being satisfied with the things you see. Make sense so far?

Anyway, when I looked around I saw a lot of "good" and "but I might use it eventually" that was crowding out the "love" and "I actually use right now." Most of it was stuff I just had to have at the time or things I thought I loved. It's actually a little shameful how many things I decided to part with that I actually registered for and received as wedding gifts. Sheesh. I also seem to be "collecting" furniture. And when I say furniture, I really just mean castoff things that "have character" i.e. things that have lived thier lives and probably deserve to retire. And, there are a few things with true potential, too. The thing is, I'm finding I have a "someday" problem. "Someday when we're in a bigger house, I'll need it" seems to be my mental refrain these days, and that's just not fair. Sure, we plan on ending up someplace else. But right now, we live here. So unless I want H to turn me into "Hoarders" and end up on television, I need to learn to let go and live in the house that I actually live in.....and maybe he'll reward me by buying me a quirky, overstuffed office chair when we do move to our someday house, haha.

So, all this is to say that come this Saturday, I am having my first ever very own yard sale! I've participated before, but never had one in my very own yard, so I'm very excited! It seems like the perfect end to a journey of comfy minimalism and self discovery.Okay, maybe not the end....maybe just a pit stop.