Simplify! Do or die!

So I am a bit of a hoarder. And I like to keep my house as a museum, everything is on display! It has never bothered me before that my house has always been a little cramped and messy because of the countless picture frames, souvenirs and books scattered over every available surface. But recently I have started to feel like maybe I do have a few too many things on display...just a few!

Therefore I have started a project. I am going to organize my belongings, get rid of things I don't use or need and move my furniture around to hopefully create a bit more space and flow in my apartment. I have already started and I must say I am quite proud of myself. Being a hoarder means it's really hard to throw things away, and I get emotionally attached to random things like my old broken shoes, notes from school, old doodles etc. And I have tried many a time to organize my things and throw stuff like that away, but I always get caught up in the good memories attached to these things and find it hard to get rid of them. Furthermore I am all for recycling and not throwing anything away if it can still be used, even though I might never actually get around to doing something with it. But this time I toughened up and got rid of a whole lot of stuff, that I would normally have kept "in case I might need it later". Granted, I have only thrown away crafty bits and bobs, old papers and junk jewelry I wasn't using anymore. But I will still count that as a victory! I don't think I will ever bring myself to throw away souvenirs or mementos, but maybe I can put some of them away and rotate them, so my house won't have that cramped feeling. We'll see...

This simplifying my life also means an overhaul of my library, which is maybe the hardest thing to do! I hate getting rid of books. But if I didn't really like them and I know I won't read them again, there is no reason for them to take up place on my bookshelf. And in town there is a used-book store that takes your books and gives you store credit to buy other books, so...

I get this urge to simplify my life maybe once or twice a year. Usually I will make a start of it and then it will peeter out once I have thrown away a few old notes from school or something. But this time it feels like it will last for a while, so maybe I will manage to overhaul my apartment and simplify my life just a little bit. Wish me luck!

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