Posts
A first post, a fresh start.
Hello friends, self, mom, and whomever happens to be reading this. Today is the day that I hope I will look back on and remember as the beginning of a great new phase in my life.
If you know me, you know I'm a little obsessive about getting rid of stuff. But, if you are anything like me, living in a city apartment with children, you understand that the never-ending attack of 'things' and 'stuff' on your space can start to feel oppressive and if you allow it to, your stuff will take over. Maybe you have a giant house with a basement and 23 walk-in closets (in which case I can guarantee you have too much stuff), but chances are you are like us, with minimal space and kind-of indulged children, and a home that you are constantly trying to rescue from disarray. You're trying, I know. I'm trying too...but sometimes it seems impossible to keep up with. I think it should not have to be so much work just to keep our homes livable. My personal goal, and what I hope to help others achieve in their own environments, is to find the healthiest way to make the most of what we have, without over-consuming, and to be devoted being mindful when purchasing and disposing of goods.
I will strive to provide ideas here, not only ideas for how to best make use of your space, but also ideas on how to save money, and help others and the environment by utilizing the resources available to us to find new homes for useful goods, and to appropriately dispose of those that are no longer functional.
Maybe I care too much about what happens to my stuff when I get rid of it (O.C.D? Yes!), but I truly believe that everyone should care SOMEWHAT about how they dispose of their unused and unwanted items. If you are a person who just puts perfectly good electronics in the (wrong) recycle bin in the trash room, because you can't be bothered to find someone who wants it or at the very least wait until an e-waste event comes to a school-yard near you, then then you are not likely to understand where I am coming from.
We went on vacation, to a gorgeous place on the planet, which looked like this:
It was a lovely vacation, very long and fun, and though challenging in some ways, it was a luxury I am grateful to be able to share with my children. After almost 10 days looking at this:
..... I was extremely relaxed, and calm.
Then we got home, and walked into our apartment. My very first thought upon being hit in the face with the insane amount of STUFF AND THINGS that I saw was "OH MY GOD I WANT TO GIVE IT ALL AWAY!!"
Now, I realize that we all need some things-n-stuff. The boy child really got into his stuff-n-things that he had not seen for over a week, and the girl child enjoyed adding yet another pile of dust-collectors to her dusty collection of stuff-n-things when I unpacked all the stuff (n'things) that we had not used on the whole trip. However, though not exactly an epiphany, since this is my personal cause, I did realize that part of what was so relaxing for me on the trip was the simple fact of not being surrounded by too much all the time. Too many clothes, too much decoration, too many toys and so on, etc. If we never had come home, I'm not sure I would have missed anything except the hamsters.
So, starting today, I am promising to myself and my family that we will make every effort to reduce, reuse and recycle. I add 'rehome' to that list because I strongly feel that we all have something to get rid of that someone else can use. My very first link, on that note, is for this awesome company that you may have heard of: Wearable Collections. A friend and neighbor started this company, which has convenient collection spots in greenmarkets and apartment buildings city-wide. Most of us try to give away still-wearable clothing to friends with smaller kids, or to Salvation Army and so on. But if you don't know what to do with the sheets, towels, ripped or otherwise past-use textiles (and shoes), please investigate dropping them off with a Wearable Collections representative at a greenmarket. You will feel good about it, I promise!
Here is the link!
http://wearablecollections.com/
