1 Day At A Time.

This is a picture of underneath my bed. It wasn't always this way. It wasn't even this way at 8 am this morning. That's when I started working on cleaning it out. I couldn't see from one side through to the other. I was worried I might find something dead or on a better note, something valuable. But I didn't find anything dead or valuable.... all I found is junk. Junk that is leaving my house, one box at a time.

Its not easy to change a lifestyle that is on the road to Hoardersville (so not a real place, I checked). There are still days when I bring more into our home than I take out. But since we decided to make the move into the city, and thereby sacrifice the size of our house, I am committed to making this work for us. I still look at things & see value in them (when there is none or only sentimental value). My first impulse is still to hold on. Just in case...

But I know that our new, simplified (?) life won't allow for those things. And I am weirdly grateful for that. It's like there is someone standing over me (I picture Matt from the show Hoarders) telling me I can't fit all this stuff into my new apartment. And I know deep down he is right. I am right. It must go. 

Yesterday the kids & I rode my bike to the grocery store. I've done it before, lots. But now I am trying to do it with a  different frame of mind. What if we didn't have two vehicles? Could I work & live within my community? Do I need to use 1/2 a tank of gas each day to get done what needs to be done? Can I handle the limitations of the urban life we are chasing? Truth be told... I'm not sure.

But if practise makes perfect then I am by all means going to practise simplifying.

Yesterday I cleaned out the bathroom. Not a big job, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I finished with a full garbage bag & half a box of stuff donate. From a bathroom. That's embarrassing.

Today I tackled under the bed. And I was in The Groove. I pulled out a box of recycle, a box of donations & a bag of trash. It felt so good. When I was done, I just laid on the floor next to the bed for a while. Molly laid on my belly.

Then I did the closet (my side only.). Two garbage bags there, one to donate, one to drop off at the consignment store. 

1 Day At A Time.

And I should be ready by the summer.