A Radical Plan

An idea popped into my head this morning as I was pumping gas. It’s the mundane tasks that leave our brains with time to wander and think of crazy ideas. Will it work? I don’t know. I’ll be biting off more than I can probably chew. What is it, you ask?

Decluttering. I’ve been at it for ages and I don’t seem to be making a dent. In fact, new stuff seems to be piling up just as I’m getting rid of the old. A few weeks ago we lost a television due to a freak lightening storm that a chat with our neighbor revealed struck directly on our lawn. The TV has been replaced and the old one plus the new one’s empty box are sitting in a corner of the dining room. The electronic hardware of our hot tub had to be replaced due to the same storm and the old hardware sits alongside the hot tub, waiting for someone to get rid of it. The stuff stays there becoming part of the daily landscape and it’s time to do something about it.

The plan is to get rid of 31 things every day during the month of October (I’m heading to Florida for a week tomorrow or I’d probably do it while I was full of energy for this idea). That would mean removing nearly 1,000 items from our household in a month’s time. Is it radical? Can it be done? I have 12 days to get my husband on board but I’ve decided to do it whether he wants to participate or not. The situation feels dire to me. I know household clutter isn’t a tragedy but to me it’s starting to feel like a heavy weight, one I need to do something about.

And it goes beyond clutter to the lifestyle we’ve been living. There is barely time between the idea of thinking there is something you absolutely need in your life before it can be delivered, sometimes in 24 hours thanks to Amazon Prime. The boxes in our garage attest to our powerful spending habit. Have I hit my decluttering bottom? Let’s hope. As Elizabeth Gilbert likes to say: Onward!

MC