Forty days, forty bags

Last week a friend of mine told me that for the forty days of Lent, she's working on eliminating forty bags of clutter from her home. I love this idea! I have a hard time getting rid of things. Much of my clutter is sentimental; parting with things like pictures my children have drawn and items that were given to me by family members is heartbreakingly difficult for me. The rest of my "junk" consists of things that I've accumulated during the moves I've made throughout my life--from Michigan to Nebraska to Wisconsin to New York. In addition, my parents are in the process of cleaning out their house so they can sell it, and they've given me all of the stuff they've been storing for me for years: old school papers and projects, books, toys, even clothes. I don't know what to do with it all.

When I came to New York, I moved into my then-boyfriend-now-husband's house, which is tiny and already filled with things belonging to him and his two older sons. Much of my stuff went directly from the moving van to the basement, where it's stayed since late 2004. I can never seem to find the time or the inclination to go through all of the boxes. Just the thought of having to sort through years of memories and the detritus of my life makes me feel helpless, and the few times I've gone downstairs to survey my piles of boxes, I haven't even known where to begin.

The forty days, forty bags idea seems like a great place to start (even though I'm already a few days behind). I still feel overwhelmed at the prospect of going through all of my things, so I think I will modify the idea a bit. Instead of trying to rid myself of forty bags worth of stuff, I want to go through one box a day, which seems like a reasonable, attainable goal.

I intend to start this project tomorrow. I know it probably seems weird, but I'm a little nervous about what I'll find when I excavate my past. I've kept so much that I really don't know what I own anymore, and I'm crossing my fingers that my sentimental nature will allow me to part with the things that I truly don't need. It's the memories that get me. It's so hard to let go.

I'll update as I go through the process. Wish me luck! 

Is it weird that I want to pat myself on the back?

I am horrible about throwing things away, especially if they have sentimental value. As a result, the four of us live in a very cluttered house. I've tried many times to declutter, but I get overwhelmed by the number of boxes and piles of stuff we have, and trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of is difficult for me. However, today I want to pat myself on the back because, although I've only been a Flybaby for four days, I've slowly been making a dent in my clutter, and I finally feel hopeful about getting this house in order. Every week we clean one zone--this week is the kitchen--and I find it so comforting to know that as I scrub my counters or clean out my refrigerator, people all over are doing the same thing. As silly as it probably sounds, I don't feel so alone anymore, and that in itself helps so much.

In addition to making headway on the cleaning, last night I made some progress with my novel. Yesterday was what Flylady calls Anti-Procrastination Day, and she advises everyone to do whatever it is that he or she has been putting off. For me, it was my novel, although I haven't been putting it off so much as I've been putting it last each day. Yesterday I actually gave it priority, and I logged into my favorite writing chat room and got some words down, so I'm really happy about that.

I'm feeling pretty good right now on the progress I've made on the house and on my writing, and I'm hoping I can keep up my enthusiasm and momentum.