Decluttering

Just added a link to Rhonda Ganz's new blog Get Rid of One Thing a Day, which is pretty self-explanatory. Rhonda has set herself the goal of doing this for a year, blogging about it and showing a picture of everything.

She lives in Victoria so for local people there is extra interest in following because she will accept donations to a girls' school in Africa for stuff she doesn't have a home for.

Last year I just know my average must have been one thing a day at least, but it was all crammed into a three-week fling and pack frenzy in Mesa. No way could I have taken a photo of every item, let alone blogged about it!

What, if anything, have I learned from all of this?

1) Replacement costs here are higher than I expected, even figuring in the exchange rate

2) Rubber stamps are even more expensive than that

3) Despite all the purging I have still given stuff to the Sally Ann here

4) I discovered a man's raincoat which I brought thinking it was a woman's coat that I would need

5) Someone used a really ugly orange crochet cushion as packing material

6) I nearly lost a pack of old, old family photos and did not even miss them until someone mailed them to me

7) I truly believe in baraka and paying it forward -- we have been blessed with more stuff including a baby activity car, a silk blouse in my colours, a Marilyn Brooks "Insane Clown Posse" tunic, really cute fuzzy non-slips socks, and just today some extra teaspoons that are similar to what we have

8) Am learning to minimize knickknacks and have NO, zip, zilch, nada fridge magnets. It would be nice to pretend that the fridge is pristine and elegant a la June Cheever but that would be fibbing. But it's all done with masking tape now, no magnetic fields, no choking hazards, no scratches in the enamel!

Tomorrow is dedicated to creating (and perhaps even completing, who knows!) My camera is going out of town but will post pix early in the week I hope.