Heart To Heart to HomeTalk

 I left home at 21 so I have 
over 40 years of accumulating
stuff,organizing it, and storing it.

I have also purged hundreds of items, 
no, more like thousands of pieces of my own STUFF
and I cannot begin to guess at the thousands of 
client's belongings I have sifted, 
sorted, trashed, bagged, donated and 
wrangled into submission.

and yet....
I continue to purge frequently.
WHY?
I'll tell you a secret..
the stuff breeds
No other explanation....

As I reviewed the pics I recently shared,
I noticed many items that I never or rarely use.
Granted, they are all neat and tidy and I have 
created efficient ways to store them, but 
why would I keep them?

While I've pondered this a lot lately, my good friend 
Sue has said "but you have the space
 to store them and your house is all clean and tidy
so what does it hurt?"
Granted.. I do not have overstuffed drawers, 
unidentified boxes or bins, crowded
closets that you have to push the door closed
with your hip but still...
Why should I keep a food mill that I might use 
every two years, or 4 -9"cake pans 
for the rare occasion I bake 
2 double layer cakes at the same time? (never) 
and I baked only one cake in all of last year!
So I am going to switch gears on you
from the organizing posts I had planned.

To start with 
I am going to re-show you that cupboard
on the porch. All nice and tidy..


I am going to give myself 
a heart to heart to home talk
 and show you what happens.

I will honestly tell you and show
you how I work through this.
egads

How I plan to rid myself of
Just In Case Items that are 
so unnecessary.
JICI items are now my enemy.

Over the years I have read of several plans 
to de-clutter
1st day- throw out one item
2nd day - throw out 2  
etc for 30 days
(I know folks who would count post it notes and pencils)
OR
pick a number of items of clothing say
100 and edit down till you reach that goal.

Now both of these and others are said to work
and I do believe they help you concentrate
 on your needs versus your wants,
but none of us live in the same spaces,
with the same amount of family members,
in the same climates,
with same job wardrobes etc...

A person living in 5,000 sq feet making $300,000
a year who entertains clients and friends every weekend
has different needs than my daughter,
living in 400 sq feet who meets friends out for dinner,
freelances and crosses her fingers for income.

So a heart to heart to home
for each of us is crucial.

I am an excellent purger,
organizer, and tidiness freak,
always have been,
and yet I have JICI's by the bagful..
now known to me as "jickies".

If a constant purger and organizer
 can down size, what can you accomplish?

I have no idea if I can do this
as well as I hope to,
but follow along and watch me 
succeed or flop...
I promise to be 100% honest,
and I may hit some bumps,
so feel free to call me on it.
My stomach just clenched,
when I looked up and noticed my paperbacks.
I love the look of my mini library....
Oh no!
What have I done?
Thank heavens I'm not starting in this room!
*********************
Ten minutes later
I had this....






with this...
headed out the door


On the top shelf were some float glasses
and vintage juice glasses from
my Grandmother.
I decided to get rid of my plain juice glasses 
from the kitchen and swap out for the yellow ones.
I'll enjoy using these much more.


I tested the amount of liquid 
held by another set of glasses I
frequently use (on the left) and discovered it held
 more than the specialty 
float glasses so out they go.
I also purged..

 *1 glass covered cake plate - kept one

 *some tupperware I never use
because other storage containers
 work just as well.

* the aforementioned food mill

*plastic popcorn holders cute but not necessary

*a fourth springform pan
(I kept mixed set of three sizes)
I had kept this fourth one cause it had the neat
raised insert which I never used!

*a small rice cooker 
lost my mind at 3 am on QVC one night....


I will give to whichever kid wants it.



* small barbecue tools I got for son
who has since moved and sold his barbecue


Since I took the pic I also purged the brown snack set
on the second shelf.
I am struggling with the vintage bowl stack..
occasionally used BUT>>they are JICIS

Then I hit the candle cupboard and purged into a box all 2/3rds
used up candles and scents I did not like.
A friend said she wanted them.
This freed up two drawers.
One I filled with extra outdoor candle holders
that were in a box in the garage;
and I still have one empty drawer, 
and more space on garage shelf.

None too shabby for ten minutes, eh?
Getting the idea?
Getting the groove?
I am psyched!

z