Can we talk about this for one minute?
I will be sleeping in the guest room tonight.... for the next year.
I found a literal bag of trash in my attic a few days ago that I'm pretty sure went on the moving truck for my current house... 6 years ago. Nothing gross, just shredded papers and cardboard meant for recycling and instead filed away in the attic with all the other things I neeeeeeeeeed to have but never look at.
It's insanity.
I have about 3 feet of counter space in my tiny kitchen, one foot of which is next to the oven. Do you know what's occupying that precious foot of space?
That's right. Another tiny oven. Toaster oven to be exact. Life makes no sense.
I'm one person. My daughters are 5 and 3 and they are here 50% of the week. My dogs don't cook their food in the toaster oven.
Right above my head is another 500 square feet of stuff laying on more stuff all in boxes just waiting. Every other weekend I head up there intending to clean everything out, and then I find a birthday card from my first daughter's first birthday and I cry and nothing seems real anymore so I come back down with my tail between my legs and binge-watch Supernatural. I have no fancy tips for figuring this out.
The way is rough. I could donate everything, or burn it for warmth, but I'm practical and I think "If I get rid of this pair of socks, will I need them someday? My great-grandparents would know how to fix them. They will end up in a landfill and someday my great-grandchildren will stand before me with accusing eyes and ask why - when my socks are the one piece that sends the environment over the edge - I chose to throw them away starting a chain reaction that ended with the death of the planet."
Or I think "You could sell everything in the house and finally have the money to do that crazy idea you been thinking about since 5 seconds ago."
So here's my plan. I'm throwing everything into one room in the house and closing the door. I can open that door up after several glasses of wine and put my hand on one thing that will be dealt with, thrown away, fixed, donated, sold,
burned in the back yard while I dance around it cackling.
Whatever way your minimalism works.