Coming Clean

You may have heard that we are moving in less than a month into a tiny 1-bedroom apartment. The cleaning/packing party is in full swing and I LOVE it. I hate clutter and love getting rid of things. I'm pretty good at regularly culling our possessions and tossing things we obviously don't need anymore. Our current house is a 2-bedroom condo, not a McMansion, so it's not like we have a lot of stuff - or so I thought. As I've been going through everything, I've made a sad realization: I've been lying...to myself.

Some examples of the lies I've been telling myself over the last few years:

Those pillows left over from our old couch - I'm going to make new covers for them and use them for something else.

That cardigan that fits awkwardly, which I somehow failed to notice when I bought it - Can't get rid of that, I just bought it! Plus the print is super cute. 

That stack of sweaters I haven't touched in years - I'm just waiting for the right outfit and opportunity to bust them out. 

Those t-shirts I've been toting around and collecting since high school - I'm going to sleep in those.

These college textbooks and teaching materials - I might need those if I ever teach again. 

That Roomba and Scooba that haven't worked in over a year and have been living under our dresser since then - Trying to fix them will be a good weekend project

That candle I got on clearance at Kohl's after-Christmas sale 2 years ago, even though I'm not sure why because I really don't like how it looks - Well, you can never have too many candles.

These Blu-rays, 90% of which have never even been taken out of the box - We're definitely going to watch those. All of them.

That Sony point-and-shoot camera from freshman year of college - We'll totally use that when we go on a trip and don't want to lug a DSLR around. 

That collection of blankets that could fill a whole closet - We need them for when people stay the night, obviously. 

But I'm ready to come clean - literally and figuratively.

Our couch came with pillows to match it, we don't need any more; the fact that I just bought that cardigan doesn't make it fit any better; there is no right time to wear those sweaters, they're just not cute; those t-shirts are way too uncomfortable to sleep in; even if I were to go back to the classroom it would be a million years from now, and books are heavy to move; I'd rather buy a new Roomba (and I no longer need Scooba) than put in the time, effort, and money trying to fix them; you can have too many candles if they're ugly; we don't watch Blu-rays, that's what Netflix is for; it's 2014, my iPhone probably takes better pictures than that camera; we don't even have a place for guests to sleep over and, unless we're going to house a village on our couch and floor, we don't need 12 different blankets for that.

Goodwill Trip #1

Seven trash bags of clothes and housewares, 100+ books, 50+ movies, 18 eBay sales of some seriously random crap later, it's gone. As I keep finding new things, if I can't find a use for it or a real reason to keep it in the next few weeks, it's going too. Not only are we definitely moving to a small space for the next 2 years, but there's a good possibility we'll be city living after that, and we definitely won't have the space or need for anything extra. No more excess, no more duplicates, no more "Just in case"s or "That way, we have it"s. If we don't truly need it, we don't keep it. Bare bones, people.