An Experiment

I'm trying an experiment to de-clutter my life both physically and mentally.

I found a blog by a woman called Connie Komack in the U.S. (where else?) who started a year long mission to clear her apartment (and life) of one piece of clutter each day!

Here's the link to her first blog:
http://conniekomack.blogspot.com/2006/06/experiment-in-letting-go-part-1.html

I can't forsee me sticking to a whole year, but I know I can do it for three months at a time. So, my mission, and I DO choose to accept it is this:
Every day for the next three months I will throw out / give away / actually DO something with an item that has just been hanging around wasting space or cluttering up my life. I'm going to keep a day by day list of each thing I get rid of so I can see my progress, and keep myself honest.
There are a few rules though:
1. I can let go of things in groups and not literally clear one item each day, as long as the number of items and days are equal.

2. Material things include: furnishings, household items, clothing, books, cosmetics, weekly or monthly magazines, unopened food packages (canned goods, etc). [Junk mail, daily newspapers, opened food packages, rubbish, and miscellaneous papers do not count, though whole files or notebooks of papers do count.]

3. A Kilo of body weight does not qualify as an "item" until and unless the weight has been off for at least a month and does not return during the duration of the experiment.

4. De cluttering or 'letting go' of things can include bad or destructive habits (I think eating a WHOLE packet of Tim Tams in one sitting can be included in this category), weight - see rule #3, and even attitudes. (I have an ex that's still weighing heavily on my mind and I REALLY need to let go of him, but I think that's further down the road)

5. At the end of each month I'll post a new blog, updating on how each month went, the highs lows and sideways of doing this, and how I feel about it.

So, you ask, "why is she doing this?" I'm glad you asked :P

I live in the world's smallest unit (well, maybe not the world's smallest unit.There's probably a whole family in Rwanda squeezed into a room slightly more cramped than my place) and have far too much stuff in said unit, mostly stuffed into cupboards or gathering HUGE dust bunnies under my bed. I also hate the feeling I get every time I walk past, or climb over, something I know shouldn't be there or should be getting used for something other than keeping the dust from settling on the carpet.

I'm also a hoarder. I tend to keep things 'just in case' I can use them, and as a crafty type person who makes things I do tend to find uses for a lot of things, but it's getting to be a bit overloaded at the moment. I want to move in October and I know that if I do stick to this I'll get rid of so much unnecessary stuff it'll make my move easier.

Another reason for this is that by clearing out physical things I feel better about myself emotionally. I like to be in control of my surroundings and at the moment my surroundings are controlling me, so I'm taking charge of my life one piece of junk at a time.

I've never blogged properly before either. I've done little bits here and there but no proper write a bit each day, keep your reader wanting more kind of blogs. So this is also an exercise in creative writing which will, maybe, lead to some more interesting written wafflings.

I know that I'm starting a few days into May, but I got this idea 2 days ago, and couldn't sleep with the excitement - I had to get up at 11.45 at night, write all my thoughts on this in my book before I could get a good night's sleep. And I already had a few things sorted out that I could clear. While I'm writing this introduction I'm also starting my daily log of things I'm letting go and I'm already up to the 9th of May, so this month should be a breeze.

Having said that, the next two months sould be a bit more of a challenge, but I think I'll be cool. I'm hoping that after a solid 90(ish) days of de cluttering I'll be ready to do another 3 months. If I do them in chunks of 3 months I think it's far more doable. Who knows, maybe I'll even get through a year?

What I want from you is feedback. I'm posting this publically so you can keep me honest, ask questions, let me know what you think, if you like the idea or think I'm a raving loony. Also, whether you want to actually see my day by day list of stuff I'm clearing, or just the update and the more interesting or unusual things I've let go of that month.

That's it for now, will be back in a month. Stay tuned, Same Bat time, Same Bat station...

www.myspace.com/jacqstar