The great purge of 2013

The great purge of 2013
I want to start fresh - a new beginning. So I am getting rid of stuff. I am aiming at minimalism. Not that I'm going to hit that target completely. Or that I really want to. It not really about being a complete minimalist for me. But I want the stuff that is in our home, in our lives, to be stuff that we enjoy, that makes day to day stuff easier and more enjoyable. And stuff that we use. ONLY stuff that we use. Later is a bad word to me. I fall into that saving "just in case" or "I might need it later." So my goal is to have stuff in the house that we only need NOW. No more later.
It's an interesting undertaking with three kids 4 and under. They bring a lot of stuff with them into our lives. And there is stuff that you have to have for upcoming stages. (So I will be calling that "needing it sooner" instead of "needing it later")
So I want to do the Purge. The way I see the house - the way that I function daily - the way that I am - is completely different than it was just a little over 2 years ago. So much has changed. Me included. So it's time that the stuff - and the way I see stuff changes too. I do like to clean and organize, so this is kind of fun and exciting for me.
The Purge of 2013 started in the kitchen - and in the closets (clothes). To me it's where the stuff that has to go is the most obvious. In the kitchen... Do I use it, does it work well. And for a box full, the answer was no. So off it goes...
Then to the closet. It's going to be a little harder. It's a work in progress - that sometimes seems to be going backwards. I did the first "run through" last weekend and got the obvious stuff out. The "why on earth do I still have this" purge. And the "I feel horrible in this" purge. But getting it down to where I really want it is going to hurt a little. But just for a bit, because the outcome is going to be....
LESS STRESS. Yes. That is what I'm aiming for. My version of minimalism. So I don't have to lean over stuff, dig through stuff that I'm not using anyway. Or trying to find something in that "safe place that I put it so that I could find it next time" Ooooh. I hate the "safe place" - I never had any idea where it is!
And I have my husband as a helper. Really it's pretty much all my stuff. And it is actually very well organized. Ok maybe not as organized as I think. Well, the stuff in the "living spaces" is. But he is on board. He was the first to grab the big black trash bags! And he cleaned the kitchen last weekend too. Like...everything! So I have a mostly purged organized cleaned kitchen. A great place to start!

So what is coming up?  My schedule/to do list - shortening it and adding stuff for me each day.  I have tried it this week and it's working well!  The closets...all the closets.  Books, DVDs.  And the random room in our basement that is the "later" storage.  It's bugging me.  It's just sitting there, not being functional.  So it will be... soon!