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