De-Hoarding

2007 has been interesting, to put it mildly. The reality of my age, cost of living, projected life span, necessities to exist... are in sharper focus than ever before.

Previous attempts to 'get a grip', to 'down size' have met with great resistance -- purely psychological, I'm sure. and the efforts at looking at those psycho motivators are non too comfortable. Lots of books and articles have been devoured. But the 4 hour work week -- recommended by son # 1 really got me going.

My hoard didn't arrive overnight. It's a natural tendency with me, but the absence of physical and emotional stamina, to keep on top of things, over the past years allowed a monster to develop. And, the 'collections' and attendant mess were great insulators -- you can't very well invite people over when everything is cluttered.

Back to the kicker -- the 4 hour work week had me look at my body clutter first. Nope, I wasn't at all happy with the excess weight and slow metabolism/lack of energy .. and it was time for me to stop hiding behind the cancer excuse .."put the weight on after chemo; can't get it off'. I decided to follow the book's recommendations -- all of which I knew would work for me and my body type (and just HOW did I know you may wonder -- that's for another time!).

Now, I'm 30 lbs. lighter and have loads more energy! so the fear of tackling projects in the house and tiring before they're finished is slowly diminshing. Yes, I still tire more than I like and have to stop when I don't want... but that's OK... each day I'm getting stronger and things are happening... which helps to keep the motivatin going.

This weekend the west wing/spare bedroom mattress & box spring got hauled out to the curb. ... which brings the big discard total to: queen size bed from my bedroom -- gone; love seat from parents house -- gone; huge sofa from parents -- moved to spa room (en route to gone?); three old printers -- gone; big ugly PC - gone; cash register --gone....then there's the trash cans full of "stuff." And, last weekend the old refrigerator and five huge bookshelves ( from my sister's closed bookstore) found a new home at St. Jude's parish!

It also feels good to know that each Tuesday and Friday I'm helping the City of Sarasota trash collectors keep their jobs!

Saga updates to continue!