Some Summer Cleaning

My sister-in-law posted on her blog about sustainability and how she believes making your life simpler is one way of being sustainable.  I agree, and actually, was in the middle of a huge sorting project when she happened to write that post.  Chris and I decided that after living in our house for eight years (really, where does the time go?), it's time that we really get rid of everything that we don't use.  And, boy, do I mean "everything".  The storage area in our basement (roughly 1/3 of the lowest level of our house) had recently become the "catch all" for anything we didn't want to look at.  If I had a stack of art work from the kids and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it or not, I'd stick it on a shelf in the storage area.  All of our holiday decorations, including some bins of decor that we haven't touched in years---oh, that's down there, too.  Not to mention tons of everything you could think of.  We've decided to go through every single tote and purge purge purge.  So far, the "get rid of pile" is HUGE and it's growing by the day.  (HUGE garage sale in August is in the works, people!)  It's the perfect time to do this not only because we're about to do the flooring in the basement (I admit, I've been putting it off so it's time to bite the bullet) and the storage area really needed to be cleaned.  (It's dusty from all the drywall work, etc.)  PLUS, Connor is no longer a baby so why not get rid of all the baby stuff once and for all?  I was able to donate most of the big stuff (i.e. high chair, jumper, swing, etc) to a charity garage sale in April, but we still have quite a bit of stuff.  I even filled a tote with non-sentimental baby blankets and baby toys from his closet just today!  So, that is one project that Chris and I are so excited about right now.  I cannot wait for the garage sale!!

Another way we are "purging" is to let go of other things in our lives.  For example, my cooking blog: I haven't posted in quite awhile but I keep trying new recipes, taking pictures of the food, and setting it all in a pile to post later.  The pile keeps growing, I keep not having time to post anything and then I just feel guilty about it.  SO, I'm taking that off my mental to-do list.  Maybe someday I'll be able to post again, but for now, don't count on it.  I'm also letting go of Stampin' Up!, which most of you know that I have been a demonstrator for them for about six years.  I still love crafts and always will have fun with them, but it's time for me to let go of being a demonstrator because it's just too annoying to buy a certain amount of product every three months and have it collect dust until I can get to it.

Oh, how refreshing it is to let go of the things that weigh us down in life!!  For me, if I consciously decide that some things are not worth the worry, then I end up really believing that.  It's like "spring cleaning"---or "summer cleaning" in this case---and I encourage you to try it sometime.  :)