Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Big clean up..

A few weeks ago we had the "big clean-up" in this area - where the council sets a date to pick up all of the big rubbish people don't want but are too lazy to take to the dump.  My kids would get so excited whenever they would see a pile of stuff on the side of the road.  They made monkey noises and begged me to slow down so we could see if there was any "good junk" in there.  The best thing we found was a large weber barbque.  The grill needed a little scrubbing, but the rest of it was fine.  Cary has enjoyed having an open grill to char mammal flesh on again!  And the kids enjoyed roasting some marshmallows too!

The idea of a 'big clean up' rolled over into our house and we've been going through stuff to get rid of things we just don't want anymore and plan on having a garage sale as soon as we get a sunny Saturday.  (Sooo much rain lately!)  Nicholas wants to put "twenty bucks" on each of his toys that he wants to sell!  I like this...I like the feeling of letting go of stuff I just don't use, or use so rarely it's not worth the space it takes up.  It's one good thing about living in a small house...we just can't get too much stuff in here or it would just weigh us down.  Living simply without (too much) clutter does take a conscious awareness to prevent it from getting out of control in the first place.  It's helpful before any purchase (or trash pick) to think "do I really need this?" ... "will this make my life easier or more joyful?".  It's so easy to get carried away by the thrill of the hunt..or the deal, which is exciting and fun.   It's easy to let go of excess stuff when you are not attached to it.  Use your stuff...enjoy it...but when it starts owning YOU, it's time to think about where you really want to place your attachments.

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