Friday, January 30, 2009
Purging, Purging & Streamlining
Purging & streamlining has been my theme so far in this first month of 2009. I'm generally a pretty organized person, but we've just accumulated so much stuff over the years! After the whirlwind of the holidays and finally getting all the holiday decorations, tree and wreaths put away, we've been sorting out the old to make some room for the well, stuff we currently have.
First, I gave all the kids' clothes and gear away to family and friends - 5 years worth of girl clothes and almost 1 1/2 years of boy clothes! I did think for a split second about selling some things on consignment at the Kidz Shoppe in San Jose (which is a great place to buy things because after all, how long do my kids really wear something before they stain/outgrow/decide they don't like it?) But then I realized that I'd have to get everything in pristine condition, sort everything according to season rather than size, make an appointment, go there, have to give away the stuff they didn't take, wait a couple months and then even if they did sell, I'd make maybe $5 or less per item. I thought my time and effort was better spent just giving everything away from the start. Plus, I liked that we were keeping the kids' old things in our sphere of family and friends.
Next, I turned to the books. I love books and dream of having a library or a wall of books in our home office someday. But for now, to save space, all the books are in the garage. I finally admitted that it wasn't doing me any good for them to be out there. With the books, I actually did take some to Recycle Bookstore in Campbell which is cool because you can get cash or credit (not much though, I'll warn you). I posted some on PaperbackSwap and then gave the rest away to our local library. I decided to take the time with the books to exchange them because I figured I could trade for some kids books, which I'm always on the lookout for.
Last, was my computer. I unsubscribed from a bunch of email lists, set up filters and labels so I wouldn't have to even look at certain emails and get distracted by them in my inbox, and backed up all my files. I also upgraded my operating system and installed some new software, which was no small feat - I was operating at less than 1 GB of space and had to seriously purge (over the course of a week) to get to 10 GB!
Anyway, call it a fresh start in honor of 2009, or making my husband happy that the garage is now a little clearer, but our household somehow feels lighter being rid of all that stuff. I'm also hopeful now that my computer issues are better, I'll be more efficient in turn. (Hmmm, and that perhaps is a future Simplify service - onsite IT support at home?)
Last, was my computer. I unsubscribed from a bunch of email lists, set up filters and labels so I wouldn't have to even look at certain emails and get distracted by them in my inbox, and backed up all my files. I also upgraded my operating system and installed some new software, which was no small feat - I was operating at less than 1 GB of space and had to seriously purge (over the course of a week) to get to 10 GB!
Anyway, call it a fresh start in honor of 2009, or making my husband happy that the garage is now a little clearer, but our household somehow feels lighter being rid of all that stuff. I'm also hopeful now that my computer issues are better, I'll be more efficient in turn. (Hmmm, and that perhaps is a future Simplify service - onsite IT support at home?)
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1 comment:
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