Letting Go; or, Finding (or Losing) Joy

A couple of years ago, a friend turned me on to the book The Life=Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. She has a whole method of basically stripping your house down to only things that "bring joy" into your life. 

You are supposed to look at each object and ask if it brings joy. If it doesn't, you let it go. 

I know, it's like a new age-y, touchy feely way to see things, but I really have taken it to heart, even if I didn't make my way through the entire house. 

In the last few weeks, I've managed to get rid of about 50 books. If you know me, you know this is sort of monumental. 

In attempts to get through about 20 books that I really don't want to drag to Spain but really don't want to get rid of yet, I'm doing the Popsugar Book Challenge where you read books from several categories. I'm zooming through books and then adding them to my give-away pile. I'm working on my third give-away haul now and making progress through the list---so far, I've read 6 out of the 40. I started a couple of books and knew immediately I just wasn't going to finish them, so that was easy---onto the stack they went. 



I have found dozens (probably more like hundreds now) of pictures I have mailed to high school and college friends. Pictures bring me joy, but they are also sitting in a huge Rubbermaid container in my garage, so I'm hoping they bring someone else even more joy where they can put them in frames, or an album, or even throw them away if they want. They are no longer mine, and I'm glad to be rid of them. They belong to people who can enjoy them now. The hardest has been sending photos of siblings, spouses, or parents to friends who have loved and lost them. I love when someone in my family posts pictures of family members who are gone (or even pictures from my childhood that I have never seen). 

I can't open a drawer, a cabinet, or a closet without throwing something away. It's sort of Marie Kondo, guerrilla style. I am taking great joy in taking out the garbage. 

I'm also working my way through the pantry. My husband did a fantastic job of cleaning out the fridge last week, and this is after we both had done a thorough cleaning out during the winter break. How many types of mustard can one family have, really? We are soon going to get to that really funky stage of a move where you have weird combinations of food just because you are getting rid of it. Pot stickers and salad and corn! Why not? Shrimp and black eyed peas and sauerkraut! Yum. I'm working my way through the pantry and hoping to move very little more than spices, because those are expensive to replace and because in my librarian/OCD way, I have alphabetized my spices and have them neatly spaced out in 2 drawers. (I take my spices seriously---even if I don't always cook with them). 

I have given away some items from my garage and closet that I haven't used since I got here. I am accumulating clothes to give away. Most things we are going to give away because the sheer pain of having to have a garage sale for 50 cents here, 1 dollar there, outweighs the chump change we'll get for it. I'll give it away and spend that Saturday at the beach, thankyouverymuch. 

When Son 1 went to college, he did go through several pieces of clothing and we sorted into throw away, give away, and save for brother piles. Good thing, too, since brother just went through a hellacious growth spurt in the last couple of weeks and hardly has any clothes that fit. And our one and only store does not carry any shorts for boys in sizes 12, 14, or 16. Yes, you read that right. You cannot buy shorts in a tropical climate where it's hotter than seven hells half the year, and hot as one hell the rest of the year. I'm going to scour the thrift store this weekend in hopes of getting him through until the few pairs I bought online get here. (It's now taking about 3 weeks to get mail. I will not miss a) the inefficient mail service or b) the slim pickings for clothing in our little tropical paradise). 

My husband always has said this isn't a bad place to live if you aren't into material things, but dang, somethings "things" are pants. One thing you really can't go without is pants.