Are we up for a April Purge?

you've done great and you made it to the finish line with that roommate, I know you said that wasn't easy. Well done!

I covet your salmon dishes, lol

April 29th almost the end of the month lately I have done
--15 pieces of clothing to a charity sale
--1 jar of cranberry butter cream...never used and that was for the body....lol...can't remember how old
--1 stepper thingie to the charity box...haven't been using it
--7 plates that I don't use to the charity box
--5 small baggie so things from my jewellery box
--2 t-shirts to the rag bag
That is all I remember not the 5 a day as promised but still a great amount...total to date 89

Woot! I just received a check from my consignment shop for $311 ! All but two of the items from my original batch I took there a few months ago have sold, and the old 12 string guitar someone gave me for an art project a couple of months ago that I decided not to butcher it up for a sculpture because it didn't have any character) sold for $55! The luthier who gave it to me had it in his burn pile - do you think it was ethical for me to end up deciding to sell it? I've been wondering about that - he DID give it to me outright to use for an art project; I only decided much later that I didn't want to use it for that.

Anyway, aside from that, the stuff I sold I WILL NEVER MISS! And now I have play money to shop for art supplies while I am traveling. I plan to search for beautiful cabachon stones to set, now that I am working in sterling silver again :) The best part of my artist adventure is I have to earn the money to pay for tools and supplies by being creative, by selling my pieces, of course, by taking odd jobs, by having a house mate from time to time, by selling my plasma, by doing the re-sale consignment (which de-clutters my space to make room for new things in my life). None of that comes out of my Wholefoods paycheck!

Well, since you are using the money for art supplies, you are using it for an art project, just as financing instead of raw material. And the person who bought it clearly intends to use it for something. So I'd say no worries.

CL: when I got serious about de-cluttering I got rid of all of my collections. I just kept 1 or 2 items from each collection. I also told everyone so no one would buy anything to add to it. Our local HS is having a garage sale and I went through things and managed to find 3 bags full to donate.

Yes, you've mentioned that before. I think I have different goals though - I would assume you found empty space brought you more pleasure than the collections. I enjoy the collections. I'm still working on paring down things l know I have far too many of - like cookbooks and ring binders, and learning to throw out trash. It's coming. It's slow, but it's coming.

every item that goes into the new space will be very deliberate, so that will help. I figure we use the new kitchen for a year and then get rid of everything that is still left behind in the old kitchen - other than a few bowls (my daughter made) and pans (the cradles of pie and cornbread from my grandmother's kitchen) which I do use all the time, I'm not attached to kitchen stuff. It's just around because we think we use it.

has anybody else noticed that it's may?

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Yes, you've mentioned that before. I think I have different goals though - I would assume you found empty space brought you more pleasure than the collections. I enjoy the collections.

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I realized I'm still to some degree under the spell of a woman I helped pack to move a few years ago. She had such nice things, omg such nice things, a would be curator for sure. Nice isn't code for expensive, it just means pretty, sometimes I suppose it's expensive, other times not, and most of it probably wasn't. More things than I had then, more than I have now. But I still have some urge toward nice things, not lots and lots of things, I don't want lots of things, but nice things have a pull even though (and maybe because) I've lived many years pretty ascetic and believe that ascetic is more socially responsible.

I can do without the salmon colored Pyrex, but I did acquire an avocado green Corningware dish recently I really don't need. But I actually find avocado green very attractive, it's an acquired taste :).

What I have found is that when you have many nice things nothing stands out. For instance if you have 2 dolls instead of 20 it looks better and others can appreciate how things look. With too many things your eye doesn't know what to rest on from all the visual clutter. I don't like a bare look at all. It feels sterile to me. Not only does my home look better but it is much faster to clean. I will have people comment on a doll, etc and think it was new. That was because with all the clutter they never noticed it before. If I suggest something again it's because I am old and can't remember:~)

I didn't think you were nagging, I don't think I responded to that point before, but I'm getting old too. My sentence probably has a tone problem. I'm very bad at that.

I don't collect anything to have it "stand out" or really to share it,although if someone is interested, I love to share. Most of my stuff is tucked away until I get it out, or on display in limited spaces because dh likes everything simple and open. I will rotate things, so they feel "new" to me. But I love being in a room lined with books, or having a "crowd" of dolls on a bench. - different aesthetic.

I didn't think you were upset with me. I don't like to rotate-it is an all or nothing thing for me. Plus I have gotten sick of storing things so it is either out or gone. I usually live with stuff until I hate them and then replace it with something different:D.