I was going to call this blog post “Mini Steps Towards Minimalism” but then I realized that it was never going to be my goal to become one of those minimalists that you see on YouTube.

While I admire the self discipline it takes to have only 10 items of clothing (and live a very very simple life), homes that look like museums just don’t suit me.

A cozy home to me includes a few extra sets of sweatpants and pajamas for lounging around in front of the fire in wintertime. A cozy home means having a few extra plates for when friends and family come over to share a meal. Having these extra things around the house make life a little more awesome.

Life can be messy sometimes, and it’s ok not to have everything you own paired down to the point where everything can be perfectly arranged and stacked in neat rows.

That being said, I decided recently that I wanted to get rid of some things that I no longer need. These are the kind of things that I packed away during various moves that remained in their boxes (until now) to be dealt with at a later date.

Here are some of the things that I found when I started going through these forgotten boxes…

Blue scarf  with hearts that I haven’t worn in 10 years, I hope that you will find someone who thinks that you are awesome!

Burned out light bulb that I wanted to recycle, but didn’t know how to (and therefore threw into a box during a move) – you get to go to Home Depot’s recycling program! Hurray!

Bright yellow jeans that fit me perfectly (but that I was always too scared to wear because I was afraid of accidentally spilling something on them) you are going out into the world to bring some fearless person a lot of happy pastel jean filled days!

Pink skirt, I hope that you find someone that loves you as much as I once did.

What I’ve found myself saying as I’ve gone through this stuff is a simple phrase, “This can go.” I don’t need these items anymore.

I don’t need to keep books and magazines that I haven’t read in years.

I don’t need to keep my textbooks from college.

I don’t need anything that doesn’t fit me anymore, including clothes or anything else that no longer suits me.

And you know what? It feels really good to let it all go. Hopefully these items will find other homes and bring other people the same joy that they once brought me.

When I started going through the forgotten boxes about a month ago my goal was to try and get rid of 5 items a day (by “get rid of” I mean to sort items into boxes to either donate or sell, or to put them straight into a recycling bin or into the trash. You can give stuff to Goodwill in batches so that you don’t have to drive over there everyday.

I have gotten rid of a lot so far, but I haven’t kept perfectly to the 5 item a day rule. Some days when I’m on a roll I’ll get rid of 30 things, and other days I’ll forget to get rid of anything at all. Cumulatively through, I’m making good progress.

Rooms are a little neater (closets even more so), only my favorite books are the ones on my shelves now. One cool thing that happened is that through this process I found 5 pairs of jeans that I had forgotten that I’d even owned. I tried all of them on, and I’m going to keep 1 pair and get rid of the rest.

I may never be the organization maven that is Marie Kondo, but I don’t need to be. I can just make my own little corner of the world a little neater and that still counts for something.

I hope that you give this process a try if you’re feeling like you could use a change. If you need a little inspiration, channel your inner Marie Kondo by way of Emily Gilmore. When Lorelei asked Emily why she was getting rid of some expensive chairs during the latest series of Gilmore Girls, Emily says “They don’t bring me joy.”

I have less stuff now, and not having to search for things that I love definitely makes life a little more joyful.

I hope that you have a great week!

Elaine