Letting go of things…. Letting go of mementos…. Letting go of days gone by….

Sometimes you have to let go in order to make room for the future.

People who hang on to everything they’ve ever owned drive me crazy. Or even more annoying is a person who has really nice items that they never use because they are saving them for a special occasion. Let’s get real everyday you wake up and take a breath is a pretty special day.

My family = pack-rats… “never know when you might need that”, “might not be able to buy something nice again”… if you look at the root of most of the pack-rat phrases for keeping something it usually has negative twist or has a hint of fear of the future….

I say let go and live! What if you died tomorrow and never got a chance to use those really expensive “special occasion” towels? Did that make a really big difference in you life? Screw it! Live with wreak less abandon! Life is so very short, you never know when you will take your last breath so, cliché but, live like you were dying!

I know as good Americans we are taught early and continue through out our whole lives to be told we must buy…. Buy …. Buy…. It is the American way, must have the newer better version of everything…. Must keep up with the Jones at all cost. More Bling please! Let’s get real, we don’t need or use all the shit we have.

Yes, I’m just as guilty of doing those things…. But I have made a concerted effort to STOP! It is so very easy to get caught up into wanting it all…. But the “high” is so very short lived, it just makes you go out and buy more to get a new fix.

So, how did I kick the habit?

I started at home, I’ve found that purging my home at least once a year is very therapeutic. There’s something so wonderful and freeing when you let go of “things”.

Moving forward in life can sometimes be very difficult, especially when we have had a loss. One tends to hold on to everything that reminds us of another time and place, even if it was bad, so the simple act of cleaning out that closet can be a truly enlightening experience. Sometimes it makes me sad and happy at the same time. Emotions do come to the surface and it’s best to just experience the feelings and move forward. It is important to be in the moment and feel it, like grieving.

Over my lifetime I have helped many people move forward with this simple act. Here’s how I do it… The items I know I don’t want go out to the garage immediately. Then I sort, sorting is really the key. Check for items of value, the best way to determine values is to check Ebay. If the item is easily shippable and it has an Ebay value, it goes in the Ebay box. Items that would be a pain to ship or have a lower value go into the yard sale boxes. Rules: 1st Ebay, 2nd Yard Sale, & 3rd Donate.

This past year, I found out that my family had saved a lot of my childhood toys. After receiving numerous shipments from home, I had to decide what to do with them. It was really a lot of fun going through all the boxes and it was hard to let the items go. But I couldn’t justify a need to hang on to them except for sentimental reasons. So, off to the computer I went and I found my toys on Ebay, some of them brand new. It was like a mystery finding that doll and then seeing all the accessories on Ebay. I really got to enjoy the memories all over again on a more intimate level. Then, I had to get all the items sorted and organized into auctions. I took an excessive amount of photos so I could burn a CD and keep a little piece of my childhood tucked away for a rainy day. There was just something so very special about gently handling the toys, cleaning them, remembering how much I loved this one and that one and then selling them on Ebay to people who were looking to recapture that same thing. It was very cool and I made 2K last year.