Clutter

So, I'm on this cleaning and organizing kick. I've been reading a couple of books about both topics and they have me all geared up. I like to organize, that's kind of fun. Cleaning isn't really fun, but if everything is actually organized, then cleaning isn't so bad.

Anyway, right now I'm reading a book called Clutter's Last Stand which is pretty good. It's all about how we all have too much junk and we spend our lives trying to take care of and clean up our junk, instead of living our lives. I completely agree with this, I am always thinking that I don't want to spend the rest of my life cleaning up all my crap instead of getting to actually play with the kids, or do something I enjoy. So now I am on a mission to get rid of stuff.

The problem is that as I start looking around for stuff to get rid of, I just don't find a lot! We are a pretty non-materialistic bunch, and I do get rid of stuff fairly often, yet we still have too much. We have a TON of books, but as a homeschooling family that is always going to be the case, and I am ok with having all of them, they are beneficial. We have kitchen appliances, but nothing really over the top, a toaster, a blender, a juicer, that's about it. We do have a collection of fondue sets, but we use them several times a year for special dinners and such, so I think they are worth keeping around.

We limit the number of toys the kids have, and purge them regularly. The are not as limited now as they have been in the past, but even when I go into their room to start paring down I look around and see that they really do play with everything they have. They have their doll house and the people to go with it, their ponies, their baby dolls, stuffed animals (3 apiece) and that 's really about it. So I am at a loss there.

I have been sorting through my scrapbooking supplies and have quite a big pile of stuff that I have purged out. My sister Anna is coming to claim it in a couple weeks. I need to go through my closet and take out the things that don't fit, honestly, if I ever stop being pregnant I can just buy new clothes then.

What else is there? We don't really have "stuff" just for the sake of having stuff. I don't have fancy decor or anything, our decorations pretty much consist of pictures that I have taken. I don't know, but I am going to keep looking cause our house is so cramped! Granted, it is a very small house (under 1000 square feet, with 5 people and a dog) but still, it would be nice to see an inch of wall without anything in front of it!