We started decluttering before we decided to move. 

I went through all of my clothes and the kids clothes and donated them.  

I also went through all of the kids toys and created a huge pile of the toys that they don’t play with.  They were allowed to take 5 things back.  Bags and bags of toys went to the thrift store.  

I thought I was on a roll and feeling proud!

But we are now reducing our needs to whatever can fit into our RPod and the rest will go into storage until we find our home.  And holy mother of Mose- we have a lot of stuff.  As we are packing we are looking at items: do we actually like this?  Will we want it in a year?  Will the kids outgrow this in a year?  

And more bags are going to the thrift shop.

This is crazy- how do accumulate so much stuff?  I’m realizing how suffocating it is to have so much stuff.  I’m clearing out my daughter’s play food/utensils and reducing it to a few matching sets rather than a mix mash of random stuff.  No wonder she couldn’t find the toys that she actually wanted to play with.  And part of the mess is because it was hard for her to put all of the stuff back in it’s designated bin because it was overflowing

Why was I holding onto clothes that weren’t comfortable or flattering?  Or sheets that we had before we even met each other?  Or pillows that give zilch support?  

Decluttering Became Cathartic

Decluttering before full-time travel was more cathartic than expected.

I’m realizing now how much clutter we had.  And how it not only cluttered our house, but it clutters my mind.  I am realizing I need to be ok with doing without rather than holding onto “well, I may need that in the future.”  I got a Cricut a few years ago at a yard sale.  Never used it.  Josh wanted to get rid of it several times, but I kept resisting because “one day.”  I just sold it and it felt great to get one more thing out of my house.  And Josh is selling his scuba gear because we live in Ohio.  but we’ve been bringing it with us since we left Florida nearly 10 years ago.

Here’s hoping that I learned my lesson and when we start fresh in our new home in a year or so we can continue to only keep things that we actually use.