the great de-clutter

Lately it seems taht life gets so hectic that I looked around and suddenly everything was driving me crazy. It felt like clutter was piling up to my ears. Yesterday I'd had enough. Between swimming lessons, dinner plans, early-morning pottery making, and preparation for a dear friend's visit (this is probably what spurred me into action), I did some major decluttering. The entire back of my station wagon is full of clothes, toys, cookbooks (really, do we need 40? How many Louisiana community cookbooks does one family need?), old sheets and towels- and for the first time in many, many months, my trashcan has more than one bag in it. I try hard to recycle, reuse as much as we can so that on any given week, we have a single 13 gallon trashbag in the bin. The recycling bins are overflowing. We usually fill 2 (I also recycle for my mom, since she lives out in the country), but I think this week we could fill 4. I almost want a SMALLER home so that we'd be forced to have less stuff. The reality, however, is that we're collectors. Gary is, little boy is, I am. I'm more ruthless in getting rid of things than my boys, but I do have more than 30 dinner plates and at least a dozen different china teacups and saucers.

The pottery from last month's sale is still in my dining room, waiting to be shot and put up on etsy. I shot the rest of my mugs and small bowls this morning, so they'll be up by the end of the afternoon. Some are discounted from my regular prices, because I'd like to get them out of the house!

Today is my 8th wedding anniversary. I feel just as wired right now as I did on that warm morning 8 years ago. But for different reasons. That was not a de-clutter day. Today I'm ready to get rid of our excesses. To the goodwill drop I go!