Spring Cleaning, aka Getting Rid of All My Crap

It all started when I was utterly bored with my afternoon, wanting to do something useful, and decided to put new sheets on my bed. Upon placing the others in the wash, I immediately had the urge to purge my entire room and closet, getting rid of all the THINGS that I don't need. I don't know how this feeling came about, but all of the sudden it was there. Slowly, between my superficial and materialistic blog posts about shopping and shoes, and the approaching possibility of moving out into a smaller living space with roommates, the realization has been coming to me that I own too many possessions. It's all just crap! I have a huge walk-in closet and every year I'm able to declutter and somehow give away bags of clothes. It feels like I reorganize that thing all the time, and I never seem to clear up any more room.

This time, however, was different. This rare force in me was so strong that I chucked objects I've been holding onto for a long time. Old plush animals from an ex, the myriad of decorative throw pillows I don't need, the random sun umbrella that resided under my bed, a nice laptop case I never use, a pair of shoes I completely forgot I had! Brand new, never worn, still in the box. (Because my mom had pressured me into letting her buy them for me when I didn't actually think they were cute, so they never touched my feet.) Picture frames, travel games (hey, that rhymed!), duffel bags, cd holders, porcelain trinkets, etc. No hesitation stopped me from grabbing almost every useless item in my sight that I've looked at everyday for the past ten years of my life and bidding it farewell, for good.

The act of throwing junk out that I didn't need anymore led to reorganizing my closet once again. I was able to find a new home for many keepsakes of my childhood that I know I won't care to see for another decade. Consolidation is Key! With all the extra stuff out of the way, I finally have empty space on my shelves for the first time since I can remember. It. Is. Glorious. The one area of specialty items that I DID keep hold of, however, was my Disney collection. Anything Disney will stay with me forever, including the Cinderella polly pocket castle, 3D puzzle, Beauty and the Beast teacup set, and Pocahontas doll, among other things.

If that whole time-consuming project wasn't enough, I was ultimately inspired to rearrange my room in the process, at about 8:30 at night. Due to some of the paint scheming on my walls, the furniture layout isn't as flexible as I'd like, but I'm currently sitting in my bed where it usually is, and feeling like I'm in a new place, just from moving a few of the things around me - bookshelf, dresser, mirror, etc. It's so crazy how much one half of my room opened up by tilting a couple things in a different direction. It's still a work in progress, since the household collectively went to bed while I was still hard at work, so I'm going to finish things up tomorrow. Even with this future garage sale pile of stuff in the middle of the floor that will be transported somewhere else later, it still feels like there is more space now. Oh yeah! That would be because my beanbag chair is currently in the hallway. Ok so I'm not completely imagining things.

But anyway, the point is that rearranging furniture is so refreshing! I wish so badly that I could move my bed and switch everything up, not just a few items. But for the spontaneity of this decision, I think the outcome is pretty fantastic. For these many hours of the day, I was visibly overcome with excitement at the invigorating process taking place. I'm so glad I decided to change my sheets instead of watch more TV and mess around on facebook. SO happy I even took pictures!