Live Simply...Simply Live

Our world is changing, we're rearranging!

As the first step to trying to live a more simple, less commercialized and materialistic lifestyle, we cleaned out our attic. When we moved into our home over 4 years ago our attic was, obviously, empty. We had a hard time filling all the rooms, never mind the storage spaces! After only four years one might think that our giant attic would still have some space left in it. Think again! After four years, and two yard sales, we were finding it hard to move around up there, let alone store any more "junk".

Last Sunday we rolled up our sleeves and got to work! It was not an easy task! Damien and I both knew how much stuff was up there, but I don't think we knew how long it would take! We took EVERYTHING out of the attic. Every bin, every mattress, every "misfit" toy. We brought it all down to the kitchen, dining room and porch. Much like TLC's "Clean Sweep" we made four piles; keep, throw away, give away, and yard sale. I opened every bin, every bag, every box and emptied them out. I was really good about getting rid of stuff, and not much had to be thrown away, yet (we'll see after the 3rd yard sale).

After 7 hours (yes, seven) we had gone from 50 bins, boxes and bags to about 15 large Rubbermaid bins of "keep". We have a ton of stuff for our next yard sale, two bags of Goodwill clothing, and a few baby items that we will give to our friends expecting twins. We have about 15 empty Rubbermaid bins!

We found so many things we forgot we had, although we tried not to get all crazy and think we needed to keep it just because we found it. But I did find all my bike clothes, clipless bike shoes, helmet and my awesome Bolle polarized sunglasses. I also found my teddy bear collection, Sasha dolls and Effanbee dolls which I sorted through and put in a bin to give to Olivia when she is about 4 or 5.

My favorite thing that I did was create a bin for Olivia and Cameron. It's filled with my journals from when I was a teenager, diplomas and awards from both of us from High School and college, photo albums, stuff I collected from my summer in Europe, and tons of other goodies. I am going to add some CDs once I sort through them. When they are both married with children of their own I am going to give it to them. I also have started a bin of special baby clothes and other items that I want to pass down to them when they have babies.

For those of you who have an attic/basement/storage space that is filled with boxes and bags and bins, I highly recommend a clean-out day! Damien and I had fun reminiscing and recalling old times and past lives! We enjoyed a lot of laughs and the kids had a ball playing with the "misfit" toys, all of which remained misfits and went back up to the attic to await the yard sale!

It was a lot of work, but we have our attic back! The best part is that those empty bins will be empty for a long time because we have changed our consumerist ways and are going to live simply and simply live!