Deep Cleaning My Life With A Dose Of Reality

image via

I have been trying to reorganize my closet & deep clean my room. My apartment which once seemed big, roomy, airy and breezy has come to feel heavy, blocked, crowded and tight. I love to be organized so this is not a good feeling for me. I love open space, simplicity and very simple decor. But now I have four bikes parked in the corner of my dining room. This is for two reasons, 1) lliving near the ocean if they are outside, they rust very quickly and 2) we have nowhere outside to park them that is even reasonably safe. So they get half the dining room. It's was my decision, but not a happy one.

I enjoyed the luxury of having a few storage bins down in the garage for a year until the new owners pulled out the city code out and asked us all to clear our garage storage out. So those bins are now sitting in my bedroom until I figure out where they are going. That's depressing.

So I am passionately trying to simplify wherever I can. And here is my big question for you -- what do we hold onto that we really don't need.

• Do I need a collection of cookbooks still?
• Do I need to hold on to old magazines (please know I have every few of these, maybe 10-15 at the most).
• Do I really need all the books I have that I haven't looked at for years?
• How about sheets that I only use maybe once a year or less. 
• How about these art frames that seem to gather in my spare closet?
• Do I need 10 gorgeous serving trays?
• Every kitchen tool known to mankind?
• What else should I consider that I likely don't I need?

I know there have been times, perhaps quite a few times where I have given away things that I later regretted. Where do I draw the line? Where do you draw the line? Are there things you once wanted or collected that you have cleared out of your life? Help me, will you? I am having a hard time seeing the forest (the apartment) for all the trees (the stuff).