20 - de-clutter objects – de-clutter mind

I haven't written in about a week. I haven't even studied as much (by writing, taking notes and memorizing formulas, definitions and anatomy), I've only been reading the materials 2 hours a night. Instead I've been busy de-cluttering. We have a ton of stuff in the attic, our garage, and in the closets that we don't use, so it's just cluttering our space and my mind! I just need to get it all out! My grandfather wants to give us a bench, and we really want it, but have no space for it because of all the stuff we have. We have a nice space in the attic to make into an extra room, but we need clear out all the stuff we don't use. The boys closets were piled up with toys they no longer play with, and their shelves and dressers stuffed with clothes too small for them. All all, life is cluttered around this joint.

My husband has a table saw in the garage he hasn't been able to use since last year because of all the junk in the way. He's been getting frustrated and pushing me to do something about all this stuff. I have trouble putting clothes away because there is no room for them, they are cluttered with clothes we don't wear. I feel as though life has become stagnant since we haven't cleared out the stuff we don't use. We can't move forward. I try to study, write in my blog, do my DIP homework, but all the time I have this clutter surrounding me and weighing me down. So I took action....finally!

I found a consignment shop that buys items on the spot and began going through all our stuff, replacing batteries to see what still works, and cleaning the items that are re-sell-able. I piled the items for charity separately from the items I attempted to sell. Then, when I had enough stuff to fill up my car, I drove to the shop, handed over the stuff and waited a few hours for them to check everything and decide what they would purchase from me. I tell you, it is so nice to have them pay me for all the work I put into organizing, checking, and cleaning everything. I literally had to scrub stains off with a nail file after wiping them down with detergent, and now my fingernails are peeling from all the water they have been soaking in from the washcloth I used to wipe everything down.

Before my big project of de-cluttering, everything was hidden from view, so my house looked fairly neat. But since I pulled everything out, the counter tops, the kitchen table, the playroom, living-room, and the kids bedrooms have been piled up with boxes of toys and clothes. My house has been a wreck with all this stuff! And my mind has been running one hundred miles per hour to get all this done so I can get back to studying, blogging and DIP.

So I made two trips, and earned $43 on the first one and $89 on the second, and gave away the left overs to charity so now my house is more breathable, more livable. I'm still not done, but I have gotten so much done so far that I feel I can sit back for a few and write, yay!

I've been feeling guilty about not studying and writing, and stressed to complete the task of de-cluttering, (for me and for my family) and because of the stress, I was bombarded with an intense migraine that lasted 48 hours. I was completely debilitated. All I could do was lie in bed, still, with an ice pack on my head. I couldn't even sleep too well, I kept waking up from throbbing pain. I tried a less expensive migraine-abortive medicine and it didn't work. It really aggravates me how much they charge and I know they charge this much because migraine sufferers are willing to pay so they can get back to our lives. This new, 'cheaper' med I tried is 'only' seventy dollars for nine pills, the stuff that works for me is one hundred and thirty dollars for nine pills! CRAZY!

Self forgiveness on guilt from not studying or writing enough, stress from attempt to please others, and get this work done, and anger with pharmaceutical companies to come.