Day Two: A Bag A Day

10/09/07 -- Tuesday

Some pictures of my belongings might be good for several reasons; I will have a photo record of what I’ve done, a before and after look at things, and a more interesting blog. I may even need them for tax purposes. So I spent some time last night taking pictures of the over-stuffed areas in my home, the areas I’m concentrating on first, shelves and closets mainly. Then, to my surprise, four large boxes arrived at my home by UPS from my brother-in-law, things he wanted me to have that had belonged to my parents. I’d only started thinking of what next to take out when suddenly I had new things I would be adding to my home. Obviously, I was not going in the right direction.

Well, getting on with the downsizing to live a simpler life, I decided to concentrate on the shelves in my study. That will take at least two weeks to reduce to what I really use. I have many older books and magazines on photography that I don’t consult anymore and would be of greater use to someone else. I packed up 2 years of Outdoor Photography magazines from 1987 to 1988, and one large book about Cibachrome, a special chemical and photo paper process for making prints from slides, and another book on photographing children. These will be good donations this afternoon to my local public library.

Next, I need to check out eBay to see if some of the other book and magazine collections might be ‘m worth selling. I’ll do that this evening. In particular, I will check on the Time-Life series on photography; my set is in good condition and complete. And, I need to check on the AMGBA magazines; my collection spans about 12 years from the start of that publication. I’ll have more information on what I find tomorrow.

Day One: A Bag A Day – The Sensible Way To Downsizing of Personal Goods

10/08/2007 -- Monday

I don’t have classes to teach until 11 AM. Before departing to the college, I am reading email and looking at the things in my study. Why not start right in this room. Surely, I can find one bag here, but I need to caution myself not to become too ambitious. Only one bag! I never seem to be able to do something exactly as planned so I ended up with three bags.

Today, one bag of books containing a World Book Atlas, twelve 1980s photo magazines, and 2 books on photo filters were donated to my local public library, also one bag of papers from elementary and middle school parent groups in which I did volunteer work was put in my paper recycling bin for this Friday’s pickup. A third and smaller bag of stuff consisted of small bottles and tubes of things like hand lotion and toothpaste that I’d saved after partially using at hotels. I decided this was just plain trash and put it in my garbage. As I was doing this I realized that I need to be more cognizant of conservation in the future by bringing my own supplies to use, by consolidating supplies I bring home, or by donating such supplies to a local shelter.

There will be no real effect on my life from today’s elimination of goods. I can easily access map, photo, and filter information on the Internet. I can’t replace the materials put into the recycling bin, but the essence of this information, if not copies of the same materials, may be available in the schools’ archives. Next time I come upon volunteer-group papers, I might contact the group before disposing of the materials to see if someone is interested in adding them to the archives.

Thinking and planning how to live a simpler, easier life.

A Bag A Day – The Sensible Way To Downsizing of Personal Goods

10/08/07

After helping my young adult daughter move from a shared row house to a studio apartment, I realized how much better life could be without the burden of so many belongings. She was able to move easily with two mini-vans. When we arrived, she’d already packed her stuff in the boxes she’d saved from the year before when she moved from her college living quarters into the row house. When I got home, I thought that to move all of my stuff, not counting my partner’s stuff and what was left of my children’s stuff that was still in the house, it’d take many weeks of packing and disposing of stuff plus a large moving van.

Then, I remembered helping my mom move out of her home after my dad died some 15 years ago. At that time, I decided I would not want to leave such a task to my children; I would need to figure out a way to sort through my things and decide what I needed to keep for my own use, what I might give to my children (after checking to make sure they really want it), what I might donate to various charities, and what was just plain useless stuff and, thus, could be recycled or put in the garbage. Perhaps, I have some things that don’t fall into any of these categories, but might be worth something to someone could be offered on eBay.

I definitely needed to get this task, which would take weeks, done before it was too late. There was no more delaying; I knew the time had come. I am still employed full-time and will be for the next few years so I can’t devote hours every day to this task, but I sure can devote 30 minutes or so. I woke up last night knowing I had a plan I could finally put into action. Why not do the task “a bag a day.” And, why not share my experiences with others so they, too, might join in this task to downsize their belongings.