New Year's Resolution

“If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.” - The Dalai Lama

I am a packrat... an accumulator... dare I say it.... a hoarder.  I attach emotions to things which causes them to have an inflated value.  For example, I have a pair of socks that I really loved to wear - so much so that they got holes in the heals and are no longer wearable.  But can I throw them out?  No.  Why?  Because they have a chicken print on them.  They were purchased in a little shop in Bethany Beach, DE when we were on a summer vacation with the Holickys - and it was after that vacation that my husband proposed to me.  Because of this, they hide in the bottom of my closet. 

This is madness!  If those chicken socks were thrown out, would I forget swimming in the ocean?  Would my marriage end?  Hell no!  And so I'm going to try to take the advise of the Dalai Lama and simplify my life.

A friend of mine posted to her facebook page that she was going to wage a war against clutter as her New Year's resolution.  This inspired me, so I thought I would try to do likewise.  So, here is my pledge:

In the fight against my nature to live in clutter, I am going to try and part with (toss/donate/recycle) one item from our house every day. For every new item that I bring into the house, I will have to part with one item.

To make this more of an adventure, I'm going to blog about my experience.  This blog is for me - I don't pretend that it will be of interest to anyone, nor do I expect to have "followers."  It's going to be my way to hold myself accountable to my pledge.  And at the end of the year, to have something tangible to look back on and see how far I've come.

Who knows - maybe I will get people following my blog.  Maybe I can inspire others to take a similar journey with me.  But what I do know is that my life will be happier.