living smaller: january home purge

so about that 2012 goal to live smaller...  yep, i'm doing it!  my home is slowly getting smaller.  one key to living smaller is to GET RID OF UNNECESSARY STUFF.  

ummm....duh....

we all have tons of stuff that we cart around.  why?  

some of it is sentimental.  [that collection of tchotchkes that you don't really like but someone special gave it to you and you can't bear to part with it] 

some of it is "useful."  [that collection of design magazines spanning the past decade that you never look at but you save because one day "i might need them"]

some of it might one day be cool.  [that ugly table would be awesome if i changed out the legs, sanded and re-stained it, and put new pulls on it!]

and on and on and on...

but really?  we haul this stuff around, we move it, it serves a very minimal purpose in our lives, and really, we'd be better off without it.  

so this past weekend i completed my first of monthly home-purge.  

i will be the first to admit that i like my stuff.  all of the above [scenarios] are reasons that i have personally used for keeping stuff.  i am a sentimental person, as well as a dreamer.  BUT... i also know the liberating feeling that comes when you free yourself from your unnecessary junk.

so the purge:

the purging was sort of happening all of january.  as i would come across something that i haven't needed/wanted/used/looked at in the past, oh, year or so, i tossed it in a designated box right by our back door.  clothes, appliances, an old tennis racket, some board games... all in the box.  over the course of the month i accumulated TWO BOXES of unwanted stuff that i could donate to salvation army!  plus, i recycled a whole box full of old design magazines.  that one was like cutting off my right pinky finger.  but i did it.  and i'm pretty pleased with that.  

  

boxes going to salvation army

so long, unneeded junk

additionally, hubby and i decided to go through our DVD collection.  not only did we minimize by giving away the movies we don't watch, but we also decided to get rid of the plastic cases that house our DVDs, thus taking up less room and making our need for space just a little bit smaller.   

DVDs to be given away

it wasn't a huge project and it didn't take that much time to do, but if i continue to make small changes like this throughout the year, i feel confident that we can have a smaller, simpler home.

what are your feelings on doing home purges?  do you enjoy them or are they hard for you to do?  if they're hard for you, why is that?