Come Play with Less Stuff!

I have just completed a huge clear out in my room, as I am moving into a new house in July and with my new job I'll be working 6 days a week, now felt like the best time for a clear out.

Firstly I started small, my prioritising my letters and 'personal information'. I essentially threw away all my letters from the council for when I applied for JSA in 2011, I figured that I would no longer need this information and it piles up! I also threw out my old letters from student finance as I am no longer receiving funding from them and essentially a bunch of letters regarding income support which dated all the way back to 2008. Surely this stuff is not of importance to me anymore?

I then proceeded to throw out the remainder of my uni notes, all my engineering books and my open university guides. As I am no longer studying Engineering, nor will I ever be in the future, all this stuff was just a painful reminder of what a huge failure I am, so getting rid was hard as I was letting go of 4 years of my life, however as I am already signed up for a new course in September and now have a stable full-time job; letting go seemed like the best thing for me to do now.

I have never considered myself to be a hoarder, but it's amazing how much emotional baggage I have struggled to let go of. Now, my 'entire being' feels so much lighter from getting rid of all this stuff although I still feel emotionally drained going through all the things which made up my past.

It's funny, I still had the details of a social loan I took out in 2009, I moved into an unfurnished flat and needed to buy a bed and a desk, so I applied through the social fund as I was too young to take out a traditional loan. I paid it off 2 years ago, so why did I still have all the paperwork? How did I manage to trek it all the way down to Manchester with me? It's amazing the rubbish you think is important.

Aside from all that I also threw out a bunch of make-up and old toys and general rubbish. I shudder to think of the sheer amount of money I have wasted on useless trinkets over the years. To be able to clear out efficiently, you really need to think about what you need to use on a daily basis, what you need to use on a weekly/monthly basis and if there is anything that you use less often than this, you just need to chuck it out.

It's funny, throwing away a bunch of old textbooks reminded me of the same feeling of ripping a cigarette apart when I quit. Try it! It's pretty awesome.

Here's another blog which literally labels each reason why throwing all your stuff out is super sweet! Check it out!

Why You Should…Throw Away Your Stuff

xoxo