Paring Down Non Essential Personal Belongings

The personal belongings that we, as a society, are conditioned to value (emotionally and monetarily) never fails to surprise me.  

It has taken a lot of time for me to change my perspective on what material items are important to have in my life.

I have been meticulously combing through our large storage unit in preparation for downsizing to a smaller, heated unit.  Here is an example of what I encounter on a "storage unit day":  

On this specific day, I went through a large bag of gift bags (a bag of bags!  Ha!) I have collected, a scrap-booking supply chest I have not used since college, and a box full of desk/office "necessities".  

Before.... 

After!

I have since moved this three drawer system onto the boat (into K's stateroom).  I store her "while M's sleeping" toys/projects inside of it.  Included are play dough, play mobile toys, a small-ish magnetic doll toy, wikki stix, crayons, paper, and washable markers.  

I will need to find a way to secure this unit to the boat while underway.  I am thinking of turning the drawers toward the hull and using a bungee cord to hold the unit in place.  We shall see.  

Seriously, how many pens does a person need?  AND WHY are there so many?  I kept five pens and one highlighter.  I dropped this pile of pens off at the "free" shack at the port (I will write a post about that soon) - they were gone within the hour.  

After!

The most time consuming part of going through your things is not actually going through them - it is cleaning up the mess you make and, more importantly, finding a home for the things that you do not want.  Unless something is light (in weight) and worth $20+ on eBay it goes into the garbage or to the thrift store.  

If you are in "cruising kitty hyper saving mode" like I like to think we are... check eBay pricing BEFORE you get rid of something.  

As a side story... I discovered the other day that USED high-end perfume is in high demand.  As I write this, I have two bottles with eight and nine bids, respectively, going for a combined amount of just over $50 AND there is 18 hours left in the auctions.  I was going to take these items to the THRIFT STORE!?!?!  I didn't know there was a used perfume market.

Happy Purging!