The Seven Things Project

The Blog Party has been more fun than I expected. I've visited many blogs and found some that I will regularly read (I've added them to my blog list on my sidebar should you want to check them out).

Earthchick has three of the blogs that I listed, and one is most intriguing and requires my action today: The Seven Things Project.

Starting last July, Earthchick has gotten rid of seven things a week. She intends to do this for one year, in order to de-clutter and simplify her life.

Sounds like a good project. I'm in!

Her guidelines are thus:

Sell, donate, give away, or recycle seven things a week. Every Saturday, post the Saturday Seven, a picture list of the seven things one got rid of that week, along with an explanation of how long one has had these things, what made it hard to get rid of them, and what one chose to do with them.

I have had my own less structured de-clutter strategies. I routinely drop things off at the local Salvation Army Thrift Shop. I sell books and videos and music on Half.com and Amazon.com's Marketplace. I sell other things on eBay, where I can give a percentage of the sale to a charity. And I recently joined lala.com in order to get rid of cds to which we no longer listen.

However, I've never approached this in a structured, goal-oriented way, so here we go!

My Seven for this Saturday:

1. A pair of boots from eBay that make my feet hurt because of the very pointy toes. Haven't had them very long--cannot wear them at all. I love the way they look, but the torture is not worth it.

2. A skirt that sometimes fits me but is mostly too tight and makes me feel like Butt-Girl. I have had this skirt for about seven years. I keep thinking that my butt will shrink. It hasn't.

3 and 4. Two classical music cds that I couldn't list on Lala (they were too obscure). I have no idea where we got these or why. They might have been freebies from an NPR fundraising campaign. One is a recording of the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra.

5. A random candle in a Spode china cup that has been collecting dust since the Millennium. It must have been a gift around seven years ago.

6. A box of photo frames that someone gave us for Christmas--and which we will never use.

7. A box of film (yes--actual film, for a camera). Not sure if it is too old to be useful, but we converted to digital years ago, so I have no idea why I found this in a drawer.

I find none of these things particularly difficulty to part with. I expect this becomes more difficult later in the year, when one has less stuff!

I will take all of these things to the Salvation Army Thrift Store--and I will try to restrain myself from going in and shopping for more junk that I don't need.