Posted in Simple and Frugal Living

One basic tenant of simple living is having less stuff. Doesn’t that sound so easy? Less stuff. It doesn’t get more simple than that. Well…that’s a nice thought isn’t it. But getting there is MORE than half the battle!

About seven years ago I went through a nesting period and I decluttered with a tenacity unknown to anyone excepta nesting mother. A year after baby I noticed that someone kept putting things in my home while I was sleeping, or something, because there was stuff everywhere. I tried to get back into that nesting mode, but my attempts seemed futile at best. I was so strongly desirous of getting rid of stuff that I began dreaming of myself saying “Beam them Up Scotty!” while looking at piles of stuff on the transporter deck. YES! Problem solved. What I needed was a transporter for the unwanted stuff! That is when my mindset began to change.

I noted that the only way to control stuff, was to buy less of it. That was a GREAT and oh so unique thought process, that surely I would be remembered as one of the masters. Master of what, I had no idea! But what to do with the stuff we had. Hmmmm…

It occured to me that with the stuff we had and didn’t needbeaming it up to some unknown location was like transporting my stuff to a landfill. I don’t think so. Alas alack, what’s a mom to do with a house FULL of stuff? We have never had any luck with yard sales. We don’t have time for Ebay, what with all the picture taking, posting, weighing, packaging, and transporting the stuff to the post office. Oh and those post office lines! Ebay doesn’t make me enough cash to pay for my time in those lines!!! Just this year I came up with an idea that was absolutely SIMPLE and FRUGAL!

I have mentioned the fantasmic blessing of such groups as Freecyclein which anyone can acquire stuff posted for free. You can also post items that you want to get rid of for free. But with a house FULL of stuff to deploy, posting individual items and making arrangements to have each one of them picked up was daunting, to say the least. That’s when my plan came into affect. Have a Freecycle Yard “Sale.”

Schedule a week to ten days to declutter your entire house. YES, I said your ENTIRE house! EVERY room! You can schedule a room or two per day. Gather some boxes from grocers, etc to place your unwanted stuff in. You do NOT need to spend extra time organizing like things together. Just DO it! Be ruthless! You will need a clearing station; a place to put all your unwanted stuff. When the whole house is devoid of unwanted items, pick a Saturday to post a Freecycle Yard “Sale” to as many lists as you have in your area. You will want to list some key items groups of items, but it is NOT necessary to list more than 10. Post your address and mention that everything will be in your drive way; noting that for one day only everything is free on a first come first serve basis. (Do not promise to hold any item for anyone.) On your Yard “sale” day move all of the items out of your garage and line both sides of your driveway. This allows “shoppers” to pick through items with ease.

The first time I did this, I did not have a chance to post until 1 pm on a Saturday afternoon and thought we might not get many people because who would be home on their computer on such a gorgeous day. Soon you will hear the words, “If you post it, they will come.” And come will they!!!! That particular day ALL of the items except for a few small items were GONE by 5 pm! We didn’t have to wait for 5 or 6 yard salers and then haul our unwanted stuff back into the garage. We didn’t have to deal with haggling. We knew our items were not going into the landfill. We didn’t spend a dime on advertising or gas to cart the stuff to a thrift shop. It was SPLENDIFEROUS!

The best part for us was that we were helping others. Someone did mention that “shoppers” may be picking the items up to sell in a yard sale themselves. Our reply was that we didn’t care. Our main objective was to rid ourselves of these items and get them into other homes. If that meant someone else turning a buck, then God has used us to bless them!

Push back that feeling of being overwhelmed. You CAN begin living simply today!

These are my thoughts.

Leslie Valeska

~Contributing Writer~

Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas.  With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking.   Simple Journey Ministries was established to encourage, support, and inspire women, from all walks of life, to engage and continue on a path of Godly Womanhood. You can visit her at her blog Journey to Simplicity (www.leslievaleska.com/blog), Simple Journey Ministries (www.leslievaleska.com), and Simple Journey Bookstore (www.leslievaleska.com/bookstore)