Things that I am giving away:
6/2 2 cookie cutters
6/3 button covers, a pin, and a stuffed animal/magnet
6/4 a bunch of magazines (decided that magazines need to count as one item) and 3 books.
6/5 3 hats, one duck, and a cat pin.
Issues and ethics. I've been thinking a lot about different issues surrounding this challenge, the ethics of belongings, clarifying my goals and thoughts about this. These are things that won't be easily resolved and that I don't have complete answers for at the moment.
- A global perspective versus the local, the very local reality of my life and the culture I am a part of on a daily basis. In the larger picture of what is happening in our world, seeing this as an issue to be resolved; an activity to participate could be perceived as silly. However that doesn't change the reality that like most Americans I have a lot of "stuff" and I feel the need to take responsibility for what I have.
- The difference between removing clutter as a way of living more deliberately versus clearing space for more stuff. The role of consumer is a different thing than the role of keeper of things. I have tried to be very careful as a consumer for many years now. Many of the things that I am finding new homes for are things that I've had for a long time (25 years or so perhaps!) or were gifts.
- The need to find productive uses for the items removed from my house, for them not to become part of the waste stream.
- Following trends versus activities that are meaningful to me as an individual.
- How to approach this with respect.
- What do our belongings say about ourselves, our past?
- Why I feel the need to share this. A big part of the answer here is accountability. :)
Ultimately, I realize that a lot of my need to remove things at the moment is from a place of realizing that I am done storing things because I might use them someday. Whatever I am storing would be better of being used by or enjoyed by someone else. It's the result of refining who I am, what I value and how I want to spend my time.