WHAT DAY IS IT?

It’s Friday. And Mariah Carey has yet again ruined the holidays…

If your work is anything like mine, the days of the week are inconsequential, so it shouldn’t matter. But even so, the arrival of each Friday still provides some relief…imaginary or not. I’ll take it. Kind of like Sunday evenings shouldn’t really matter…but they do. If you get the “Sunday Night Blues” too, maybe check out this post from a few days back: Sunday Night Blues. 3 Steps to Help Avoid the Anxiety Treadmill

I just made a quick stop in a nearby town to deliver a  piece of woodworking equipment I sold on craigslist to the lucky new owner.

Sigh…

It’s been really hard to part with some of my tools, as you may have read here: Giving It All Away…

CHRISTMAS IN JULY…OR OCTOBER…OR ALL YEAR

It’s finally starting to look like fall…my favorite season… and XM has decided to put the Christmas music channels on just two days after Halloween.

Some people love it. I tolerate it.

Having worked at the local mall one holiday season as a teenager, I’m quite sure it burnt me out on Christmas music for a lifetime. The blame, I feel, should be squarely placed on Mariah Carey and this song. Heard no less than 1.3 Million times in the span of 60 days. 

Remember when the Christmas season didn’t start until after Thanksgiving? When there wasn’t “Christmas in July”?

Remember when Christmas didn’t equate to heading off to the big box store at 4am and throwing elbows at the others in line to get the latest, cheapest Chinese garbage from Walmart to show your family how much you love them? Me either.

But I digress…

LESS STUFF

For the last couple years I have been getting rid of “stuff” every chance I get. There are three basic rules I’ve used to make it easier to pull the trigger and toss things. Maybe they will help you get started: 

• Have I used it/read it/listened to it/otherwise engaged with it in the last year?
• Can I replace it if, in fact, I make a mistake and should not have gotten rid of it?
• Can I take a picture of it and get just as much joy as having the physical thing in my life? (this one works best for mementos of every kind – most often the actual thing doesn’t really matter that much).

If the answers are no/yes/yes, respectively, toss it – sell it – give it away.

Simple right?

Need more motivation? TheSpruce.com wrote this great article titled 32 items you can get rid of in your home right now. Start there. 

What qualifiers do you use before getting rid of an item? Share below or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Also, check back tomorrow, when I cover the top 10 gifts to get the minimalist in your life!

Happy Friday!