Folks … start cleaning out your life.

I’ve been attempting to clean out some of the clutter in my life for the past few months, and thus far I have thrown out enough garbage to fill the warehouse dumpster completely once, and put a good hurt on it a few other weeks.  I am also gather stuff to donate to the public library and the Salvation Army, as well as making a pile of stuff to sell off.

In short, just like with my weight loss, it’s time for me to change my pack rat tendencies also.

So, as I have been in this major life changing mode, I got asked to help a friend unload moving trucks today as he just moved into town.  He just moved here from Las Vegas and he filled a 14′ foot U-Haul truck, a 17′ U-Haul truck, a U-Haul trailer and put stuff inside my parents car who helped him move.  I spent the day today helping unload the 17′ truck and car, tomorrow will be the other truck and the trailer.

By the way, did I mention he owns no furniture?

You read that right, he filled all of this without benefit of owning a bed (he sleeps on a futon), owns no couch, has a couple folding chairs and the rest of all this is … “stuff”.  Just plastic tubs, milk crates and boxes of stuff.  Stuff, more stuff and, oh, did I mention stuff?

After spending a day dealing with someone else’s stuff, I turned to my mother who was there helping also, and said, “I’m filling the dumpster again this week.”  I can’t take dealing with my own stuff any more, and seeing someone else’s stuff was almost like going through a “scared straight” program for clutter.  I felt like I had been taken to the morgue and shown the corpses of people who died in drunk driving accidents and told, “This is what could happen to you, smart guy!”  Well, the program worked!  I’ll never clutter again!  I promise!

All kidding aside, it just amazes me how much stuff people can accumulate, and I am more than willing to admit I have been horribly guilty of this myself, but I have every intention of changing my ways.

So, what are your tips for cleaning up your lives and ridding yourself of clutter?