Swallowed Up.......by Stuff

I got a chuckle last week when I read that Oprah is letting go of her clutter. When she gets too much stuff she can just go buy another house to put it in. But can you imagine all the things people give her? What do you do with it all?

I have seriously been working on my clutter disease for several years. I call it Dis-ease because of the way it makes me feel - uneasy, swallowed up, heavy, unable to breathe. I once loved all this stuff. I collected so proudly and loved each and every piece I bought. I would proudly display these items. I lived in a fairly good sized house with an attic and basement and had room to store and exchange things for holidays. I kept buying craft stuff, knick knack stuff, flea market items, magazines and books by the hundreds. When I had the Tea Room and Gift Shop it was like heaven getting more stuff. From my past I need to include items from the floral business,  a millinery business, horse business and hobbies by the hundreds. When closing the Tea Room I had to make room for the items that we did not sell. I sold my house and moved into a house less than half the size. When Grandma died I had to make room for some of her things. And that is when I realized, enough was enough. It had to go. So with donations, two flea market booths, EBay and garage sale after garage sale, the items have ever so slowly been going to new homes.  Letting some of my things go was hard. Have I ever regretted something I let go? I might have but I don't remember now. Am I cured of buy- it- itis? No. I still go to Hobby Lobby and drool over all the cute items they try to tempt me with. I still fight my knick knack disease. But I am getting better. If I feel the need to buy,  I watch an episode of Hoarders or Peter Walsh on Oprah's network and then I am brought back to reality. Of course then I can justify "Oh I was not that bad". I still pick up a decorating magazine and look through the pages of the woman who have the most incredible homes chock full off gorgeous knick knacks and I am still very drawn to it all. I just have to leave it in those pages, to those woman who display there lovely things with finesse. I let my twinge of knick knack envy go and head off to listing more EBay items. Don't feel sorry for me. I'll get over it. I hope.