i’m done with stuff

“the next time i move, i’m not taking all this stuff.”

valerie

in 2014 when i moved into my apartment, i put a lot of time into decorating it and searching for the perfect furniture.

my last apartment was decent, but everything was old, with used furniture from relatives, garage sales and some possible hand-me-down antiques.

when i moved into my current apartment, i wanted all new stuff and bought furnishings for five rooms and a kitchen. each room was decorated by theme.

i love music, so my bedroom is the music room and my furniture had to be black, my favorite color.

i decorated it with music-themed pieces: a jazz band and decals for the wall. musical instruments for the dresser and chest of drawers. gallery-framed pictures on the wall of a violin and my acoustic guitar in the corner.

my daughter’s room is african-safari themed and the bathroom is parisian. i wasted a lot of money at bed, bath & beyond ensuring everything was themed-based and would match.

the kitchen is italian-themed and very small so i don’t have a kitchen table.

the dining room is formal, solid wood table with two leafs that i keep covered with a table cloth and a hard plastic top because i don’t want it ruined. the window shams and the chair pattern, though not bought together, match perfectly.

the living room brings all of the themes together through various decorations. wood carved giraffes, a book on italian cooking and the history of jazz. you have to find the thing, but each theme is represented in the living room.

every photograph or canvas print on the wall was taken by me. i don’t display other people’s work. that’s my picture at the top of this blog post. this place is me.

i loved my apartment and how i decorated it. someone said it looks like an adult lives here which is a lot better than how someone described my first apartment.

they said it looked like their grandmother’s home. i had plants, sheer curtains, a coffee and end tables. it was dated, but i didn’t spend a lot of money furnishing it and the furniture was functional.

so what’s the problem? i’m over all of it! i want most of this furniture gone. i feel i have too much stuff, though most people who visit me disagree.

i’m bothered by stuff. whenever i look at something in my apartment that doesn’t have a real function, i cringe.

side note: i feel like i need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice, i’m just not sure why and having to get rid of stuff is holding me back. i also just don’t want it anymore.

take for example, the table in the above photo. it serves no real function other than to hold other decorations i have since boxed up and put away. i don’t need that table. it’s pretty, but that’s it.

i want to get rid of or sell everything i do not need: clothes, furniture, decorations. anything i have been holding on to because i might need it but never do.

so my plan over the next several months is to start finding homes for and sell items i haven’t used in the last year. i already have a box full of items i need to list on sell-your-stuff apps or craigslist.

i’ll update my progress on how things are going in three to four months. say a little prayer for me.