I have been participating in Discardia for many years now.  Not well I might add.    Basically for various periods of time throughout the year, dependent upon lunar cycles and what not, one makes an effort to appreciate the blessings they do have and take a step back from rampant consumerism.  The general rule to not purchase anything during this time is pretty much ignored when it comes to food, medication, necessary toiletries {toilet paper!!!!} by me.  Probably by the creator as well.  She  kept a blog where she did daily discardian pep talks and has various posts on the subject but I pay attention to the calendar and that is about it.  Usually at the beginning of each year I sit down and input all the upcoming dates as far into the future as I can.

Sad truth this:  Discardia almost always falls around Christmas, insert alternative winter holiday of your choice please, which is really difficult to manage with 3 kids.  I totally ignore Discardia over Winter Solstice.  Although I do try to stay mindful and purchase one or two carefully thought out gifts instead of a honking huge pile of stuff.

Anyway this Discardian Holiday happens to be a particularly long one going from today, June 20th through July 18th~ almost an entire month!  I went to the Ravelry group “Clearing the Clutter” yesterday to see if there was any mention of Discardia and nope.  Which is hunky dory fine by me.  I mean it isn’t very well known despite the catchy name.  Actually I guess it is somewhat known since Dinah recently wrote a book on the subject.  I did, however, notice a challenge to get rid of 1000 things in the next 2 weeks.  Ambitious.  Well discardia is not only about getting rid of stuff and de cluttering but about being mindful of our resources: financial, emotional, time etc. but I do try to minimize my stuff quasi regularly.  I am not participating in the challenge but I did start of the holiday with a quick purge of some stuff that accumulated since we moved in here.  For the record

1]bathroom: 23 items including the curlers, chi, and blow dryer I haven’t used in over a year.  Throw in various toiletries that I didn’t ever use cus they made me itch or what not and voila.  By comparison somebody else, same group different thread, apparently purged over 200 items from bathroom.

2]nightstand 9 items

3]kids clothing 27 pieces

4]hutch 3

grand total of 42 items.  Out of the house as in to salvation army.  I have some other stuff listed on ebay and live journal etc but they are not gone yet so I could theoretically end up keeping them if they don’t sell.

I was thinking of these over 200 items.  I am not sure how one fits 200 items in their restroom.  Actually the challenger mentioned anything that was once of use aka a file folder was a thing but I kinda think that is cheating.  I  mean one of the 3 things from the hutch was a big box of empty file folders.  I didn’t count them for heavens sake.  And if I decided to part with my pony tail  holders I wouldn’t count them individually either.  And this is why I a not participating in the challenge.  I felt like I was cheating as I counted out the kids shirts and jeans!

So sorry to go off topic this way but, well, minimizing our stuff is something I find particularly interesting.  I feel claustrophobic around too much clutter and mentally scattered when dealing with a bunch of things.  I was discussing this with The Flame recently because our insurance is due soon and the topic of how do we prove what we owned and how much it was worth for replacement value’s sake work?  I mean I have a kazillion hanks/balls of yarn so if I were tasked with listing each and every single one to an insurance person … and he has quite a few books 7 floor to almost ceiling worth of books not counting stuff on hutch, bedside book stand, and any that might be in storage in locker.

Many years ago I actually took pictures of all my yarn and put it on Ravelry database but seeing it all laid out instead of squirreled into hat boxes and underbed storage drawers and whatnot felt obscene.  So I removed my database except for a handful of yarns I swore to work on next.  No such luck.  The same yarns are sitting in 2 baskets by various chairs waiting their turn.  After speaking with an insurance agent about the topic its a ummm ya I need to picture and list everything again.  As well as my books and patterns, needles, perfume etc.  I have a lot of perfume and lipsticks and nail polish.  Cus at heart I am a girlie girl.  Not many clothes thank heavens tho I do have more shoes than clothes.

Either way  the point is really about knowing what you have because it is in use or adds value.  So I am particularly enthused about Discardia this round and hoping it will kick start my household inventory.

elka

PS the kids clothing was stuff they had given me to donate.  I do not shuffle through and make decisions regarding value of personal stuff for either The Flame or my children.   I do however encourage them to go through a shelf or so every once in a while to check and see what the heck is in that pile :/