Amy Scott's Thoughts

Where to start? Should I start by saying that I wore 7 different items of clothing to work today? That was bliss! I came home and put on my sweats and I now have a lot more comfy clothes to choose from. Those items are truly the friends I missed in my wardrobe. Okay, I’ll admit it; I missed a lot of things in my wardrobe this last week – comfy clothes and professional clothes alike.  My stinkin’ attachment to stuff really came out this week!

However, I am happy to say that I’ve done a great purging in my wardrobe. When I got home from work today I continued to the great giveaway that I started last week. I know that was “ahead of schedule” but I was so excited last week that I started sorting my giveaway clothes while I had momentum. I think the great thing about having a week to think about this fast is I gave away a bit at the beginning of last week and then as the week went on I decided that I could let go of more than I had already sorted. Each day last week 2-3 more items went into bags. Slowly I was giving things up. My eyes were opening and suddenly what I wanted to keep the day before was now something I wanted to get rid of. Today was the final day I was going to give to my clothing. I am proud to say that I have removed 60 items of clothing. That is a 20% decrease! For some reason that moves me in a way I never expected. The joy I have in giving away my possessions is astounding.

Now, Jeremy went through his clothes and came up with a total of 249 for his complete wardrobe. He decided to giveaway 42 articles of clothing during this possessions fast. He is always giving away 7+ k-cups to reach his 49 items. I guess this would be a good time to mention that this week we have been challenged to give away 7 items a day for 7 days. At first I thought I couldn’t come up with 49 items. I’m an anti-clutter person and I regularly give things away to Goodwill to keep my home from being taken over by stuff. In my mind I had nothing to give away really… That assumption was WRONG!

Along with the 60 clothing items I am giving away, I am also giving away 72 household items. The picture I have included is actually of 62 of those items. While typing this and I remember that I wanted to give away some of our towel surplus, so I just ran to our bathroom linen closets and added a total of 10 more items to our bags. Here are a few stats I thought you mind find interesting:

• 181 items being purged from the Scott household (who knows, that number might still be growing, we’ll see). I am beyond excited for this giveaway! Kiss the excess good-bye!
• I discovered that I have 26 pillowcases in my home. We own 9 pillows. Does anyone think this is a little disproportionate? Now that 9 pillows still remain – 4 for Jeremy and I’s room, 4 for the guestroom, and one extra, but I have cut that pillowcase number in half!
• 181 items looks like 7 garbage bags full and 4 paper bags (not full due to weight). Random thought, wouldn’t it be cool to weigh all these bags to see how much weight our house lost?
• My new wardrobe total is 236; Jeremy’s new total is 207 (17% decrease).
• We contemplated adding our dog to the possessions fast. While this was a joke, I reminded Toby to be good this week because everything in our house to open for discussion. I truly meant everything!!!

I know Jeremy was really worried about this possessions fast when I got so excited about it. I’m sure he thought he would come home to an empty house. I like my stuff. That is for sure. However, I can see the excess and I think it’s important to purge when it’s proper. I think this was a proper time for that. This fast really pushed me to look past what I think I need. I assumed that I would have nothing to give, but it turns out that I had way more than I expected. I wonder how many other areas of my life I just “assume” that things are fine. These 5/7 Fasts along with reading Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Aganist Excess by Jen Hatmaker are really calling all my good intentions into question. I’m not assuming anymore! I’m doing something and it feels good! Better than expected! For those who are hesitant, let me tell you – the water is fine! Jump in!