In the beginning.....

There once was a house full of stuff collected from years of over buying and not purging.

Welcome to the One Item A Day project - my attempt to de-clutter my house - and thereby my life - one item at a time.  Tomorrow, September 1st, officially starts this project and each day I'll post what the item of the day is and how it's going to be disposed of.

This insane idea first came about last year after reading about more and more people living a simplier lifestyle.  There are those who have choosen to only wear 1 dress for an entire year, or a family elimating all pre-packages materials from their home, but I knew that in reality that would never be me and with the addition of a new infant in the house, my idea to start somewhere was frankly dead in the water, favoring sleep and sanity.  But life has settled down and the realization that our stuff is taking our house can't be further ignored.  So here I begin, a journey to eliminate that stuff.  

But first a few things you should know about me:

• I am a PACK RAT!  As in when I watch Hoarders, I hear some of the same excuses I use.  "It'll be useful when...." or "But I got this ..... and it reminds of that event/trip/etc" or how about "But it was a GREAT deal!"  Yeah I've used them all.
• I love to shop! It used to be a past time.  In college, it was a Friday afternoon ritual.  I've cut a lot of my unnecessary shopping, but still love a good deal and have a hard time turning away from a sale.
• I really like multiples.  As a kid (well who am I kidding, even now) walking into neatly organized stores with mulitples of everything makes my heart skip a beat.
• I'm horrible at grammer and spelling - more of any FYI for you readers who will undoubtly find some errors from time to time in every post.  

So why am I doing this?  Well I could lie and say it's all in the name of being green or to raise awareness of excessive consumerism, but really, I just want a clean house in which I can find what I need, when I need it.  And because trying to part with a lot of things at one time is well....a disaster for me.  Seriously, ask the husband. 

Something else to know about me, I like rules.  Nice, orderly, and in the box.  So to keep this project in line, I've set some rules.

1. A minimum of 1 item per day must be removed (or arrangements made to remove it) each day.  
2. Each item must either be: thrown out, sold, or donated.
3. Trash does not count.

 I hope you enjoy this journey I'm on - it's going to be interesting and enlightening!

Jen