Packing Time!

What a busy few days! I have managed to ruthlessly declutter my closet (giving away about 40-50 items of clothing- makes me sick to think that I had that much to give away in the first place), yet my closet still looks quite full. I will have to reassess the situation in a few weeks time and see if I can give more away.

And I got my youngest boy to declutter his toy drawers. I am proud to say that he was willing to give many of his toys so that other kids could have a chance to play with them. He also decided to give away many of his books. So this is what our decluttering has amounted to (minus my two bags of clothes I took to LifeLine today or gave away to friends):

But I think this is only the start. I will get my other kids to declutter their rooms when they get home from the farm tomorrow.

I have also started packing. I know we haven't received a handover date yet, but by all indications it looks like it will be end of June. And with my commitments to uni, community and family, I don't want to panic and be overwhelmed end of June because there is just so much to do.

So far, I have packed most of my linen closet, keeping only a few towels and a set of sheets for each bed out. I have also packed away most of our books, leaving only my books I need for my PhD. And this my friends is what one bookcase packed looks like:

I still have 2 more bookcases to do. While it hasn't been difficult to declutter my closet, I find it very difficult to part with my books. I still have books I read in high school, carrying them from the US to Malaysia and now finally Australia. My books are too precious to me. But I know I will eventually have to summon the courage to give them away, if I truly want to comitt to living minimally.