Living in the basement

My heavily cluttered basement has been weighing me down mentally. There are a lot of reasons for the amount of stuff I walk around downstairs.  There was a family fire over a year ago and I've been hanging on to a table, chairs, kitchen wares and linens to help furnish a new living space for them.
I have a lot of hobbies and interests and since a lot of them include artistic stuff, I can envision a way to repurpose just about anything! So, it's hard to turn loose of some potentially fabulous piece of creativity.

I buy things ahead of time for my classes I teach and you gotta put them somewhere. I love clothing. I wish I didn't. I wish I just looked at clothes as something that's needed to cover my body.
Thankfully, I come across a lot of clothes for free or at goodwill. I also buy more clothes than I need. Since I have a terrible time staying at any one weight, there's a range of sizes, too. There's a computer that I don't know how to wipe clean that needs to exit that space and a huge monitor that I will never use. What to do?  There is a color printer that I replaced with a wireless one. Do you need it?  It's yours. I took a rocker to Goodwill and because the veneer was off some of it they didn't take it. I put it at the street- thank you, someone- it is gone. Now will someone take the 13 inch TV with a built in VCR that still works but I don't need? It, too, is at the curb. I hauled a truck load of goods to Goodwill and I hope someone enjoys the things that were just hanging out in my basement. Threw out a garbage cart full of trash and have overflowing recycling at the curb tonight. I'm feeling lighter, easier, and enjoying the task.  It isn't done and in truth probably I will never look at the basement and go "Ah, finally perfect" but for now it's a-ok and I'm not tripping over the rug in the middle of it- I listed it on Craig's list along with the oak chairs that need a new home. My hope is that in the next moment of temptation to bring anything into my home, only something truly beloved and potentially cherished will be allowed.
There was a time I was quite poor and I think I hang on to "things" because they seemed so important and out of reach for a time.
I'm wanting the freedom of less.
And grateful for where I am today. I makes me happy to have less, give more, free it up, give it up.
Growing up.