Week 2 and 3- I'm still in!

Here's a recap of Week #2: Clothes (spread over 2 weeks thanks to the ice storm interrupting it the first try)

-I went through my closet and got rid of all the clothing that I don't wear any more.  I just did this last fall, but I managed to fill a extra large garbage bag full of clothes that I'm certain I won't miss.  There were a lot of things that I have passed by on previous purges thinking "I might wear that, or 'it might fit again if I loose weight' or 'I don't know if it fits or not.'"  If I wasn't sure about it, I tried it on and every one of those items went into the bag.  I am planning on donating the clothes but I want to make sure they go to a place wear they will reach those in need- not get lost in the depths of the Goodwill storehouse.  Any thoughts?

-During the ice storm, we lived with my in-laws and I basically wore the same 2 outfits for 4 days.  It was pretty refreshing- I packed an extra set of clothes that I liked and was comfortable in, and I was good to go for the duration of the storm.  No mental energy wasted on outfit selection that week- it was great!

Week 3:  STUFF

I am trying to rid my house of all excess stuff.

I cleaned out our storage room and closets and am planning on donating some and selling some at a garage sale.

I cleaned out 2 of my major food-storage cupboards and found:
2 packages of spaghetti I didn't know about
2 half-full bags of pinto beans
2 half-full bags of brown rice
2 boxes of acini di pepe pasta, used for making my late Grandma's frog eye salad  (YUM!)
Some pecans I didn't know about
etc, etc, etc.

It felt awesome to get those cupboards cleaned out and to be aware of the excess of food I had and didn't even know about (next week's menu:  Tex Mex Chicken and Beans and frog eye salad!

I also have had to ask myself some hard, uncomfortable questions, as I recently shared with some friends who are doing "7" with me.

So this week I am working on "stuff" I have gone through most of our closets and crannies and set stuff aside that I don't need any more. I'll donate some of it and some of it I will sell on a garage sale. I am struggling with the garage sale thing but the reality is, with this lovely Spring weather holding up landscape work for 2 months, we've been stretched ultra thin and I'd like to save a little money so the kids can go to a camp this summer and/or to use towards a family vacation later on. BUT- isn't this going against what 7 is about? I am feeling very conflicted, if we're being real here. I have also been doing a lot of thinking about "stuff" this week- like realizing that I don't NEED new chaco flip flops this summer, or a new swim suit, or most anything, because I didn't walk around naked last summer and I didn't gain or loose any weight this year, so everything should still fit, right? I have also been reflecting on my kids' wardrobes and realizing that they don't really need to have tons of summer clothes- as long as they have a handful of shorts and tops and a few nice Sundayish clothes, that really should be enough. I've also had some hard thoughts about things like Birthday presents. We've always told Claire that when she turns 7, she could get a DS, like Fisher did when he was 7. I've kept hoping she'd stop wanting one, but she hasn't wavered. So, I'm thinking that our family doesn't need to own two DS's- they could share. We could buy her a game or two of her own, and they can share. But this will require an emotional conversation when we explain our rational, and she probably will not be happy. But I think in the end, it will be for the greater good. I think that it might be good for our kids to hear "We don't want to spend money on that or even "We can't spend money on that- it doesn't make good sense for our family right now."

I don't know for sure what I think, but this is an example of the questions I've been asking myself :)