Clutter (It's everywhere!)

Let me talk about how obsessed I am over the clutter that is all over the house as I see it. It hangs over my head and mood like a dark cloud that is constantly raining on top of me. Silly as it sounds sometimes I actually go sit in the rv which doesn't have clutter (yet) just to get away from it. The clutter in the house reminds me of how much we have left to do before we can cut ties from this life here. So why don't I do something about it you might ask? Well, it's tricky. There are things like beds and tables that we kind of have to keep until we leave unless we plan on living in the driveway in our rv (believe me, I've thought about it!). Rather than have a half ass yard sale I would really rather get it all done in one shot than have several. I'm not a big fan of hosting yard sales. Too many strangers and socializing that is a little bit out of my comfort zone. It just freaks me out a little bit. And I never know how to price things or negotiate.

At any rate, we are going to give a go of it the weekend after this one. I'm kind of thinking that even if I have to sit on floors for the next month or so we'll make due. We can't get out of our lease until the end of the year so we must stay through the holidays and head out beginning of January. We still have time. I just walk around the house and everything we have to get rid of weighs on me. It isn't that I don't want to get rid of it. I just dread the chore of it, you know. We went to look at storage space already and decided we don't want one bad enough to pay $70 a month and still barely be able to store everything. It all must go with the exception of special heirlooms or family photos, paperwork, that type of thing.

In all honestly I think we have it better off than most people. We live in a very small house (around 800SF) and we don't own a lot compared to the average family. We already live quite simply. Nevertheless getting rid of all your posessions and downsizing your life to fit into a small rv can be stressful to say the least. There is also nothing like this experience to show you the ridiculous amounts of money you have paid over the years for things you don't use or aren't that important. The fact that mounds of clothes and shoes are engulfing our small bedroom is testament to that. Just looking at it every day makes me sad. It tempts me to take everything load it up, and dump it off to the thrift store. I know that isn't the smart thing to do though. The smart thing is to wait, have the yard sale, and then dump off the leftovers.

Other than that, we are off to Bear Creek Festival this weekend, our first music festival in true luxury. We are used to tent camping there and hoofing it quite far from primitive camping to the stages. Now we will be camped close to the stage in the luxury of our own rv! The whole family is ecstatic. Riki is STILL working out some rather major mechanical issues and the parts are just coming today to try and fix the speedometer which still isn't working which we hope has to do with why the gears aren't shifting automatically like they are supposed to. Sigh. It is one of those precarious situations where we are cutting it close and just hoping everything falls into place either way so we can make this trip happen smoothly. Our destination is a few hours away and will be the longest trip so far so I will have all fingers and toes crossed. I'm also hoping that things go well so that Riki can get a little more confidence in driving it. He is a pessimist at heart and a general basketcase when it comes to even the most minor mechanical issues. What do you expect with a used coach like that? It isn't going to be perfect. I'm willing to respect that. As long as she makes it there and back we'll all be happy campers (I couldn't resist, haha).

Amy