Stuff, clutter, too many things… this is what I’m talking about. I’ve been a bit plagued by this since pregnant while getting my bachelor’s degree. I went to school full time, worked so hard I graduated with honors and had a baby somewhere in between.

We also moved during this time, so when we moved in I didn’t have the time to unpack properly and settle in to our current home. The house is the largest we’ve ever owned and since my life was so busy, I just sort of “hoarded” stuff. Boxes, clothes, books, crap etc. ended up in closets, a spare room, the garage and just about any other place shit can hide.

Well I am long done with school and my baby is now a full fledged 4-year-old kid. I have been in the uncluttering mode for some time and read my daily emails from  unclutterer.com every day for great tips. So I finally am tackling my stuff. Unfortunately I am not the same over-achiever here and am challenged by decluttering and finding it difficult to decide what stays and what goes.

Then I fly with my friend, Debbie Orkin, who is a master declutterer.

“People always ask the same question when they come to our home, ‘Have you lived here long?’ because they think we just moved in – and we’ve lived there for six years!” Orkin says of her sparse and uncluttered home.

She says that whenever they buy something, at least two, ideally three, things have to go. Orkin says she always needs a project to work on so from time to time she’ll notice her husband’s shirts need replacing and she’ll go out, buy some new shirts and then promptly gets rid of all his other shirts.

Light bulb.

I’ll be her project! So I told her I needed her help. She accepted, but said I better be ready to have her really throw stuff away.

I am, but I don’t know when I can get her over to my house. So I decided to text her and ask for daily purging instructions when my new “it” bag arrived from Cjour.com.

My groovy grey-green delectable Mona Lethal Italian leather messenger bag by Tano is the bag I’ve been looking for all my life is perfect! I’ve been hoping to find a bag that can go and do all that I need it to do, from journalist to mom to traveler, this is it. And since I am paring down I knew it was time to say good-bye to some other bags and give “Mona” a shelf of her own.

Orkin delivered on her texted advice:

“…I hold on to designer purses – louis vuitton, coach, etc. I toss non designer crap. U will probably only carry your new purse now so toss the old ones…”

My response:

“Perfect advice… Would u consider Banana Republic a designer one?…”

Orkin:

“Nope-banana rep has to go!!”

Done!

I am now going to my closet to purge! I’m kinda excited about it too – even been texting with Orkin about it and it’s after midnight.

Think I’ve found a great new “class” with a great professor who will give assignments on decluttering via texts – now that’s using social media!