About two years ago Unseen Forces began divesting me of my material possessions and after the initial shock and the knee-jerk reaction to being materially denuded, I felt a natural freedom, a huge sigh of relief.
Life Haiku.
For example:
(Okay, Haiku is relative, so just keep in mind that I'm up to 70% reduced in some areas, I'll try to give a running estimation)
Wardrobe:
Running shoes/trainers x 1
Converse:
Chuck Taylors x 1
One Star Sequined loafers x 1
One Star slip-ons x 1
Boots x 3 (none of them practical for extreme winter weather, but they all rock and the black high heeled ones are really comfortable, I mean walk all day in them comfortable)
Heels x 8 (3 black, 2 brown, 1 pewter metalic, 1 ballet pink, 1 purple T-straps,)
Berks, gladiators, flipflops, peep toed sandles x 1 each
Blahnik mules x 1
Flats: 1 black, 1 aubergine
Loafers: are you kidding me? Okay, I have one pair of Todd's that I borrowed from my Mom
OK, shoes still need some work, but there are a total of twenty-something items of footwear in my closet; compared to the average woman of today we can safely say that in the foot wear department I am haiku-like.
Instead of listing items I'll just give linear measurements:
6 feet of rack space, ie, one double sized closet, and that is summer AND winter clothes and outer wear.
Drawers: 24 feet of loosely loaded drawers or two 5 drawer chests of drawers: T-shirts, sweaters, socks, underwear, sports wear, accessories, including handbags and 4 jaunty hats.
Books: 5 book boxes of beloved reads, including The Oxford Concise Dictionary of The English Language
Decorative: 5 boxes, including photos of friends and family and a 1930's small Italian chandelier
Art Collection: 1 painting, 5 prints, about 10 sculptures of various sizes, 5 drawings.
Office/Desk/Tax Returns: 2 orderly book boxes
Furniture: 1 full Tempurpedic mattress, bed and headboard, pair of bergere chaises with foot rest 1 antique side table and a mid-century console and lamp of the same vintage.
Electrical: video camera, digital camera, laptop, wireless microphone
Kitchen: set of All-Clad pots and pans, 2 Henkles knives and 2 boxes of assorted other kitcheny stuff.
Ummmm, that's it really.
Excluding the furniture, all of my worldly possessions* fit in 2 Suburban loads, and the rest can follow in a flatbed with the tailgate down.
*There are a few lingering items in London
Oh, and make-up, if you are a woman then you will really appreciate this:
Everything, everything, make-up brushes, hair-dryer, brushes combs, creams, band-aids, toothpaste, etc all in one box. One box, and not a big box, but a regular book box sized box. I got rid of all shades of red lipstick: there is not one shade of red that does not make me look older and I accept that there never will be. I now have 3 Mac Viva Glam lip glosses, one Viva Glam lipstick and one Rimmel lip pencil and Bert's Bees chap stick for home, office and handbag. Now that is Haiku in the lip department, just ask any lady.
Apart from the clothes and a few desk items it is all packed up an ready to go. I'm ready. Other loose ends are being tied up as I write. Or after I write.
I thought that was going to be funny, but it's not. It's not sad either. It just is interesting for me to see what I have, what I don't have, what I miss and what I don't miss.
Of one thing I am certain, I don't miss the dread of moving.
Life Haiku, by Lisa Prior
two Suburban loads
a bed, chairs, Viva the Glam
London lingering
more Haiku here at the Haiku Generator
http://www.everypoet.com/haiku/default.htm
For expert decluttering visit my friend Annie:
http://drdeclutterservices.com/Site/Welcome.html
