Clearing the Mind by Clearing the Stuff

It's been a busy month since I last posted the news about closing my studio.  June 10th was the official end date for Bell'Arte Studios and I'm finally able to relax now that everything has been moved and inventoried.   We had a final closing sale where I sold 25+ paintings and a lot of fused glass items, but even with the sale, I managed to bring home quite a few paintings and supplies.

When I found out we were closing the gallery, I was overwhelmed at the thought of taking everything down and hauling it back to my house.  I live in a small 842 square foot 2 bedroom, 1 bath home with a detached 1-car garage that is my fused glass studio.  To make a long story short -- there simply isn't room to store more stuff!!!

The news prompted me to go through my closets, drawers and rooms to eliminate what I didn't want or need to make room for the things I did want to keep.  I got rid of a complete set of dishes and silverware (when was the last time I had a sit-down dinner for 12?), 2 grocery bags of worn linens and rags that I had saved for cleaning up when making art; 4 bags of books (some that I've never read) and a ton of art supplies that were constantly staring me in the face, challenging me to stop working on my current project to go play with them.

I managed to whittle down my shoe inventory from 42 pairs to 19, and happily donated them and 7 bags of suits and business clothes to charity.  I gave away a complete set of golf clubs to a friend (I rarely play with 1 set--why was I holding onto 2??); shredded files of invoices, taxes, and bank statements from 1995 to 2007 and happily tossed the skinny jeans and clothes that I'm just not going to guilt myself over anymore.

My niece and I had a garage sale with some of the nicer items, and after 2 hours in the heat, we packed it all into the car and dumped it off at the Goodwill.  All of it.  What a good feeling it was to put that chapter behind me!!!

I'm enjoying the cleared-off tabletops and empty spaces on my bookshelves.  I can actually see all of the clothes in my closet and the shoes I have now fit on the shelves.  The energy in my home has become "lighter" and my mind chatter is becoming quieter and more thoughtful.  New ideas are starting to form and instead of feeling overwhelmed at these concepts, I'm feeling excited again.


This morning a friend of mine announced on Facebook that her daughter's school is accepting donations for an upcoming garage sale.  I sent her an email letting her know I'd have least one carload of things to donate - if I look hard enough I'll find more stuff that I don't need/want......and if we're both lucky, I may just have two.