Less is More and a place to Sleep!

Get it out of here!!!!

Over the course of 4-5 years I have been on a mission to rid our home of "stuff"....

• the car top carrier that we used ALOT when the boys were little, when we traveled, when we camped - the boys aren't little we travel light and camping doesn't happen anymore, just give me that nice hotel room with clean sheets and towels each day!
  
• clothes - I have 3 favorite pairs of jeans...at any given time there are at least 6 pr in my closet....how do they multiply so quickly??
  
• the student desk that was in the boys' room for them to study at - now it is at the home of a young mom who is going back to school to be a nurse.
  
• the computer desk with hutch....good idea...worked with a PC, took up too much space and was a "catch-all" - - laptops only need a lap
  
• my old sewing table...now I have my momma's sewing cabinet...much more practical, more storage space for uh..um...well for more stuff...ugh
  
• stereo with turn table...I had to talk long and hard to convince my hubby to take this to the thrift shop it was one of those "first purchases" for us...but good grief..that was decades ago
  
• crafting/sewing/quilting notions, books, and etc. I have my mom's stash as well as mine...had to thin it out a bit...ok, it could be thinned out more but I have started on this and am making progress
• did I mention clothes?
  
• dishes and other kitchen items..you know, those things that don't stack well, don't match, don't anything...out out out you go
  

The list can go on and on and on.

Recently I mentioned to a quilting pal of mine who lives in the South that I had a couple of projects that my mom had started, but must have gotten tired of or just did not care for the way they were turning out, I know she had not worked on them for years. I do not want to finish these, they are too good to toss, and I just hated the idea of them ending up at the thrift store (which is our usual place of deposit for such items). We yakked about this over the course of a few days until we hit upon something wonderful.

FreeCycle. This is a internet based re-duce, re-use, re-cycle group that is located all over the world. What a fantastic idea! Through Free Cycle we have already gotten rid of a set of studded tires, a humidor, a few clothes, and a keyboard (think of the space we have gained!!! Less stuff, gives us more space to enjoy, we are keeping with are Less is More plan).

I have a friend who is an eBay seller. From time to time I give her items to sell for me. That is great when the items are not a set of snow tires! Neither she nor I are interested in shipping a set of snow tires! I will use FreeCycle for those items that I either don't want to list on eBay or want them OUT OUT OUT ASAP.

Now for that place to sleep...

On the news the other night there was a report of people who are traveling from here to there and there to here and not paying for a hotel room...sometimes not paying for a meal. How? Well, they are using Couch Surfing to get from point A to point B with very little expense.

All you have to do is fill out the simple form giving the who, what, when, where and blah blah blah about yourself. Then you can ck the site for someone who might be offering their couch in the next city you plan to visit, keeping in mind you might get a call as well from someone planning to visit your city. Sounded like fun to me. When you are visiting a new place you would be getting insider info about the best places to sightsee and etc.

I do not plan to register at CouchSurfing, so why am I so excited about this? My son does a fair amount of traveling to participate in Disc Golf tournaments. He travels up and down the West coast but has also gone back East to Tennessee as well. He enjoys meeting people and always has a story to tell about his adventures.

So...Ryan...whadda ya think? Sound like something you might look into? I would certainly be interesting to see who is going to San Diego that might need a couch to crash on from time to time.