Sunday, January 24, 2010

Clearing out the Clutter and a Book Giveaway!

One of my goals for 2010 was to work on clearing out the clutter in my life. This applies to actual physical stuff around the house, my email inboxes and mental clutter.

These things take time, but I’m finding the physical clutter the easiest to deal with. So far this year, I have cleaned out the spare bedroom, the linen closet, the bathroom cupboards and my bedroom.

Not a bad start! There is a lot more I could do, but right now the rooms and closets are tidy and I don’t feel bad when I go in those rooms anymore. It feels good to let stuff go. I’m also in a really good place with regards to NOT buying more stuff to replace what I’ve thrown out/donated… So I think we may have some progress here!

I even cleaned out my bookshelves and I have several health/diet/fitness books that I was wondering if you guys would be interested in… I am willing to mail the books to anyone that is interested. Just pass them on to another friend when you no longer need them! Leave a comment stating which book(s) you are interested (and make sure there is a way to contact you) and I’ll get in touch with you to get your mailing address. In the event that multiple people want the same book, I’ll draw names or something. (All links are to Amazon.ca for reference.)

Body for Life – Bill Phillips

Strength for Life – Shawn Phillips

The Best Life Diet – Bob Greene (Oprah’s trainer)

The New Rules of Lifting for Women – Lou Shuler

Happy for No Reason – steps to being happy from the inside out – Marci Shimoff

Hunger Free Forever – Michael T. Murray, Michael Lyon

The Natural Makeover Diet – Dr. Joey Shulman

The Biggest Loser 30 day Jumpstart – Cheryl Forberg + The biggest loser experts and cast

The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl – Shauna Reid

Does this Clutter Make my Butt Look Fat? – Peter Walsh (from Clean Sweep on TLC) (hardcover, missing jacket)

The Ultimate Weight Solution – Dr. Phil (hardcover, missing jacket)

8 comments:

ACountryCowgirl said...

WOW good for you on getting things cleaned up, I so need to do that to. Especially since we are still trying to get everything unpacked at the new ranch:) This is a great thing you are doing by helping others:)

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Oh, thank you for creating those links. You are so sweet for doing this giveaway. I'd like a book, but if you need help with the shipping from Canada to US, let me know. My choices would be...

1. Hunger Free Forever - Since hunger is what keeps me eating and eating is what keeps me fat.

2. The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl - Since she's a blogger and got such great reviews.

3. The Biggest Loser 30 Day Jumpstart - Because I LOVE that show.

nuzzlingmuzzles@gmail.com

cdncowgirl said...

Wow congrats on all the cleanup! Clutter can be tough... I know its a huge problem here. Pie is a shopoholic, its really bad and causes the majority of our arguements. (funny, its never about the money he spends on the stuff but rather how much stuff there is)
Add to that my being a packrat and holding onto stuff for "sentimental" reasons as well as the "I may need that" and it causes a LOT of clutter. I'm working on getting rid of my stuff, like facing the fact that if I haven't needed something in X amount of time what is are the chances that I will need it and determining what is truly sentimental and worth keeping (my grandparents's fancy tablecloth that was their wedding present and given to us on our wedding day) versus NOT worth keeping.
I'm working on it but its slow going.

I'd love a couple of those books:
1- Best Life Diet (Bob Greene)
2- Ultimate Weight Solution (Dr. Phil)

If NuzMuz is the only other person that wants the Diet Girl and Biggest Loser books I'd appreciate her sending them my way when she's done with them. If you do have more people wanting them and you do a draw throw my name in for them too please :)
Let me know how much shipping is and I'll gladly pay for it.

This "book exchange" is a really good idea. I'm a big reader but instead of going to the library I buy most of my books. When I sort through them I should put up a list on the blogs and see if anyone wants them, it would be quite a list as I've got a wide range of literary interests! lol

Anonymous said...

I too, would love The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl, but I'm quite happy buying my own copy shortly. :)

Laura, when you're done with your place, why don't you come on down to Oregon and help me tackle the closet under the stairs, the storage room and a tiny portion of the garage? (Really, the garage just has a tiny bit we never moved inside or got organized out there). Feels good to get all organized, doesn't it?

Laura said...

No need to worry about the shipping everyone, it is my gift to all of you! ;-) I'll wait a couple more days to see if I get any more comments before shipping out the books.

@OS - I'd love to come to Oregon!!!
:-) (I can be brutal when it comes to throwing out stuff though - just ask my Mom! lol)

ORSunshine said...

@Laura- Noooo! Not my tack! LOL! I have some in the storage room and the closet under the stairs. I'd like to consolidate the closet under the stairs into my tack closet. But, that takes time that I haven't yet devoted that way.

The husband has been a pack rat in the past. In our single car garage at the old house, boxes were stacked at least 5' high of his stuff. Before we moved, he went through every.single.box. and got rid of a lot of things. I was ever so proud of him!

-OS

Laura said...

@OS - lol! Tack is a different situation. I wouldn't throw out tack, but maybe just help organize it!

Good for your hubby for going through all those boxes! Most people would've just moved them to the new garage unopened!

ORSunshine said...

@Laura- No, he already did that twice with me. I think he may have been afraid of what I'd do this time if he did since I pitched a big fit last time, and then lived with it for a year. We have more space- double the square footage here, but less storage space. And the garage here is really a glorified carport that stores my hay.

I need a housekeeper. Really, I do. Or a weekly cleaning lady. I'm happiest outside, not doing inside chores! I'll clean the barn, I'll even scrub buckets. But please don't make me do dishes or mop or vacuum!