Packing: the take it, leave it, and toss it piles

Take one room of your current house, apartment, dorm room, or any living space and examine how much stuff you have managed to fit into it. How many of us live with simply a mattress and enough clothes to make it to the next laundry cycle? Not many, I would say.

The funny thing is that taking a cleanser to your space is actually quite rewarding. Getting there is the hard part.

If you don't have the objective of an upcoming move, here's what I suggest. Just give it a try. Take a few empty boxes and put those little gifts that someone gave you and you can't seem to give away into one of them. Put the clothes that you haven't worn in the last year into another one. Finally, add the things you love that you do use/wear all the time (too much of the time) into the last box. Put the boxes in a storage closet or a friend's house.

Give it a few days. Isn't it a wonderful feeling? Those items that ended up in the first couple of boxes were just taking up space. Those items in the third box were so worn out, and now you have a chance to get new, updated, and more modern versions of whatever they were.

Call your friend and tell him or her to bring the boxes to a local charity. Don't forget the receipt. Use the tax write-off to add to your savings and don't buy so much stuff next year!