Have you ever had too much of anything?    Too many clothes?  Too many magazines?  Too many appointments and meetings?   Too many obligations?   Too many debts?   Too many shoes?  Too many supplies for your hobby?   Too many dishes, cooking utensils, appliances?

How does it make you feel when you have too much of something?

I have too many clothes, too many magazines, too many appointments, and too many supplies for my scrapbooking hobby.   I’m in the process of finding a new home for many of my clothes, trashing magazines, saying no to new obligations and appointments, and selling many of my scrapbooking supplies.

How did it get to this point?

For me there are many reasons.  I have always liked clothes.  When I see something I like, I usually purchase it.  As my size has changed I have purchased clothes to match and probably have 3 or 4 different wardrobes of clothes.   You keep them thinking well I will lose a few pounds and it will look nice, or I better keep this in case I gain some weight.    Clothes don’t have a sentimental value to me.  But I hate parting with something I haven’t gotten my money’s worth out of.   I’m getting better at this. purchasing less and giving away more.  If I haven’t worn it in 2 years I probably won’t.   If I lose or gain the weight so it will fit, it will be out of style.  And the cost of the space to keep all these clothes is expensive.

Magazines are a different story.  I love reading them.   I love the information I get from them.  I think I am an information junkie!  Now if I could just remember everything I read, I would have it made.   I subscribe to several magazines.  I often purchase others at the grocery counter.  My mom gets a bunch and sends them to me to read when she is finished.  So all in all I probably get 8 – 10 magazines per month.  That is a lot.   Then there is the problem that I have a hard time pitching them till I have at least looked through them.  Heaven forbid I would throw one away and miss that great recipe or fact about something!  I can laugh about it and make fun of it on here…but it is an issue.  I am getting better, but I have to force myself to pitch them after so long if I haven’t read them.  I have been making that time-frame shorter and shorter and it has gotten easier, but I still have too many!

Why do we say ‘YES’ to so many appointments and obligations?   Why don’t we just say “NO”?  For some, I think they like to be busy, they don’t know what to do with down time or time alone.   For others it is a fear of using the big “NO” word.  They are afraid people won’t like them anymore if they use it.  Another reason we often say “YES” is because it makes us feel important.  If people are asking YOU to do something, then YOU must be special.   For others it is control, they like to be in charge of everything.  Often it is because we don’t want to miss a fantastic opportunity.   What if we say “NO” to that joint venture and then it is a big success?   For me it is probably a tiny bit of most of these.  Except the part about not knowing what to do with downtime.  I have no problem finding stuff to do.  But in all honesty…sometimes I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings by saying “NO.”  I often feel I need an explanation, when really we don’t.  We just need to say ‘NO.”   When people ask you to do things or be in charge of something it does sometimes make you feel important, but I’m over that…now it often just makes me feel stressed.  I have enough on my plate and do not need more.  But I confess I am a bit of a control freak at times and I hate the thought of missing out on a great opportunity.   But through prayer, I am realizing that most of life is beyond our control.  The only thing we can control is how we react to life.   And I have come to realize that if I say “YES” to too many things, there will be NO room in my life for what is most important or that opportunity that trumps all others.  So I’m learning how to say that big “NO” word.

Hobbies are fun but can become expensive and a huge collection of items you don’t even remember you have.  I love the idea of scrapbooking.  Saving those memories of times that are so precious.  I have always loved pictures and love the feelings that are shared when people look back at pictures and remember what great times they had.   I have spent hundreds, probably thousands on scrapbooking supplies.   I have empty albums, stickers. pages, page protectors, glue, etc.  I could scrapbook every day for the next year and probably still have supplies left.   I have supplies I don’t even remember I have, so I used to go buy more.   Then digital scrapbooking came along.   I found I was much faster on a computer than I was with paper and glue.   So I started scrapbooking digitally.   Then I started my business and my time for scrapbooking was greatly diminished.   I fear selling all the stuff I have since I have pages started and probably need some of these supplies to complete certain years of my son’s life in scrapbook.  But others I won’t need since I will do it all digitally.  but I don’t know which items fall into which category.

So there you have it….the reason I have way TOO MUCH stuff!   My whole life is cluttered with it.  it is valuable stuff to someone, but it just feels very smothering to me!     I’m on a mission in 2014 to make some changes.  I’ll be talking about some of these changes as the year progresses.  Feel free to follow along.

How about you?  Do you have too much of anything?  Any tips you can provide for learning to say “NO?”