Swap

Swap

Unpacking the goods I had stored for the year I traveled, I realized a few things.

·       While I tried very hard to only keep things I liked and were important to me, there was still a lot of junk.

·       Trying to fit things from one home into another space rarely works out well.  Carpets are too big or too small, couches don’t fit, etc.  Virtually all the furniture I brought in the UHaul ended up on Craiglist.  Not that there was a ton of it, but still…. 

One of the things I did right off the bat was organize a girls swap.  I had done the same back in Seattle, but less regularly.  Now, every quarter a gang of us get together, drink wine, and trade clothing, shoes, etc.  Looking in my closet, I can say honestly I have bought less than 1/3 of what is in there.  And because swapping is “free”, if something doesn’t actually work it’s easy to throw it back in the bin to be swapped again.  There was no investment.  How many of us keep things because they are “good” or were expensive, even as we pass them over week after week and never wear them?  I haven’t tried the hanger technique (flip them all around on New Year’s Day and turn them back only once you’ve worn the garment).  But maybe I will as winter sets in….