Come December, I will be moving out of my apartment and therefore, want to sell a bunch of my stuff. Actually, I want to sell most everything that I do not need. Unfortunately, that is a lot of stuff. Because of this, I have been toying around with the idea of having a garage sale. As a child, my family never had a garage sale. Not one single one. I guess we either gave stuff away, threw it away or kept it. Plus, if I know my mother (and I know I do) she would not enjoy one second of having a garage sale.

I say all of that because it leads me to this past Saturday morning. I finally had a weekend in Nashville and I’ve noticed a lot of garage sale signs out so I thought I’d peruse a few garage sales to get a feel on pricing. I really have no clue how much people sell things for at a garage sale. Clearly I am my mother’s daughter and am not a garage sale kinda girl either. I was in luck, there were several communities nearby coordinating “community garage sales.” I figured I could swing through a few neighborhoods and browse quickly and head on home.

First of all, I noticed that no two garage sales were coordinated in the same manner. Some people put price tags on items and were super organized, but most people just threw their junk out in their front yard for people to see and then they’d haggle for a price if someone was interested. Secondly, and most importantly, I was rather disgusted at the amount of sheer junk that people hoard in their homes. SO.MUCH.JUNK. Disgusting. I couldn’t help but think of all the people in third world countries that don’t even have enough clothing or food to get by and then I looked at all the crap that everyone was trying to get rid of and thought about all the crap that I have at my apartment that I’m trying to get rid of and it just made me feel gross.

To think, I often focus on all that I do not have or all that I wish I had or all that I want to have, but here we are in this great nation of privilege and yet there are people all over the world without the bare necessities. So often I feel the struggle of financial burden. Seeing all the excess in the lives of these people hosting garage sales and then picturing all the excess that I have in my life gave me a new perspective.

ONE.
I should be far more grateful for the things that I have been blessed with.

TWO.
I need to be far more responsible with my spending habits and establish a difference between items that are wants and items that are needs.

THREE.
I need to be far more giving because I do live in a very privileged country. “…Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Luke 12:48)

FOUR.
Excess belongings smother us and cause us to feel overwhelmed. Shed a few items and shed a few layers of stress and burden. Too much stuff just complicates life.

That afternoon, I decided to begin posting many of my belongings on Craigslist to see what I could say sayonara to before deciding if a garage sale would be in my future. A few items have already sold via Craigslist and let me tell you, it feels really, really good to get rid of things that I do not need. Because it felt so good to shed the excess, I actually even started posting items I previously thought I just HAD to keep. Guess what? I am still alive and happy with the idea of living without those items;-)

Life is better when it’s simple. Don’t get bogged down by the excess in your life. Aim for simplicity.