Book O' The Week: Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life

Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke is the name of the book I starting reading last week. Gail Blanke has been on Oprah and was the only guest. Oprah let her run the show and you really have to be on top of your game for that to happen.

I'm actually only 2/3 of the way through the book and actually I'm not reading it, I'm listening to the audiobook. When I first started this blog, I was literally reading a book a week, life got busy and I slacked off a bit, but now I'm back on it. I'm reading one book or listening to at least one audiobook per week. Books have literally changed my life: gotten me out of bad situations, helped me clear my credit card debt and helped me decide to pursue my dreams as a market editor and entrepreneur. My goal here is to inspire you and one of those things will be sharing life changing books.

If you've ever done a purging of your possessions, then you know how liberating it is. I was so excited to put the book on pause and now I have filled two boxes full of clutter and one garbage bag  full of stuff that I need to get rid of. The book mentions "periodic purging" and I do that a lot, but I keep finding more and more stuff to get rid of when I thought I was done.

I find that in life, letting go is one of the hardest things to do. I haven't literally thrown anything away yet because the garbage isn't picked up until Tuesday, but I have mentally let it all go. One thing that is hard for me to let go of is this $4000 Mac laptop I purchased in 2007. One day I spilled hot chocolate on it, got it repaired for $500 and it died a few days letter. I've had this broken thing for five years and I know it's unrepairable because I've taken it to Mac and two Mac specialists. I can't seem to let it go, but it's in the box and I've mentally thrown it away.

The book says if anything "weighs you down, clogs you up, or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself, throw it out, give it away, sell it, let it go, move on." If anything is just sitting there, taking up space and not contributing anything positive to your life, throw it out.

Blanke is not only talking about things, but beliefs, convictions, memories, jobs, people. If "it" isn't serving you or your life's passion, throw it out.

What's interesting is that if you have a box of magazines it only counts as one thing. A box full of jewelry only counts as one thing. Groupings of things only count as one thing. A toxic person, only counts as one thing. That means you're really going to be doing some major purging.

She also talks about wardrobe purging: getting rid of clothes that don't fit the image you want to project. That's very powerful and life changing and if you're not dressing the way you really want to dress, this will be a powerful leap to take in your life. It could change the way you carry yourself and also the way other people perceive you. You'll probably appear more confident if you're really "doing you".

I want you to do this purge with me. There's a two week deadline and Gail has a free workbook online that's going to help you get rid of stuff. You can click here to download it.

If you decide to do this, I'd love to hear about your progress. We can get rid of 50 things in two weeks if we can let go of 3-4 things per day. E-mail me when you're done with your purge or to give me and update and I'll remember to keep you posted when I'm done. We can start the new year of with a fresh new energy.