Sorry, well not really.

Yes, I haven't posted in a hell of a long time. I'd like to say I'm sorry but I realized in streamlining my life, this blog just didn't fall into the top priorities. But I'm posting now, since I have something fitting to post and a few spare minutes to post it.

For a long while now, part of my Spartanizing campaign has been to pay off the mountain of debt I accumulated during my 20s. Well I'm proud to announce that I'm almost there! I have a balance on just one credit card! (and no, I didn't transfer all my other balances to that one). Last month I paid off Sears Mastercard so I'm down to just the dreaded Citibank Mastercard. And I guess there's no shame in saying it, so I'll say it: I've gone from about $24K to $7K, where I'm at now. I could easily pay off the rest in about seven months, but the wedding looms. Oh well, at least I won't be accumulating more debt.

To the dude in the office 10 feet away

Hey Dude in the office 10 feet away,

Yeah, you! Yes, the invention called 'speaker phone' is really great, but hey, you have the priviledge of having an OFFICE. With a DOOR. Use it! Contrary to what you might think, us in Cubicle Land don't really need nor want to hear your conversation with the IT help desk. Just sayin'.

Craptastically,
Me

P.S. I know this has nothing to do with Spartanizing. But it had to be said.

To Be Continued

No, no, I haven't been slacking, not in the least bit. Well, maybe slacking about blogging but not about spartanizing. Over the past month, I've collected several more bags of clothing and other miscellanea (including tupperware, two bar stools and a CD rack; the latter two garnered via 'dumpster diving' in my alley) in hopes of finding a good time to trek down to the local Goodwill Industries to make a donation. Turns out that time was not today, however. After loading up my car this afternoon and making the twenty minute drive, I discovered that the donation line was at least ten cars long. I couldn't wait since homework was calling so I'll try again tomorrow. But I'm not troubled by the inconvenience, since it means other people have caught the spartanizing bug too. More tomorrow!

beanies

Item: two rainbow foods plastic bags of beanie babies
Donated: The Ronald McDonald House

Little did I know this week that I'd be headed to the Ronald McDonald house over my lunch hour with a coworker to donate beanie babies and a few other stuffed animals. Yes, I confess, it was a guilty (and secret) pleasure: I was sucked in to the beanie baby craze in the late nineties. I had a few friends that were into it and shopping for them became a social activity for us. Since then, they've been suffocating in their plastic bags in my storage area, sad and longing for attention. So, when my coworker said she had some to donate and asked me if I wanted to go to the old Ronald McDonald, I jumped at the chance. Getting rid of beanie babies and giving them to sick kids? That's definitely a win-win.

P.S. I received a nice thank you note from them a few days later. Who knew clowns were so nice?

welcome!

welcome to spartanizing or in other words, my attempt to rid myself of the extraneous stuff I've gathered all these years as a packrat and achieve some simplicity. A little about me: I'm 36, live in the Midwest (or the Heartland as I like to call it), I'm a database programmer/analyst full-time and student part-time studying statistics and soon, biostatistics. How I got in the packrat state I'm in? Well, it's a combination of growing up middle-class poor and therefore not wanting to get rid of anything I had, along with poor organization skills, dealing with chronic illness (chron's colitis and anxiety), and me giving other things in life priority over the clutter.

Ok, now you know way too much about the contestant, so let's get this game started! What are the rules, Don Pardo? Well, this blog works like this. I'll post about something that's leaving my life (via donation, craig's list, ebay, the garbage man etc.) weekly - or hopefully more often, once the ball is rolling. Pics and stories about the item (entertaining ones, if I succeed) will be included. I'm hoping this will give me incentive to continue the "spartanizing process" and possibly help others simplify as well.

So stay tuned!