It's Time To Go: Letting Go of Stuff

Bobbi Fisher in Sudbury, Massachusetts is spending a year on her project It’s time to go: Letting go of stuff. She explains, "The project is about simplifying our life by getting rid of all the stuff we have accumulated over almost 50 years of marriage. It’s about getting rid of small things, and big things. It’s about reminiscing and letting go. It’s about passing on things to kids, relatives, friends, charities, and sometimes even, the dump."


Why did you decide to do this project? 
The idea of doing something within a single theme every day for an entire year intrigued me the moment I perused Noah's book at the book store last winter. The commitment and the discipline was what drew me in. But, I’m not an artist, so the idea of creating some kind of skeleton, or bird, or flower every day—well, I just wasn’t going to do it. I had been blogging faithfully for over a year, so I knew the satisfaction of blogging, but I wanted something concrete to blog about for a year.
My husband came up with letting go of something every day. Perfect. Motivation is high. We’ve lived in our present home for over thirty-five years. Need I say more? This is a natural.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?
 Oh my goodness, yes, letting go of stuff has affected our lives. The relief that we feel on a daily basis as we let go of stuff is amazing/ Whew!! Out, out, out!! After all, we have lived here for thirty five years and have accumulated plenty of stuff. Two kids alone is enough to do it. But I was a teacher for twenty-five years, and , elementary teachers are the accumulation queens of the world. Next I went to divinity school where I collected books, books, books. Then there was my sewing days, and you just can’t have enough fabric or equipment.

My husband went through several hobbies, collecting typewriters, clocks, cash registers, golf memorabilia, bottles. You name it. Then there was his woodworking and gardening.


When we get ready to move out of this home of ours, hopefully we will be able to pack up with ease. Letting go of a little each day, without a deadline, gives us time to reminisce over some of the treasures, memorabilia, scrapbooks and photo albums that we have accumulated, and to make careful decisions about where it all should go. And we can even change our minds before any of it ends up with our kids or at the dump, or somewhere in between. 

The project is going along quite well. The only glitch is that even while letting go of stuff, we occasionally accumulate new stuff. Sometimes it feels like one step forward, two steps back. For the most part, the culprit is my husband who loves to bring things home from the put-and-take at our local dump. But how can I complain. He finds great stuff and we haven’t bought a present for anyone in years.


See everything Bobbi has gotten rid of HERE.

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