I was finally able to reassemble my second bedroom into an office space again. Because of work and class, it took a little over two weeks to do.

Even though I knew I could get rid of most of stuff, I still have to look through it. I didn’t want to throw away something that was actually valuable to me.

I only threw out clutter, such as old papers, notebooks, cards, pens, souvenir programs, and decorations I had never used. I gave away clothes and household items to Goodwill. I sold books back to Half Price Books. I gave my friend, Catherine, all of the scrapbook items I had accumulated. And I put up a couple items on eBay.

I didn’t toss printed photos or CD that I had created, but they all fit neatly into one tote and a large album, respectively.

I had grossly underestimated the time involved. I did just put everything into a large trash bag and throw it out.

Last week, I came across a blog post which warned people about jumping into the idea of minimalism without thinking: Minimalism: Embrace Fully but Proceed with Caution. Tom O. says that many people were pitching everything, including cherished belongings, and then having extreme remorse because they had thrown these things away.

There are many interpretations of minimalism, and there is no set way to do be a minimalist. The idea is to remove physical clutter as well as mental clutter which may affect other facets of life. But there is not a step-by-step manual or any one way to do it. Everyone will take a different journey and decide what is right for him or her. The state of mind is your own.

So, at this stage of my journey, I am beginning to see the positive side of removing the physical clutter. It was wonderful to use my office space again as an actual office and not just a junk room. Now I am focusing on other rooms of my apartment, and it’s all becoming a lot easier.

I found the following checklist on Pinterest from Metropolitan Organizing, and I think it’s a great guideline to help people remove clutter. It doesn’t say anything about throwing out baby photos or other personally, valuable items. The list truly is just clutter.