Dismantling the house of want

I was recently given heaps of hand me downs for my little Monkey. So much generosity that I was almost drowning in baby clothing. I sorted out the items that I liked and were useful, which was more than I’ll probably even be able to use before he outgrows it.
This was the catalyst ‎for the garage sale I spoke of in my last post. Being surrounded by clutter makes me feel visually overwhelmed. And so in sorting the clothes I then moved onto the room, and the next, then the whole house.
I have a few issues when it comes to getting rid of “stuff”.
1- I always think I might need it one day… the fact is if I need something I can purchase it again. Why have something sitting around taking up space and collecting dust for years just because you might use it a handful of times?
2- I save things for my kids. I’m done with a cute necklace but maybe one of my kids might want to play with it. This is just offloading my problem to them and it doesn’t teach them that stuff does not equal happiness.
3- I can athropomorphise anything. I can feel how sad that cup would be if I threw it in the garbage. I know how heartbroken that chair would be if I sent it away from my home. Oh the humanity.

But during my cleaning something clicked. I don’t need all this stuff and it is, in fact, not making me happy but instead making me quite miserable. With each item I put in the “out” pile a small weight was lifted‎ and a little more breathing room was made.
I want my kids to be able to discern what items bring them joy and how to let go of those that do not. And also to grasp that the joy they feel from most objects is temporal. If I found myself without 90% of my current belongings for a year it would be unlikely that at the end of that time I would even miss most of them.
So, as this post is titled, I am on a mission to dismantle the house of want. My other realization was that this is not a quick process. Changing your mindset takes a while and saying goodbye to your belongings requires time to mourn.
As of today our house is significantly less cluttered and my mental ‎state is much calmer. I hope to one day reach a point of true balance and more importantly I hope my family will join me.