The Backpack Press

March 11. 2015

I hauled two more bags of Dumb Xeroxes out this morning. The direct benefit is that I have reduced roughly 18 linear feet of occupied shelf space to something like 8 or 10. Now, I can take some of the plastic boxes that store things and – after I’ve gone through them, looking for more clutter! – get them up off the floor in my living room and onto the shelves in my bookcase that used to house music I had not looked at in many years.

Another interesting benefit is how I’ve started looking at my daily expenses. I find myself looking for ways NOT to spend money. It’s not that I could seriously call myself a spendthrift but I can say I could buy milk tomorrow and have no idea how much milk costs. I just hand the cashier a five and take away the change – never looking to see if milk’s gone up or down in price. I remember a television thing years ago when the price of milk was the way to trip up a local politician. If they couldn’t tell you the price of milk in their district, how the hell could they represent the people who couldn’t afford to buy milk? That spoke to me.

Clutter is way, way down. I’m cleaning more, I’m spending less, I’ve got space to breathe, and man, I want to travel. I am looking forward to spending some time back in Spain in May. And I am so glad I took up this Lent challenge.