When all was said and done, I had 32 books ready to donate to the local Monmouth County SPCA. Here is a list of the books that I drove over the SPCA today so they could be resold to someone who wants to read them and the proceeds can be used to help the animals:

• Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck
• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
• Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich
• Real Change by Newt Gingrich
• Culture Warrior by Bill O’Reilly
• Who’s Looking Out For You by Bill O’Reilly
• The No Spin Zone by Bill O’Reilly
• American Soldier by General Tommy Franks
• How to Talk to a Liberal by Ann Coulter
• Slander by Ann Coulter
• Jersey Devil Press 2010
• Writing for Dollars by McAllister
• The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz & Congressman John Linder
• The Matrix and Philosophy by William Irwin
• The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy by Gregory Bassham
• Why We Want You to be Rich by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki
• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
• I Had the Right to Remain Silent…But I Didn’t Have the Ability by Ron White
• Where the Right Went Wrong by Patrick J. Buchanan
• Old British Literature Textbook from College
• The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump
• How to Get Rich by Donald Trump
• State of Emergency by Patrick J. Buchanan
• The Appeasers by Martin Gilbert and Richard Gott
• The Good, The Bad, and the Mad by Floyd
• Paradigm Shift by Harry S. Franklin
• To Be The Man by Ric Flair
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
• Seabiscuit by Laura Hildebrand
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

I feel kind of good about donating so many books to the SPCA. And I feel great about starting off the Fourth of July weekend right by doing something good for the less fortunate and decluttering my bookshelf in the process!

One of the reasons why it took me so long to get over to the MCSPCA was because I wanted to bring over some other stuff, too. So when I went over last Friday I also brought with me a bunch of these children’s books that I used to read when I was a little kid. They’re these small little books that take classic stories and abridge them for children – pretty neat idea. Anyway, I must have donated about 30 of those books. And while I was at it, I also donated four picture/document frames that I wasn’t using.

However, in the process of digging into my two storage bins to find those books, I came across stacks and stacks and stacks of old paperwork that I filed away. So, since I have a “clean out” mindset going this month and next, I decided to go through each stack of paper to see what I really needed and what I didn’t need at all. As you might imagine, 95% of the crap that I had been hanging onto I didn’t need for anything at all. When I made my gigantic stack of stuff that was no longer necessary, I took it to work and dumped it into our security bin to be shredded and recycled.

Some of the stuff that was sent off for shredding and recycling included old bank statements (dating back to the early 2000’s for bank accounts that are no longer open at banks that no longer exist), copies of old leases, old magazines, old paperwork from when I was volunteering for my fraternity, copies of medical bills from the early 2000’s, old cable and credit card bills, and random slices of paper that I seemed to stick in here and there for whatever reason. It was a bunch of garbage and I’m glad to be rid of it. Now my one storage bin fits inside of the other storage bin because I’ve gone from two fill bins to one bin that is about half full. That’s pretty good progress.

Tonight, the clean out continues as I give away my old television that has been sitting in my kitchen and/or living room, unused, for over a year.

For example, aside from throwing out a lot of garbage that was accumulating in the car, I was able to take some t-shirts that I had been piling up in the trunk. The t-shirts were piling up there because I honestly had no where else to put them! Anyway, as I write this post the t-shirts are all out of the dryer after having been washed earlier today. Some of them are on the “charity” pile and some other ones are on the “keep these” pile. By the way, the “charity” pile of clothes is getting bigger and bigger!

Professionally, I’ve advanced nearly every deal that I’m working on which is definitely a function of the fact that this week is spring break for my undergraduate students and thus they aren’t around for me to have to teach.

I’ve been moving a bunch of my online projects forward, which I’m always happy about. As a part of this process, I’ve been able to detach some folks from Usable Web Solutions, LLC (i.e. let them know that they need to find a new “web guy”) and I’ve been able to send payment letters to other clients.

On a more personal level, I ran out of one of my prescriptions the other day and I managed to get it refilled (even though there were no more refills left) through the services offered by my pharmacy. This was a much easier process than I imagined it would be and I’m extremely happy that this worked out so easily. You know how much of a pain in the ass it can be to work around the pharmacy and the doctor’s office beating each other up… No thank you.

Oh, and after my car had the windshield replaced earlier today, I took it over to the inspection station and it passed inspection. So… I won’t be going back there for at least two more years, thankfully!

I also spent some time today doing some short-term (two month) financial planning to address some upcoming expenses that I have to deal with. Among these expenses are paying for the windshield replacement, paying for a flight to Nashville in April, and paying for my 2010 membership to the local CSA farm. By my calculations, I’ll be able to continue my $1,000+ biweekly payments on my one student loan and pay for all of these other items in full by April 15th.

And speaking of April 15th, I spent a few minutes today finalizing my taxes so I think that they’re ready to finally send into the IRS. I should be getting a decent return back this year, although still below what H&R Block suggests are the averages for people of my age and income level (not fair!).

As you can see, I’ve been pretty busy. However, before this coming Monday hits, I have to complete a grant application for a client that I’m working with on the side; begin, write, edit, and finalize a 10 page paper and presentation package for the class that I’m taking; prepare lesson plans for my class for the coming week; go to Pennsylvania for a wake this weekend; and review some material for the foundation where I serve as a Trustee.

All in a weekend’s work!

The biggest pain in the ass in the next few days will be going to the doctor this Friday. The doctor is going to be upset with me because I was supposed to lose ten pounds since the last time I saw him (early November 2009) and, instead, I think that I’ll either break even or maybe gain 3 – 5 pounds. Not good. However, I don’t have too much time to worry about that until after next Monday – which is good since that’s probably when my blood test results will be coming in.

Lots to do in the next few days. Don’t be surprised if I miss a day here and there updating the blog. Thanks!

It was a complete disaster.

My goal was to separate the clothes that I haven’t worn in over two years from those that I wear on a regular basis or a semi-regular basis. Aside from the horrifying sight that was the heap of shirts on my bed, this was actually a very easy process because, well, when you don’t wear a shirt for over two years you know it!

While this was a good way to begin removing the excess clutter in my closet, the cleaning out process was also aggravating in many respects. Here are some of the reasons why the first phase of this clean out was annoying:

• Never Wore the Shirt. By far, the most aggravating part of the clean out process was looking at all of the shirts that I purchased and never even wore – not even once. I’m not talking about shirts that I picked up, wore out one night or wore to work one day, and then forgot about (skip down to the next category). No. I’m talking about the shirts that I purchased because they were on sale or they were buy 2, get 1 free or whatever and the never, ever wore them. Not only have these shirts created a bunch of wasted space in my closet and underneath my bed, but they’re also a great example of money that I completely wasted.
• Underutilized Shirts. This is similarly related to the previous point. While there were some shirts that I never wore, there were other ones that I remember wearing once or twice…and that’s it. Oh, and I’m not saying that I wore these shirts last week or the week before – some of these shirts haven’t been worn since I was in college. Once again – a complete waste of space and money. Damn it.
• The Frustration of Weight. If unused and underutilized shirts are in a sort of tie for the most aggravating part of this clean out process, then a seriously close second place would be looking at all of the shirts that I wore when I wasn’t as heavy. Talk about a downer. I dug out some t-shirts that I haven’t worn since about 6 years 90 pounds ago. Some people might suggest holding on to those shirts so that I have them for when I lose weight. Well, before the day comes where I start dropping weight in large quantities again, I have to figure out how to break the combined curse of my two hour commute and my diabetes medication. It ain’t easy, folks…in fact, it’s downright f’ing frustrating. Anyway, looking at all of my old clothes that I used to be able to fit into was aggravating.
• The “Good” Aggravation. I guess this final point is a bit of an oxymoron, but having all of these useless shirts laying around has me planning a trip to the local Monmouth County SPCA. I donate my old clothing to the MCSPCA because they sell the clothes and use the proceeds to help fund care for the animals. It’s a great program, actually. So I can live with the aggravation of having to drive over to the shelter because I know that the end result will be beneficial to someone’s future Fido or Kitty.

Now that the shirts have been cleaned out…my various collection of jeans are next. You want to talk about buying pieces of clothing and never wearing them? I have some pairs of jeans that still have the tags on them…

Hang in there, I can actually draw a correlation here and make this make sense!

Over the last few weeks I’ve been dabbling in this iTunes U and some of the more educational-focused podcasts offered on iTunes. By using some of the features on iTunes and more specifically iTunes U, I’ve been able to get the mental stimulation that I would normally reserve for reading books. Seriously! I downloaded a bunch of podcasts from a doctor who interviews other doctors at the University of Michigan and asks them about health questions that pertain to their fields of study. These people are experts in the topic and they give away free information about the disease or condition for free. How great is that?!

And with iTunes U I’ve been able to turn some of my daily commutes into mentally stimulating experiences as I listen to professors for Yale and Harvard Universities talk about topics that I’m interested in (business management, nonprofits, leadership, American Colonial History, writing, personal finance, etc). It’s absolutely wonderful if you’re an information junkie like I am!

With this comes the integration of other services into iTunes like Audible. I’ve downloaded a few audiobooks from a family account and I plan on listening to some of them in the next few weeks during my trips to and from work. Hey, we all know that I absolutely hate my commute so if I can turn it into something more than just mindless driving to and from Trenton, then I’d be happy to do so!

But to keep with the theme of the last few days – by utilizing electronic media more often I’ll be able to cut back on the amount of books that I buy. Now, I’d never give up books altogether because I’m one of these readers who thinks that there is something that you lose when you don’t have the actual book in your hand and the words in front of your face. However, if I can purchase a few less books each year by listening to a few audiobooks instead, then that only helps to reduce the overall amount of clutter in my home – and that’s not a bad thing at all.

While I managed to get my financial situation under control without the help of GRS, I do like heading over there every once in a while to see what the authors are posting about. Most of the time I find a string of entries that date back a few years as they chronicle how the authors attacked a particular situation and how/if they managed to win the battle. The other day I went over to their site and the first entry on the page had to do with “stuff.” You know what stuff is – it’s all of your crap. The stuff laying around your house, the stuff sitting in storage, the clothes in your closet that you never wear, the DVDs near your entertainment center that you’ve never watched, the books that you purchased and never opened…

You get the point.

I read through the author’s chain of entries on how he and his wife were trying to eliminate their useless stuff and increase their feeling of liberation in the process. I found this entry to be most interesting, because I could relate to portions of it such as:

When I go on vacation, I tend to overpack. I usually take a big suitcase crammed with extra clothing, electronic gadgets, and, most of all, books. I take lots of books. This time, despite being gone for three weeks, I limited myself to a single carry-on sized suitcase and one daypack. This seemed like a triumph, but after just a few days, I wished I had packed even less. Did I really need half a dozen personal finance books? Did I really need my laptop computer? Did I really need two sweaters? Though I didn’t take much, it still felt like too much Stuff.

More importantly, I discovered that I could live without. I lived without my books, without my comics, without my CD collection. I lived without my fancy digital SLR camera, or my Nintendo Wii, or my DVDs. This Stuff never entered my mind. I didn’t miss any of it. If I could live without these things for nearly a month — and feel liberated doing so — what might it be like to give up some of this Stuff permanently?

Have you ever done that? Have you ever packed so much stuff for a vacation or business trip that you have to pay the extra fees because your bag is too heavy? I do it on a regular basis and it’s not cheap. I have a business trip coming up one weekend in April and I’m going to attempt to get everything I need in a carry-on bag. The total trip will last only about 36 hours and of those 36 hours I’ll spend about 8 of them sleeping, 6 of them flying, 4 of them waiting in airports, and the rest of the time in meetings or in social situations with some of my colleagues. Why the heck do I need to pack a full bag of stuff for that type of whirlwind, quickie trip? Further, why should I have to pay the extra fee to Continental to bring luggage on the flight, period?!

I can relate to what the author writes in his entry quoted above. I’ve left my home for extended periods of time and specifically opted not to bring my laptop with me because I didn’t want the burden. And you know what? I felt that same feeling of liberation and it’s a great feeling. To a growing degree, I think that the folks in my generation are tethered to their gadgets, laptops, and internet connections. Lord knows that I need to be “hooked in” for my job and small business as well as my teaching gigs. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not fun.

To get back to the point, though, what this accumulation of “stuff” really boils down to is clutter. I began, slowly, de-cluttering my life a few years ago. I’m not sure if it has been raging success yet because my efforts to de-clutter really amount to not buying more stuff (which is actually a great strategy). Sure, I’ve donated some clothing and books to charities over the last few years, but I have so much more stuff that I should be getting rid of instead of sitting on. A few years ago I traded in about 50 of my DVDs because I never watched them – that was a good start. Over the last year I’ve been selling some textbooks on eBay that I will never use again; I’ve also been donating some of my older, insignificant books to a charity in Seattle. Those have both been double whammies on the positive chart because I’m bringing in new dollars with the eBay sales while getting a tax break with the donated books. Not bad.

Yet, I still have a closet full of clothes in which I only wear maybe 25% – 35% of the items that are actually in there. Granted, I bought a lot of these clothing items when I was 80 and 90 pounds lighter than I am now (when they actually fit), but that was a few years ago and now I’m stuck with a closet packed with clothing that I don’t wear because it doesn’t fit.

What’s a guy to do?

Well, I think that it might be time to start de-cluttering my stuff again. I have a bunch of clothing stuck under my bed in plastic totes. I might go through and donate some of those clothing items and replace them with some of the stuff in my closet that I don’t wear/can’t fit into any more. Hey, it’s a good way to get started de-cluttering again and I do believe that spring cleaning is right around the corner, right?