In my pursuit to balance the chaos....namely the annual planning process chaos...my other pursuits have tipped the scales in favor of passion, instead of simplification.  It is all about the balance.  I have continued to think on the future contents of this blog, and roughing out some ideas.  

• Curation of bird sightings across the ABA area - disparate sources, and mounds of data could make that quite interesting.  
• Future blog post on the question "Is Minimalism Conservative or Liberal?  Yes...and No".  

Yeah, I know, overwhelming amount of thought, am I right?  I still feel comfortable with what I have accomplished this week in regards to balance.  Low stress level at the end of the week, and some exceptional moments for my passions!!

I was given some great advice today by my mentor:-)  I have a spreadsheet tracking everything I am tossing, selling or donating already.  That is the details.  I shouldn't get bogged down in the details.  I live in the details every day at work.  I need to take the time to realize what the impact is on what I am doing.  I donated some clothes last week.  I had no feelings about it, because I am focused on that 500 items by 8/31.  Someone will get some nice clothes, and I cleared out 8 bags of stuff that was cluttering up my entryway.  I was able to consolidate closet space because of this.  Lastly completing that task is worth at least taking a second to take note of.  So big Hulk Clap to me!

Little progress today as several eBay items needed to be relisted. The sell side is falling a bit behind. I did manage to chop up all the softcover books I intend to scan, and managed the scanning of 25 of them.

Look for several quick lots to be posted on eBay in order to drain that side down quickly. Still not sure the "stress" from the owning of items matches the "stress" of the actions to get rid of them:-).

My secret weapon of book donation is still in the back of my pocket. So not sweating it too much. I realize this is just a start with trying to simplify, minimalism, and prioritize my life. I look forward to each day as getting a little bit closer to bringing the chaos back in balance.

Too far behind on the actions to get rid of 500 items so far. 

Out of 339 items identified to sell:

• 5 Sold
• 2 Pending
• 7 listed
• 1 unsold

Out of 436 items identified to Donate:

• 52 dropped off to Salvation Army
• 21 ready to donate/sell to Disctraders
• 237 Books boxed up ready to donate/trash (need to review what can be donated)

Items to Trash/Recycle

• 17 Books scanned, need to verify full scan completed
• 15 Binders tossed
• 1 LARGE bin of scanned papers to be disposed of.  

I should be a little more focused tomorrow and get some more items up on eBay, and drop off the donated books.  It will be essentially halfway through the month, and need to be at 250 items if I hope to get to 500.  

And so it begins.  A  quest to find a Balance to the Chaos of Life.  This website will serve as not only a way to chronicle this quest, but also to curate the attempts along the way.  Some current and past (and likely to be revisited) interests will be curated and discussed here, such as:

• McFarlane Customs
• Garage Kits
• Birding (primarily in Calhoun County, along with curation of all birds reported therein)
• Art - two dimensional, as well as some sculpting
• Sculpting
• Throwback Baseball Games from MLB  and the 300 plus games since 1991.
• Some Travel tips/suggestions from a "Special Guest"

I am currently attempting a modified Minimalist Game for the month of August.  I am not engaging in the 1/1, 2/2, 3/3....form, but rather targeting sell/donate/recycle of 500 items this month.  I will have some further posts on this and my progress towards this target.  Let's see if less really is more.