Real weight loss revealed

Yes Hannah, I have a suggestion, being one who has lost (jettisoned) one ton of trash (not counting Salvation Army and recycling stuff) from this house in 2005. Talk about weight loss!!! I started out committed to NOT vacuuming or cleaning anything. I simply de-cluttered. I started where I felt like starting each day--no previous plan--and stuck with that spot until I got tired of it or was done. I never did the funeral pyre approach of piling and sorting like I had always done before. And I didn't (couldn't) force myself to finish an area before starting on another spot, but just did what I felt like doing, keeping the overall mess under control at all times. I became so addicted to de-cluttering that until the dump had registered the 2000 lb mark, I got this incredible high from having collected more to throw out. It was vastly liberating. Poor Dad got the lecture on numerous occasions from trying to smuggle my trash into the family garbage can to save money! I had to explain that it was MY trash, thank you very much, and I had to have it documented by the transfer station myself. I can't say that I haven't gained a substantial amount of weight back, but I will never get to the point of having 280 pounds of shoes to discard. So my suggestion? Start small, walk around until the inspiration comes as to spot of entry and then go through little by little, day by day and if you can avoid the "cleaning" that always wore me down after a week or two, you will be able to press on joyfully. And remember that vacuuming will always be there in the end.