Simply living.

Once or twice a year I like to do what I call a 'go through/purge' of the many bins of everything teaching and future classroom that I currently have stored in our garage. This usually occurs on reeeeaaaaallly bored days or right before a move, which is what I am anticipating if Adam and I get the apartment that we applied for last week:) Anyhow, these bins hold everything from text books I deemed worth keeping (and spent hundreds of dollars on I might add!), to my own projects and classroom creations, to work samples filled with numerous ideas and lesson plans as well as books upon books ranging from elementary to middle school age appropriate for a decent classroom library. It is an extensive thing to store your future classroom year after year. I have literally been working on this collection since I finished my student teaching back in 2006, which is either VERY impressive or super sad :)
I've never been a fan of clutter, or at least not since I finished high school and moved away to college. I spent those four years moving almost every year to a new residence in Monmouth as well as moving home each summer. Since finishing college, I have moved four or five times as well. There is just no room for me to keep everything, nor do I feel the need to. It feels good to get rid of things that I no longer need or use on a fairly regular basis. I went into my year long Thai teaching adventure determined to live simply. It was a truly wonderful experience that I have tried to continue as best I can as a semi-settled adult in Portland, Oregon.
Going through my teaching bins is a bit more difficult because I have no idea what exactly I am going to want in my future classroom. I am basically guessing on what I will want and or will need when I actually get hired. I've been able to part ways with many items and older books that would no longer be relevant in my classroom library within the last eight years, but I'm certain I will purge more once I'm in my own room. This act of organizing and re-organizing my teaching tools serves another purpose as well...it allows me to smile, feel happy, and remember as well as feel my passion for wanting to become a teacher still alive within me. That, my friends, is a phenomenal feeling.