I can feel my adrenaline levels escalating. This process of cleansing which I thought would be quite straight forward, albeit requiring a little discipline, is proving to be a monster.

Tackling my inbox yesterday was really arduous and today my inbox is already stuffed with content from a whole range of different people. It is going to take time to work through the inbox because different companies have different posting schedules.

Anyway, with yesterday so full on, I decided to choose something simple for today - DVDs. But even that is a tricky task!

We don't have TV so we use DVDs as our main form of family screen entertainment. The anxiety of being left without anything to watch on a quiet Saturday night sent shock waves through my system - goodness gracious, we might have to play a family game of cards, read a book, or even worse - converse and interact with each other!!!

I managed to overcome that anxiety rush, with some deep breathing and a sense of excitement that arose when I realised that non screen time opens up time to pick up some of the activities on my "one day list", like getting back into playing the piano, and making good playlists on iTunes. But the next terror soon grabbed me - the concept of giving away hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.

I looked at the DVD giveaway pile - 16 DVDs at an average $20 each - $320, not an amount to be sneezed at so I put them back on the shelf. Then I realised it is a false economy, I have already spent this money, so giving the DVDs away is not going to cost me a cent. The only cost is if I feel the need to replace them, but this is flawed also because I am unlikely to re-watch any of the movies on the giveaway pile anyway, so whether I keep them or give them away, I am likely to want to get another DVD anyway!

The lesson here is to look for ways not to buy the DVDs in the first place but to borrow them from the library or the DVD shop or online, or create a group and share the DVD amongst yourselves or be really selective about the number of movies you watch and choose a game of cards or conversation around the fire instead.

For now, giving the DVDs away puts them back in the system, allows others to benefit from something that otherwise would just sit on my shelf, taking up space and requiring an extra packing box every time we move house and that feels good.