Remember when I said I was quitting Facebook?

I’m happy to report I only experienced two little tiny bouts of withdrawal after deactivating my account.

Except it wasn’t really deactivated. I did it from my phone (through the web app) but apparently that doesn’t actually deactivate the account on the desktop. So I clicked on something that took me to a Facebook link and, low and behold, I had 100 notifications. I scrolled through them, found there was nothing really life-chantingly important, and then decided…well, maybe I won’t deactivate.

That was about an hour ago. I just finished doing the actual deactivation. It looks like this time, it’s done.

I don’t think it’s forever. But other than those two times (both of which were sheer boredom, and I had plenty of other things to do, that got done since I didn’t waste time on Facebook) I really haven’t missed it. I’ve missed friends, so I’ve been sending more texts. I bought a stack of notecards to mail to people. If you would like to receive either from me, email me your contact info: me (at) amandamichellemoon (dot) com. I’m looking forward to more “real” interactions this year.

Update Again:

I wrote all of that on Monday. Today is Wednesday. I had to reactivate my account yesterday in order to log in to GoodReads. And I had to use it today to contact some people for my job at NoiseTrade.

So…basically, I can’t quit Facebook. I’m stuck. But I did delete all my bookmarks for it and I will continue my moratorium for non-work use.

Remember when I said I was going to try Project 333? I even had my own spin on all the rules and how I was going to be even more stringent than I needed to be.

On December 29, I did it.

Here’s some pictures of the process. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the inside of my dresser. Oh well.

Before:

During:

All of the my clothes, spread out on the bed and in baskets.

My hands-down giveaway pile (more was added later)

It was a long process. Thank you Grace Bonney, for some really awesome After the Jump episodes to keep me going. (BTW, have you heard of the Death, Sex and Money podcast? I hadn’t. I just downloaded the latest episode but haven’t listened yet. I heard “It’s better than Serial.” Which is HIGH praise. Excited to check it out.)

In the end

I kept 41 pieces of clothing and didn’t count pajamas (although, as I said, I did do a massive clean out of the pj drawer.)

• 8 jeans
• 6 sweaters
• 4 sweatshirts
• 7 dresses, 2 are sweater dresses
• 4 shirt-cardigans
• 2 blouses
• 3 Short sleeves
• 7 long sleeves

Initially it was 39 and I was pretty darn proud of myself for staying within at least the 30s…but then I found more clothes in the dryer.

I didn’t end up counting shoes either.

All in all, I’m super happy with the results.

I put away one big bin of summer clothes (I don’t know why I stopped putting away season clothes, it was a conscious decision a few years ago and it’s crazy!) I got rid of about three times the amount of stuff I kept, going from using 1 1/8 dressers (mine, plus two drawers of Chris’s) and about 5/6 of the one closet in our room) to using only 7/8 of my dresser and about ¼ of the closet. Getting dressed is easier. I LIKE everything I kept. I’m one of those people that would change my clothes several times each morning and then often be unhappy with what I was wearing. A week into this and I haven’t done that at all. Not even once. I’ve been more comfortable in my clothes, and I’ve been complimented on how good I look several times. Another unexpected consequence: I take the ten minutes to dry my hair and put makeup on everyday too. Basically, I get dressed every day.

I highly recommend this process, even if 33 (or 41) isn’t your number. Ruthlessly cutting what isn’t working—whether or not you feel like you’ve “got your money’s worth—is a great way to start the new year.

On the way to donate.

I interrupt my regularly intended post (a Project 333 update—I’ll have it for you later this week) to tell you about something I think is just freaking awesome, both as a writer and as a movie lover.

Apparently, around awards season, studios release scripts that are Best Screenplay contenders. Now, being the amazingly cool person that I am, I actually know people who get to vote in some of the movie awards, and those people often get boxes of free, sometimes yet-to-be-released movies, to view and then vote.

But they aren’t released to the general public.

According to an article in Indiewire, the studios are much more loosey goosey with the screenplays. Yay us! Click here for a list of what’s available, and grab them while they’re still legal. I am particularly excited about Boyhood. I told my husband it was the movie equivalent of Literary Fiction in that nothing really happened, but it was so well done I couldn’t look away and was sad when it was over. Plus, the planning that went in to making that movie…I mean…