Yesterday I was exhausted, so I let myself sleep in (until 8:30! gasp!) and emailed-in sick. But then I got the itch to be productive. So I emptied out the pile of boxes and bags and pillows and tumbled-together clothes and junk from my closet. I've been in this bedroom for months, but have never actually used the closet; instead, I shoved in all sorts of crap that had been stored in the room so that I could paint, then left it there.
But no longer.
I pulled a bookshelf from the office & stuck it in the closet to hold sweaters & sheets. Hung up some of my shirts. Sorted through all of the clothes that were lumped in the closet and piled on the bedroom floor. I now have a huge pile of things I need to give away. Seriously - a giant duffle-bag suitcase of stuff.
Then this morning I sorted through a pile of crap that I had shoved into a laundry basket & forgotten. Catalogs & junk mail from 2003. 2003. Good grief. It felt so good to bring an armful down & drop it in the recycle bag.
While at HomeDepot & Target yesterday, I started wondering why I was thinking of buying stuff (shelves, etc.) to hold my stuff. Why pay more money to store things I don't want or need or love? So I came home empty-handed but determined to purge even more.
I still have to work through my dresser and the other closet. (Alas, the other closet makes this one look like the height of streamlined minimalism.) And boxes upon boxes of random papers & crap that I haven't even opened since moving in 3 years ago. Books will also be purged at some point.
Ah, there's something liberating about this. Very feng-shui.
Posted by rachel at September 23, 2005 09:43 AM
I love that feeling of getting on top of the constant influx of crap. Sadly, it hasn't happened in far too long, but once I finish my current project, I am going on a rampage!
Posted by: Carla Barnhill at September 23, 2005 01:31 PMI'm doing the same thing. Mostly cause I'm moving to Uptown and refuse to cart all this junk with me again. If I don't love or need it, it's got to go. Granted a lot of things fall into the love pile, but I'll take those with me and weed them out again once I've had a chance to see I'm not using them. I took 4 trashbags full of stuff to the thrift shop for donation today. And I'm selling off some of the stuff that might actually earn me some gas money. My clothes closet will be my next target (after I show the place this weekend though, cause I always start by making a bigger mess than I had). So glad to see you are in the freeing yourself from stuff mode.
Posted by: Jen at September 23, 2005 05:20 PM
Wow! it must be something in the name that we both like to ritually purge of junk and are inspired by feng shui! You sound just like me! I know how very tempting it can be to buy more "stuff" (esp. stuff to store stuff) but I also know how good it feels to get rid of it and give it away. keep up the purging! I always start with a big kitchen garbage bag for junk, bag for recycling useless paper, and bag for giveaway. I keep trying to let go of more and MORE stuff. we should have a cleaning, purging party sometime.
Posted by: patron saint of ulster at September 23, 2005 10:42 AM