THE GREAT PURGE

I'm a little bit of a pack rat.

That's an understatement.

I'm somewhere between a pack rat and a hoarder.  I have lots of stuff, but no dead cats under my couch. I also have a pretty small apartment, so things were getting kind of cramped.

I had a beautiful bridal shower and I received beautiful things for my home.  As I was unpacking and putting away my gifts, I realized I have TOO MUCH STUFF.  So, in April the GREAT PURGE began.  I started in the kitchen, boxing up mismatched dishes, glasses emblazoned with various beer logos, and plastic handled silverware. I threw out *stuff* that should have been thrown out long ago.

As I moved through the house, I got rid of broken Christmas decorations, cracked laundry baskets, dried up pens. I gave away books and magazines.  I trashed a huge collection of gift bags (why was I holding on to those?).  I've donated a ridiculous amount of shoes, and tossed flops that have lost their flip into the dumpster.

I have clothes ranging from size 4-26 in my bedroom.  Clothes were everywhere.  Some things I gave to family members.  Some things went to Purple Heart, others went to a St. Jude donation box.  A box of nice dress pants is riding around in my car, waiting to be mailed to North Carolina. Now, everything fits into slightly overflowing drawers, or my closet.  I still have some work to do.  I have a HUGE reusable shopping bag that I'm keeping near the dryer, and filling up with clothing that no longer fits or I like.  When the bag fills up, I donate.

When I first started THE GREAT PURGE, getting rid of things left me nervous and anxious. After a few weeks, getting rid of things made me feel like a huge weight was lifted off of me.  It's so much easier to keep an uncluttered space tidy.  I'm going to continue working on this through the summer - I'm hoping that it will keep getting easier.

'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful'. - William Morris