There is no other ways to describe this house clean-out than with the word "purge." I'm being ruthless. If we have to move in the next year, I'm not taking all this crap with me. I've gotten off to a slow start this year because of a wicked cold that put me out for an entire week. I didn't go to dance, I didn't leave the couch, and I really didn't do anything that wasn't required to keep myself and my child alive. I'm better now, but that was awful. The worst part was knowing I had LOTS of things to do, but I just couldn't do them.
So, I've just done a little here and there. The other night, we were sans Elliott, so I took advantage of that and started tidying the upstairs. For some reason, I think to get St. Patrick's Day decorations, I went up to the attic and suddenly I was up there for an hour. Ugh. I found some great stuff I had forgotten about though! I found a set of curtains that would be just lovely in the office / guest room, as well as my pointe shoes and dance awards. I also found my old beading supplies. I loved making seed bead necklaces in middle and high school. They made me feel very cool. I have seen some neat crochet projects that require different beads, and so I brought the box down to see what I had. Well, what I had was a box full of bead containers that had opened and spilled...all mixed together. And last night...I re-organized them all. It was very relaxing, actually.
I also tidied the kitchen, and threw away a few bags of junk mail and general junk. I can see the counters again! The pantry has also been cleared. Despite my best efforts, I found things that expired before Elliott was born. How does that even happen?
My bedroom was a simple clean. I re-arranged some pictures and knick-knacks I liked, and I got rid of a bunch of jewelry (just costume stuff). It's much easier to dedicate yourself to everyday neatness when you don't have a lot of stuff to keep in order. I also organized my drawer at dance. I had too many shoes in there. I'm selling some at the school. We have a second-hand shoe sale that runs constantly. We can either keep the money or let the dance school have it.
The most challenging task was sentimental clutter. I keep way too many mementos. I finally purged cards I don't need to keep and other random objects that I can't even remember why I've kept for years, some of it dating back to the 1990s. Consequently, I opened up room in my closet, which was needed to spread out shoes, bags, and stuff for Sarah's wedding. I still kept a lot, but I created rules for myself that will keep it in check in the future.
The office / guest room is an on-going project. My desk is done, as are my craft supplies, thanks to a lovely anniversary gift of a set of pallet drawers. They can sit out and house my spill-over supplies. I still have filing to purge / organize, graduate research stuff to streamline, and books & CDs.
So far, I'd say I've removed 5 or 6 bags of stuff from the house. Much of it went in the trash, but other things are being shipped to better homes and to charity. As a result, I have four storage containers of various sizes that are empty. I thought I was going to have to buy a few new ones, but fortunately, I can use what I have. Isn't that the point?
Because the weather today is supposed to be pretty nice, I'm going to clean out my car. It's not bad, but after the winter, it needs it. When the weather gets even better, I'll take the car to my parents' house and wash it, vacuum it, and "detail" it.
I honestly enjoy writing about my progress with this project. It may take longer than Lent this year, but I'm already thrilled with the results so far.
- M.
