« here she is… | Main | spring morning »
out damned stuff
By heather | April 30, 2008
For the past few weeks, I’ve been purging. Bingeing is what happens in the kitchen, purging is everywhere else in the entire house as we make room for a whole new person and all the stuff that she’ll come with.
That said, I felt a little sick by my own excesses last week when I donated TWENTY-THREE SWEATERS. Something happened to me between the pre-baby and post-baby era. My torso GREW. Longer. Or my sweaters got shorter.
Suddenly it seemed like nothing appropriately covered the midriff space, maybe because I was now constantly in positions you don’t ever see in the trendy-hip-huggin-low-rise clothing ads. Do you ever wonder why the models are always standing? Or slouching? Or lounging?
It’s because because you look like a fool with your thong hanging out and your tramp stamp flashing if you’re changing a diaper or squatting to get a frying pan out of a cabinet. (I don’t have a tramp stamp BTW. Maybe for my mid-life crisis celebration.)
So out went the sweaters I hadn’t worn in over two years. To look in my closet you would never imagine that I had just gotten rid of that amount of stuff because it’s still full. And with what? Damned if I know.
Along with the sweaters, I’m also losing college dorm room style furniture (high quality MDF from Target) and a futon, Brett’s stonewashed 90210-era jeans, silk sheets that neither of us could get comfy on, and other assorted crap including my wedding petticoat.
Do you know how hard it was to throw away all the 3.5 inch diskettes that held college art projects and my first resume? Or the entire first season of Alias, recorded on the VCR with commercials? But I did it. Because I am strong.
Now I’m left with boxes I like to call “Gee What Do I Do With This?” These boxes include awards and going away gifts from previous jobs, old photos of OPK (Other People’s Kids), and sentimental cards (Congratulations on your marriage! Happy 25th Birthday!) Throwing these things out makes you feel bad. On the other hand, I’m not going to carry around wallet size photos of a kid I haven’t seen in 5 years, so into the GWDIDWT box it goes.
Somehow it’s better if you can donate it, and imagine someone somewhere getting good use out of your crap. (Wow! I’ve always wanted a stolen airplane blanket covered in cat hair! Oooh-an Estee Lauder free gift makeup bag!)
Next best is if it can be recycled, because then you are helping the earth.
As I clean things out, I’m tempted to buy a book on feng shui, or how to organize clutter, or decorating tips. But then a little voice in my head singsongs, “Twenty-three-ee-sweaters, twenty-three-ee-sweaters...” and I close the browser for Amazon and put away the credit card as I hang my head in shame.
Topics: home improvement |
April 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
What is a tramp stamp? Should I be looking that up in the urban dictionary?
Vicki’s last blog post..Birth of a Butterfly
April 30th, 2008 at 10:36 am
You know…the lower back tattoo…go see this link: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tramp+stamp
heather’s last blog post..out damned stuff
April 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
While I’m not a big fan of clutter, we made the mistake of moving into a big house about 10 years ago with lots of extra storage space–then couldn’t help but fill it up.
We just moved to a house half the size, and it’s quite an adjustment. The basement is piled with stuff and we’re still going through it all. I can agonize over a single object for an hour, decide to donate it, then end up returning a day later to rescue it from the pile. I think I need an intervention!
April 30th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I loooove getting rid of stuff. Especially my husband’s stuff, hee hee. It feels so liberating. Of course then I go look in my closet and think “I don’t have any more clothes”.
23 sweaters, wow that’s impressive. So does that mean you’ve got more sweaters still?
skiplovey’s last blog post..Diversions from the heat*
May 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I try to do this every so often and I amaze myself with the amounts of crap that I have.
Miss’s last blog post..Rehab