Yesterday, I had some assistance from my Clutter Buddy. Gently, respectfully, but knowing what I want to achieve, she helped me plow through sections of the basement, change decor, move boxes out the door and recognize what I've accomplished (that I tend to dismiss). Here's a small list of what happened:
- Painting over mantle swapped for a lovely mirror (painting had been on the 'let's sell that' list for a while)
- Painting featuring a single woman reading an alien language--located in the corner of the living room in which I tend to read, by myself, no matter how I ask husband to join me (!)--swapped out for an ink drawing of two poplar trees
- Boxes destined to go back to their original owner removed to the garage
- thus leaving space to add storage for bulk paper goods in a convenient location
- Diapering supplies moved out of the house
- Painting that I realized I had negative feelings about moved out in favor of a Japanese country scene
- Gift bags purged and stored with the wrapping paper, all in one location. How convenient!
- Cleaned off the top of the freezer in the basement. Found a strange solid puddle of material, which, when cleaned by scraping with a putty knife and many rags, turned out to be ... solidified melted ice cream! The smell grew truly awful as it got damp from the rags. No idea how long it was there...
- Sorted through clothing that had been bagged up back in the winter when Older Daughter came down with lice, courtesy of school. If you can live without it and not miss it for six months, perhaps you don't need to keep it?
- Two ill-fitting leather coats in the donate pile.
- Clutter Buddy, a whiz with a drill, replaced a door knob on a closet in the basement that had been off for I can't remember how long. It had a lock and one day I needed into the closet and couldn't find the key. So, hacked out the door knob and it stayed that way until yesterday.
I've run out of large brown paper grocery sacks, my primary tool for my donate runs. My recycling bin is overflowing, the garbage is packed full (and I have two bags sitting in the garage waiting for after Wednesday, when the garbage truck comes by).
* * *
I have to share a sweet something. Yesterday, after I dropped off those bags of fabric for Project Linus, I stopped at my car for a moment before unlocking it to think. I was wondering how I would feel after parting with so much of one thing, a special craft thing, something I had spent much money on. What did I feel? Relief. A tiny bit of regret that I had accumulated so much. But I didn't beat myself up. I didn't revel in the guilt. I simply thanked the deities that I had the courage to release those things, and thanked those who created Project Linus because knowing it was all going to a wonderful cause did truly help me to let those bags go.
Oh, and did I mention? The fabric store was actually conducting a fabric drive (like a food drive, you know) when I dropped my bags off. They offered a coupon for a 5% discount for each yard donated, up to 25% off. Now, I easily exceeded that. The lady who helped me offered the coupon and I declined. She offered again, and again I declined, citing the risk of temptation. But she did respect my answer. That took strength, let me tell you!
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2 comments:
As someone who recently was forced to part with about 2 truck loads of stuff, (moving and combinging households) I can tell you--it might sting for awhile but when you realize--now or in six months--that you don't even miss the stuff, that's when you get the real payoff!
Good work! And good luck with the rest of the project. I'll be reading your blog from now on.
Good for you! This weekend Tom and I loaded up my car with all sorts of stuff for his church's rummage sale. There's plenty more to go, but it's a start. Keep up the good work! --James
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