Did you all see that Oprah? The one with the pack rat with the house full of so much junk that they could fill a 10,000 sq.ft. warehouse with the stuff that wasn't covered in mold. Well, I saw it and it scared me to death because I totally have the hording gene. I have stuff all of my place that I'm POSITIVE I will need some day so I hold onto it, just in case. But clearly I'm never going to use it. I bet I could live the rest of my life and not ever need my notes from high school German.
Most of you know I'm making the arduous move from Apartment 210 to the exotic and far away land of Apartment 103 (Benefits: one less flight of stairs, closer to the Dumpster, farther away from Flo the 90 year old Apartment Manager who calls me every time I leave my balcony door open and there are more than 3 people in my apartment.) It's not a big move but I've lived in 210 for 4 years now and I've accumulated a lot of stuff. Loads and loads of stuff. The felt alone would astound you. But I'm taking advantage of the move and I'm getting rid of everything (Well, not the felt* (are you crazy?) or the books. The books stay.) I took the advice of the guy on Oprah who organized the pack rat's house and every night this week I've filled one bag of stuff to throw away and one bag of stuff to give away. Gosh it feels good. You should totally do it. You feel very Zen.
I attacked my purses last night. I have a problem with cleaning out my purses. The problem being that I don't actually do it. But I like to switch out every couple of months and instead of cleaning out the old bag when I make the switch I just take out my wallet, a notebook and planner and leave everything else behind. So about every 6 months or so I clean out the purses and find, besides 10 pound of receipts and gum wrappers, a treasure trove of useful stuff. Like pens and lip balm and tampons. Exactly how many tampons does a girl need in one bag? I apparently need 8.
I'm having a major purging of the apartment tomorrow, where I am sure to find even more tampons. I'm going to sally forth** and attack my bed room. Gone is the box of crochet books I haven't looked at in 3 years! Gone is the box of stamps I never use! Gone are half of the clothes in my closet! Gone is the bin full of cheap yarn! (Oh blast, I just convinced myself to keep the cheap yarn. I can make granny squares blankets and donate them to charity.) But gone is the bin of scrap fabric I've been holding onto with the plan of making a scrap quilt. That quilt is never going to get made.
But here's the thing. I'm totally strong now but I promise you that at about 4 tomorrow afternoon I'm going to be tired and hungry (because I tend to forget to eat when I'm cleaning my room) and weak and I will have convinced myself that I really, really need to hold on to every single birthday card I've ever received from anyone. So I'm going to need your help. I need you all to send me a text about that time that says, "Get rid of it, Rachel!" This should give me the strength to go on.
As would a plate of brownies, so, you know, if you're in the neighborhood....
Oh, and if you're interested in said crotchet books, scrap fabric or clothes in the closet, come on over and rummage before Goodwill gets it all.
* You are going to DIE when you see the stocking I'm working on for Camille. I can't wait to show you.
** I guarantee you that Katie is demonstrating how to sally forth right now. I am too. If you'd like to join in feel free. It's like a slow shimmy and you have to say "sally forth, sally forth" in a very saucy voice.
5 comments:
You know I've been thinking about starting a side business as a professional organizer, right? I get very excited by purging and alphabetizing and organizing. Two weeks ago I went to do my first trial run on my friend Laurie's garage. It was basically wall-to-wall stuff, so quite a big job. It's much harder than I thought it would be - to get other people to get rid of their junk, but sort of fun in a way. If I had known you were doing this, I would be there to make you my second trial run! Good luck!
Ooh, ooh. I can be your second trail run. Although you will have to wait until everything thaws. It was 14 degrees today.
P.S. Rachel I am proud of you and I am thinking about how much purging I should do to avoid ending up on Oprah.
Sally forth. . . sally forth. Good times.
Rachel, when I moved to live with my sisters, I made myself dump about 40 tons of paper (lessons, talks, speeches, research, articles, dissertations, etc.).
Ask Gina, she was amazed at what I made myself let go of (although, sadly, I think I've almost added as much back in the last two years).
So, Laura, I might need your help!
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