Reducing Things

Lately I seem to be in a bit of purge mood. At least once a week I wake up and one of my first thoughts is that I am ready to get rid of something specific. Last week it was shoes, I suddenly realized I owned a ridiculous amount of footwear. Tons of flip flops, slippers, sandals and shoes, many times I have thought about weeding out what I don't wear, but always felt unsure about parting with them. Last week it was a waking morning thought, so I cleared out my shoes, the nicer quality ones in good shape I donated to Goodwill, and the rest were cheap and well worn so I threw them away. How many pairs of sandals and flip flops does a person need? I still seem to have a lot of foot wear, but for the most part I know I have worn each pair a few times in the last six months and that seemed a reasonable way to decide if they were keepers or discards.

This week it was cleaning out some junk drawers and the cabinet over the refrigerator, do we really need a WII controller from ten years ago and we no longer have the WII console? No we don't, so I tossed it. Camera boxes and instructions for cameras we haven't owned in years, instruction books for household items we no longer have, just an accumulation of stuff, it is all gone, some into the trash and some into the recycling.

Yesterday it was my jewelry drawer, why was I hanging on to one half of a pair of earrings, the other half lost years ago, necklaces, bracelets, and rings I never wear. I simply purged the drawer, kept what I wear regularly and like, and put the rest in baggies to donate to Goodwill. I really own no "good" jewelry, all of mine is inexpensive, thrift store finds, or craft booth purchases. The drawer needed a good clean out and it looks all the better for it.

Earlier this year it was the basement, we had years and years of cans of paint on shelves under the stairs, it was time to dispose of it, and a bunch of other discarded household items that found their way to the basement. Why is it sometimes so hard to just get rid of things we no longer need or that are no longer working? My basement, still needs some serious purging, but it is more organized than it was.

All of this purging, it is freeing, I feel lighter, it makes me feel calm and peaceful, just knowing there is less clutter and unnecessary stuff lurking in my home makes me feel good. I like too that the thought to purge specific things has been a specific thought upon waking, and I know that I am absolutely, totally ready to let go of whatever items it is that I am to purge.