I feel like my house is double the size it was yesterday. Seriously. We did a major cleaning job on our basement and I can not believe the amount of junk that we have kept over the years.
Our very large storage room in the basement was FULL. How did this happen? Well, it happened because I now know that Pat and I are pack rats. We save everything. We have moments daily where we can not throw something away, you just never know, we may use it again. Or, that we were saving to sell in a garage sale someday. Right, we had one last summer and I only sold 1/4 of the stuff I priced. I am not having another garage sale until the day I can sell the 1o bins of baby clothes I have!
Once we ripped the band-aid off and starting making a pile of stuff to go to Goodwill, it just never stopped! The pile grew taller and taller as Grace kept pointing at things and asking what we were doing with her toys. Most of the pile consisted of a chair Pat has not sat in since college, a large bag of stuffed animals, the dog toys we never opened because Izzy and Lily do not play with dog toys, and boxes and boxes of books from our college days. Did we really think we were going to use "Mathematics: Learning beyond the Numbers" and "Biology Version II" ever again?
Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of things we should have let go but we just could not do it. Our racquetball ball racquets were in the pile at one point but did not make it to the car. We have not used them since college but for some reason can not let go. A clock that my great grandma made was also going to the pile for a half second and I could not do it. I know it will probably never hang in my house but I can not give it away. It is the only thing I have from her and I just can not have it leave my house.
It felt so good to go to Goodwill today and drop everything off. Life is good, I have a large storage closet to fill again with junk and a new attitude that sentimental items are okay to keep as long as you keep it in perspective. Keeping an end table you have not used since college because you "might" use it someday does not fit that category!
2 comments:
He did not get that pack rat stuff from his mother- I am always on Tom to pitch stuff--he gets that from his dad's side.
Way to go! We just cleaned out our basement and got rid of a ton. Feels good, doesn't it?!
Post a Comment