Dec182008
Purging Thursday
Filed under Purge Thursday by Kim at 10:21 pm on Dec 18 2008
I was listening to my latest audiobook It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh, when it struck me that the Unclutterer doesn’t have a corner on the market of simplifying your life! I constantly look around the house and see things I don’t use. Sometimes I find I’m avoiding something I want to do in the house, and if I examine my motives closely, I can see that it’s because there might be an actual physical obstacle in the way. I find I’m blind to entire areas of my house because that space are filled with actual items I can’t confront or figure out what to do with. Sometimes it’s for emotional reasons, sometimes it’s just plain habit.
So I’m making a pledge. Every Thursday I’m going to get rid of something. Whether I Freecycle, take it to the thrift store, donate it somewhere else, try to sell it, or simply trash it, I’m gonna try to get rid of something once a week. At some point I want everything in my home to be functional or serve a purpose that I can recognize, easily access, and actually care about.
So here’s this week’s purge. 
I was trying to shelve my school books at the end of the semester, and found that valuable shelf space has been taken up for the past, oh, four years by a stack of video game manuals and guide books from games I have not played in up to ten years. In addition to this I found several books on Crystal Reports (probably at least 5 versions old) from my last job. In my current job I don’t touch that program. And someone tell me what possessed me to buy a guide book for Diablo II? What does it say “click on things!” over and over? I featured the Allegiance book because that has a special place in my heart – my main internet identity for the past decade came from the handle I used in that game. But not so special a place that I can’t trash that. I have the memories. Finally, I recently got Jesus Christ Superstar on DVD. Buhbye VHS!
So now I can keep my Anatomy & Physiology textbook somewhere I’ll actually have it at hand, since I am pretty sure I’ll want to revisit that once I actually enter nursing school. And a little bit of weight of excess useless junk is off my shoulders.
1 Meganon 19 Dec 2008 at 3:52 pm
Good for you. I love getting rid of stuff for exactly those reasons. Sometimes I feel buried by stuff. Unfortunately for me, Ben loves to keep stuff. He is a real pack rat. It makes for an interesting dynamic in our marriage. He brings it in and I take it out.
[Reply]
Kim Reply:
December 19th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I give the whole simple living thing a bunch of lip service, but every journey begins with a step. In my house, I am the pack rat. Jack hates things, refuses to accept presents, and generally owns a desk, a computer, 6 pieces of silverware, four bowls, and his clothes. I don’t know how he doesn’t murder me and burn it all!
[Reply]