2007-07-15
Purging
The checks have cleared, the lease is signed, and there's no turning back now. We're moving.
Now comes the fun part -- packing.
Actually, we're in pre-packing mode, and for someone like me, this is a very difficult -- I daresay painful -- process. This is GETTING RID OF STUFF, and it's not something I'm very good at. If any of you have been to our place, you know what I'm talking about. I come from a long line of packrats. I have helped empty out my grandparents' house in Helena, MT, and my folks' house in Hingham, MA. Rooms and rooms of LIFE magazines, old prom dresses and lidless Tupperware bowls. In both cases, I was in no position to criticize. I've still got the green button-down shirt and antique brooch I wore in my senior class picture. I have every 45 I bought on the way home from school in 1984 (too many people made fun of me on the bus, so eventually I figured it was easier to just walk).
But now it's my turn to move, and it's time for me to let go of stuff. Knowing the space limitations and layout of the new place is helping. I've also been trying to heed the advice of others. My friend Hugh once said, "If you haven't worn it, read it, listened to it or used it in a year, pitch it." That's been a little difficult for me to apply, since I have a lot of...well...collections.
This morning my friend Brian gave me this bit of advice: "If the item in question got lost or stolen, would you run right out and replace it? If the answer is no -- then you get rid of it."
"Huh. That would pretty much leave my couch and my stereo."
"Well, then I think you probably have it pretty easy."
I'm TRYING, I really am. It's just that I attach too much MEANING to things. Mateless earrings and stuffed animals and dog-eared paperbacks. We're managing to offload about two boxes of crap a weekend, but the place isn't getting any EMPTIER.
It's going to be a long summer.
lisamcc at 1:36 p.m.
2 comments so far
lj lindhurst
2007-07-16 11:00:52
You need to have a tag sale! I give you the following reasons: 1.) you will see your stuff go to people who are absolutely ga-ga about it (or at the very least need it). this is better than sending it to the no-man's land of the Salvation Army. 2.) you will make a TON of money (I don't have HALF the amount of stuff it sounds like you do, and last time we did it, we made like $300 easily) 3.) you will meet cool and/or crazy people on the street. Tag sales really bring out the crazies, especially if you start early in the morning.... 4.) you. will. get. rid. of. your. crap!
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mari
2007-07-16 16:18:16
My answer to the "purge or not to purge" question comes after the move. If stuff has been left in a box for more than two months, then clearly I don't need it.
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Stumble It!
