I’m a total packrat. I find myself unable to part with magazines, school notebooks, old tests, tickets and old jewelry because I am such a sentimental, nostalgic freak. Also, I think that if I throw any of these things out, tomorrow I might need it for something. Then what?
But this weekend, I decided to put on my comfy pants and start to declutter my life again. My thought was, since I’m not moving out my apartment, it’s time to start cleaning crap out of here that’s just accumulated over the last two years. Basically: clean as if I’m moving (even though I’m not.)
And holy sh*t it was intense.
I started opening drawers, digging through old paperwork and making piles for: trash and donation. Trust me, Goodwill is going to LOVE me yet again.
And along with digging through papers and files and old trinkets, I tackled my biggest project, going through old notebooks and files from my last year at the University of Minnesota. It was like a mini version of “this is your life” circa 2001-2003.
I hunkered down for this trip, going through old tests and research papers, feeling bittersweet about tossing the majority of them out. But I did keep a couple of things that made me laugh and some papers I’m still proud of :)
I also found a lot of other, smaller stuff that I completely forgot that I had, like my grandpa’s World War II Purple Heart and some bad 80s hair accessories. Oh, I also found lots of spare change too (yay!)
Here’s a picture of the final haul that was tossed out and recycled. Next step: going through the closet again. That will require a bottle of wine to help me get through.
What did I learn? I need to do this more often and I need to be better about letting some things go. Work in progress.
What about everyone else? Did you have a nice long weekend? Do anything fun?
Reader note: Also, thanks to everyone for the sweet words on my promotion. I really appreciate it, thanks for making the news all the sweeter :)
Review blog update: I posted tonight my review of Jersey Boys, which I got to see live in Chicago last week, pictures included!
(4vt26gnabk) – Ignore this, it is the stupid code I have to put in a blog post so Technorati will “recognize” my new blog URL – HASSLE!
It’s well known that money makes us free. But what to do when somebody doesn’t have money? The one way is to try to get the credit loans and just commercial loan.
Oooo! I want to clean out my closets now too! Because it’s a good excuse to have a bottle of wine! Not that I ever need an excuse…
One of my favorite things to do is sit on someone else’s bed with a glass of wine while they go through their closet. I love looking at the clothes accumulated throughout the years :-)
I’m going to declutter this week myself, I’ve been felling cramped lately so its time to toss some shit : )
Weirdly enough, I find myself in the best mood to declutter at night. I have no idea why either.
oh man i am such a packrat, i keep everything! it’s pretty bad. but i’m getting better about tossing stuff out lately.
ps. technorati is sort of crap these days, i’ve given up on it.
im a horrible packrat right now. and i don’t want to clean anything, i just want to move.
it’s horrible.
Personally, I’m a fan of moving to a bigger place so my clutter can actually be in a room where I can’t see it. Why clean if I don’t have to? ;)
Ugh, I totally need to de-clutter as well. I get to a point where I’m motivated to do it, then lose that motivation quicker than it came, haha. Good for you for getting through it!
Last week, I de-cluttered a part of the computer room that had all of my college (and even high school) papers & such and it felt great.
I love going through them and reliving that “old me” for a bit but then I get just as much enjoyment from throwing it out and moving on.
I love de-cluttering. I try to do it twice a year because it makes me feel SO good to toss the extra junk that I feel compelled to keep.
Congrats on the promotion (I know, I’m late to the game. A wee bit behind on my GR.)
A thorough de-clutter is always good- I’m going through all my bits of papers and am (eventually!) working them into scrapbooks and throwing the rest out. I think it’ll me a much more compact way to reminisce!
I de-cluttered this weekend too! I ended up getting rid of 5 big trashbags (the black ones) of clothes, shoes, and purses. It took two trips to goodwill! I haven’t even attempted to go through my school papers yet. I figure I’ll just toss it all next year once I graduate when I’m moving out.
I really need to do this too, but I am SUCH a hoarder. Especially when it comes to my clothes. But I have no space for ANYTHING anymore. :(
I de-cluttered too, but had a much bigger pile! One of my roommates recently moved out, and she had lived in the apartment for five years, and had many roommates come and go during that span– all of whom left behind their unwanted junk. So my remaining roommate and I took our OCD tendencies to task and purged! It was great!
I am still trying to be better at decluttering my space. I used to be horrible at it. But thanks to my mom-in-law who’s spotless clean person; looking at her makes me wanna be the same!!!
I’m glad you got to clean and reorganize your house – it definitely feels good, right!?
I love doing this! So fun (for me, I am a freak)! I helped a friend go through her closet a couple weeks ago and we got rid of so much stuff! Goodwill is going to LOVE her! This weekend I am helped my sister do much of the same. Next up – my own closet!
Oh man, I have been needing to seriously declutter my room lately, but I can’t seem to get in the mood to actually make myself do it!
that’s what i did all of last weekend on my birthday. we spent 8 hours cleaning out every little part of our house including closets, etc. goodwill and i are very good friends at this point. it is such a theraputic feeling to “de-clutter” though! :) congrats!
I have to be in a mood to purge stuff, but when I do, look out! Everything goes!!
from one pakrat to another: you go girl!
I’m a life-long packrat as well. It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate in even the shortest of time periods. I recently cleaned out my place, but one day soon I’m going to have to tackle my storage locker. I may need two bottles of wine for that job :)
but now don’t you feel awesome about it?
It’s so hard to toss old things.So I’m very impressed by your decluttering.
I still have all of my notes from
University. Do I ever look at them? Nope they just sit in a box in my closet. And I’ve moved twice since I graduated.
When Steve and I started preparing for our move across the country, we got rid of EVERYTHING except for one tv, one computer and about 20% of our clothing. And we had a HUGE, 3bedroom farmhouse full. De-cluttering helped us out though, it felt so great to actually see what clothes I had and figure out what was worth keeping, trashing or giving away.
I used to be such a packrat. Then, like you, one day I just decided to go for it, and I haven’t looked back! It feels so nice to be de-cluttered, doesn’t it?