The Great Purge: Part I

"Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal." Matthew 6:19

Since last summer I've been determined to get rid of the junk cluttering our home. Or not junk, treasures...depending on who you ask. I used to think that all I needed to do was to find the perfect way to organize everything. If everything had it's own spot, voila! Organization would be achieved. Not so. At some point someone will want to get something out, and it's messy all over again. One too many things out at the same time equals chaos.

I started thinking about the Indians who traveled around with so few belongings, just to be closer to their food source. And the pioneers' sole possessions packed into a wagon for their move west; much of which was abandoned trail-side for various reasons. Simplification must be the answer. Our lives are not made better by an excess of things. I also firmly believe children's imaginations grow by leaps and bounds when not suffocated by things.

I weeded so many things out of the house and garage last year that they grew into Thing Mountain by the back door and inspired the garage sale I had last fall, detailed here. Appalling enough, most of it was just stuff I didn't want to store anymore. What if I actually got rid of stuff I liked but didn't need? Or stuff that was used occasionally but not really necessary? What if I dug deeper...until it hurt?

I got a real wake-up call the first spring we lived in this house. Tree roots grew into our sewer line, causing four inches of sewage to back up into the basement. The basement where 30 years of memories were stored in cardboard boxes. Who knew toilet water could wick up a stack of boxes four high? Everything in the bottom boxes was a complete loss. The less soggy contents of the higher boxes were only saved if they could withstand a rigorous disinfecting.

The offending trees were removed, and garage filled with soggy basement items to be sorted through. You can see a "water" line on the white box in the center of the upper photo.

I threw away a lot of memories that month, filling two standard-sized dumpsters with stuff, most of which had been precious enough for me to haul from house to house in over seven different moves. Treasures that included a diploma and my ballerina music/jewelry box that I adored as a little girl; a little pink bassinet flower arrangement from the day I was born, and my first-ever Doc Martens that cost me over half a paycheck back then. I cried, I hurt for far too long over those things. I snapped a few photos to remember things by before tossing them in the dumpster.

And then it hit me. None of those items were worth much, but the memories were priceless. I didn't need to keep the item to retain the memories, and the memories are what I was most afraid of losing. After that point, anything I felt a twinge of hesitation to pitch I simply snapped a photo of: memory secured, item gone. (I'm truly working on my photo hoarding issues, as well...baby steps! Ironically, given my family's genetic history, I'll probably leave this world in the fog of Alzheimer's disease, finally stripped of my memories.)

The whole process was liberating, and I finally felt free from the weight of all that stuff we would never have to shuffle to another house again. Letting go felt so good.

It's scary how quickly I got to the point of things accumulating ridiculous piles again. At the point of stuffocation. Genes may play a role in all this...I'm sure there have been a few hoarders in my family tree. Coming from an era of "waste not, want not", everything could be repurposed. And oh how I love to fix things. However, it's so bad my husband has banned me from buying any more storage totes, guys. If I want to store any little thing more I need to empty out a tote I already have. The horror.

Being so prone to falling down the rabbit hole of nostalgia, I'm really not sure how I'm going to tackle the whole desk drawer, file cabinet file, and two large cardboard boxes labeled "Memories" and "Scrapbook". Any previous attempts to weed things from these areas has resulted in many lost hours of memory-induced stupors. Reducing the amount of clothing we have is also a problem area for me. Possibly, just possibly, this pair of something-or-other might fit the last boy, though it never fit any of the others.... Pure silliness. I'm also paralyzed by gifts that were given to us, even if years ago. It's hard to let go of the guilt; I don't want to seem ungrateful of others' generosity. Someone is going to have to come over and dump toilet water on it all, I fear.

There are so many ways to organize and declutter, especially now when it has become such a "fad" pursuit. Probably most popular is the KonMari Method developed by Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo (keep it only if it sparks joy, though I hesitate to implement much from her method because of it's strong Shinto overtones, most notably that things have sacred power), not to mention hundreds of blog posts citing tips, tricks, and secrets to simplify and organize. I love this list of 116 things to throw away... things you wouldn't think are problematic but can really add to your home's clutter.

If I kept everything that "sparked joy" I would not get far. The number of things that I find beautiful, or imagine will be useful someday, is frankly ridiculous. And so I need some other rule to guide me in my pursuit of lessification. After all, attachment to stuff is nothing but materialism. I'm reminded of a grammar lesson from my elementary years: "It is improper to use the word love in reference to a thing. It is only lawful to use when speaking of a person." Oh how many times I've misused love.

"For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart, also." Matthew 6:21

My new checklist for purging things other than clothes; any point that gets a "no" to both questions is gone:

• Is it currently being used? If not, will it for sure be used in the next six months?
• Is it integral to the beautification of our home? Will it be used in the next six months?
• If we have multiples or many similar items, are they all being used? Are these multiple items helping to relieve chaos or clutter?
• If it's broke, can it be easily fixed? Is it too expensive to replace?
• Are you fine with tripping over this item every day?

In the spirit of not overwhelming you with too wordy a post, I'll update with purge-posts as they happen. If they happen! 

Happy Spring Cleaning!