Stay of Execution: Good Riddance Project Update 1

Blogs I Read

My Bloglines Subscriptions

Site Meter

2006 Blog Party

« Question for Physicist/Plumbers | Main | Sequential Art »

Good Riddance Project Update 1

I may be a bit scarce around here because discretionary time is going toward intensive decluttering operations. Already we have filled three charity bags, another three consignment/charity bags of high-quality clothing, and have gotten rid of about four bags of rubbish. In addition, we have a big giveaway box for our Yankee swap of things that are too dear to give to strangers, but that don't belong in our house any more. Really nice stuff, this. It includes 40 really good books (another 20 scholarly or special interest books have been trashed), even though we've not yet formally tackled our library. That will be particularly excruciating, I think, for me. But I do not wish to be a slave to my books. The public library and its Interlibrary Loan services is a wonderful thing.

The upstairs is basically done. Tonight our fashionable girlfriends are coming over for dinner and final thumbs-up, thumbs-down judgment on the remaining contents of our closet. I think the unfortunate truth is I'm hanging on to a lot of bad clothes just because I don't want to go shopping. I need clothing, but I don't want to deal with it so I'm hanging on to a lot of unflattering or unpleasant stuff just because if I get rid of it I'll realize just how little I have that I feel good wearing.

Lessons learned so far: I am a hoarder of hats and scarves. Not so much winter hats for me as summer straw hats. And baseball caps, which I never wear but have in great, emotionally charged abundance. I feel disloyal getting rid of a baseball cap if the logo on it is something I care about. It's silly. I made great progress, and the consignment bags now contain some fabulous scarves. The baseball caps will be purged when my fashionable girlfriends agree with Housemate that there's no reason to cling to them. Sigh.

Housemate, on the other hand, is a secret hoarder of purses. She's got dozens. She got rid of a lot, under my stern eye, and my observation that she doesn't use any of them. She kept a lot, too.

I am better off in the sheets, underwear, and socks department than I imagined. Also workout gear. All set on that. I found myself clinging irrationally to all of the unread New Yorkers by my bed, but finally relented and kept only four issues. (And another one just came in todays mail. So hard!) Housemate, on the other hand, had great trouble getting rid of the pretty rocks and shells she's collected and likes to have in her bedroom. We have a whole box of rocks and shells to be returned to the beach. (There are lots scattered around the house -- both of us are guilty of filling pockets with treasures when we go to the beach.)

We've discovered a system that works for us as we go from room to room: a bag for trash, a bag for charity, a bag for the Great Giveaway to friends, and a small box for items that need to be repatriated. Generally these are small doodads that get left unnoticed in pockets or on tables: chapsticks, pony tail holders, small change, pens, buttons. A bag for things that need to be tended or mended. A bag for single socks in need of their partners. A box for things that are keepers, but need a new home. We have a kitchen timer and work in timed increments. It's unexpectedly exhausting. I think that's because there are lots of emotional ties as well as the physical moving around and going up and downstairs that's required. Letting go is hard work.

Posted on January 05, 2005 | Permalink

Comments

If nothing else, it's good to hear that you are "better off in the sheets."

Posted by: Bryan | January 05, 2005 at 03:39 PM

Are either of Sena's books in the 40 that you're giving away? One called Ahab's Wife, and one called Four Spirits. Plus the baseball hat with the red patch with yellow star in the middle on front, Hunan on back. I'm looking for all three of those things.

Posted by: ML | January 05, 2005 at 05:04 PM

My weakness is hoarding books. I've got no more shelf space so they are just piled up all over in every nook and cranny.

Posted by: Hondo | January 05, 2005 at 05:18 PM

Just out of curiosity, is this purge Flylady-induced?

Posted by: Sarah | January 05, 2005 at 05:47 PM

I swear it sounds like Flylady to me. A timer? A keep, give, toss pile? I discovered Flylady through Weight Watchers (hmm.. food journals / control journals may be a link) and do it in fits and starts. Now that I'm starting a year as a housewife (or stay-at-home mom in the parlance of our times) I hope to be able to stick to the routines a little better. I guess I should start with a shiny sink tonight. If I hear Sherry has a shiny sink we'll KNOW it's flylady.

Posted by: Rayne of Terror | January 05, 2005 at 06:59 PM

"...discretionary time..."

considering you're unemployed, isn't that all the time? i have noticed so many unemployed friends seem to go out of their way to talk about how busy they are. it's kind of annoying to those of us who actually do have to manage time.

Posted by: | January 05, 2005 at 07:52 PM

Hey- don't throw away those baseball hats without letting certain Young Turks paw through them first. Some of us need to keep the sun off of our heads.....

Posted by: (Way) Across the Line | January 07, 2005 at 02:16 PM