Tag Archives: purging

Purging Petronilla Part 1: 112 things in 01/2012

Purging part 1 of 2 is happening this morning! If you missed it, you can read about the goal in this post–and I’m so excited to hear from all of you who have joined the purging craze! It does good to a woman’s heart to make her little space in the world a little less cluttered and a little more organized, doesn’t it?

Aaaaaaah.

Our first round of purging happened the other weekend, and we got rid of 60 things. (This was just after the burglary, in which some items were involuntarily “purged”, heh heh. I wouldn’t exactly have chosen to get rid of my engagement ring . . . but anyway.)

Ready to see? First, this little set of espresso cups that I bought my husband in Spain (during our dating years). I have affectionate memories of buying them and surprising him with them, but after 6 years of carting them around, it’s time for me to admit to myself and to the world that we don’t use them anymore.

I mean seriously–you can see the dust on the surface of those cups, right? Yuck. They had to go.

Next up, a few items of clothing that no longer have a place on my body.

That purple shirt does nothing for my, you know, chest. Adios, muchachos.

I have enough trouble making that area look not flat-as-a-board that any shirt who refuses to sign up for the curve-enhancing program must be chucked. It’s a personal policy that I must cling to unswervingly.

Next: a fruit basket that we don’t use (we have a different fruit bowl we like much better).

Some books–duplicates, plus depressing French books that I haven’t read since college. And on top of the pile, a chunky bracelet I just can’t pull off:

A set of silverware (we counted this as 1 item). It was my grandma’s, and after asking my parents and sisters if they wanted it, nobody wants to take it off our hands.

It’s not really valuable, and being silver-plated, it requires special care. Not sure about you, but I’m not a huge fan of things that require special care. I prefer my Target stainless steel ware, so I let go of sentimentalism and purged.

Goodbye, and I hope you find a new and beautiful home.

A cookbook I never use . . .

. . . and VHS tapes! A whole heck of a lot of them.

I ordered 6 of them on DVD (and therefore didn’t count those items as part of the 60 that we purged, since we’re replacing them instead of ridding ourselves of them forever).

Goodbye, you almost-obsolete pieces of technology.

Also going obsolete: this film-based camera. I’ve been a digital girl for years, and it’s just been kicking around, causin’ trouble.

Other items that went: old make-up (into the trash), old cassette tapes (into the trash), and old umbrella (into the trash), an old pair of sneakers from . . . high school? Into the trash! Hoobeddy habbiddy!

Here’s the haul, which made its way out our door in 4 bulging bags:

This is how I felt when it was over:

Hip hip hurrah!

Part 2 and the remaining items next week. Let me know if you want to join in, and if you’ve already blogged about it, feel free to send me your links so that I can include them in my final post!

You can also read about Layla’s Purge, Heather’s purge and Sarah’s purge–thanks for joining in, ladies!

Purging: 112 things in 01/2012!

This year, possibly spurred on by the overwhelming vision of my grandmother’s closet with its hundreds of hats and shoes and evening gowns (which we encountered head-on during our Christmas vacation, in the Wisconsin leg of our trip), my husband decided that we needed to repeat last year’s purging exercise.

And did I say “closet” up there? Because I meant closets.

Plural.

(there’s Heidi’s foot–see it?–disappearing into what appeared to be a wall of scarves; more clothes lie behind)

In fact, in Mama Kitty’s case it may be closetssssss (double squared plural). You’ll only know what I’m talking about if you’ve been there in person and experienced the fashion explosions happening all over the house.

Like the hats in the front hall, which represent not even a fraction of the headgear you will encounter as you wander through the house.

Just to give you a little insight into the Mad Hatter Wonderland of my grandparents’ eccentric and treasure-filled house, there’s even a mannequin in a bathtub in the livingroom.

And a mannequin by the mantel.

And that’s just the livingroom, folks. You don’t want to see the basement. I repeat–you don’t want to see the basement.

Or maybe you do.

Okay, fine.

Here’s the basement.

My husband is exclaiming in bewilderment–possibly something like “What kind of family did I marry into??”

Of course, he’s over 6 years late asking that question.

There comes a point where it’s futile to even ask.

But because I’m all about getting to the bottom of things, I’ll spill the beans. The answer is: you married into a family whose pater familias (Big Jake) has stocked the basement with enough food to feed the entire family for 1 year.

I know where I’ll be if the zombocalypse I’ve been hearing about ever breaks loose: feeding on cans of evaporated milk, popcorn, beans, and dented cans of clam chowder in the basement.

Of course, if the zombies learn how to access the internet, they may be able to track me down based on that disclosure. But then again, I’ve always liked living on the edge.

But I digress! (big time) Remember–exactly one year ago–the 111 things in 1/11 project that my friend Jenny initiated? It all started here . . .

. . . continued here with the emotional roller coaster of clearing out old college papers . . .

. . . and here with the trashing of my beloved but holey lamb socks (among others) . . .

. . . and finally here, with a clean-out of old make-up and defunct cassette tapes.

All in all, I ended up getting rid of about 120 things that I totally didn’t need. Whoopee!

So this year we will purge again! And we’re both looking forward to it. After experiencing a certain degree of materialism in the air during the holidays (if you know what I mean), we felt the need to rid ourselves immediately of as much stuff as possible. Old VHS tapes (those are so last-century), unused kitchen paraphenalia, paper files that are just taking up space, etc. I may even attack my jewelry drawer again, which is once more a tangled, mangled mess.

If any of you would like to engage in this exercise along with me this month, please send me the links to your posts, and I’ll link to your blogs as I write about our whirlwind of de-stuffifying!

It’s going to be satisfying, cleansing, and probably full of silliness.

Love,

Purging Petronilla