To Make Free of Something Unwanted

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. I consider writing something down each year and each year decide it's not for me. I'm also not one who usually jumps on fads or fashion bandwagons. I can appreciate chevron, for example, in small amounts and from a distance but mostly I see it as today's version of the burnt orange and mustard colored flower wall paper from the 60's. It's in today but we'll be cringing over how dated it seems in a few years. That being said, some of the bloggers I read pick a word each year that represents their goal. It sets the tone for the mind-set she wants to foster or the goal she wants to reach that year. While reading one such entry my word for the year came to mind and it's stuck with me for weeks. So, I guess this year I do have a resolution or official goal or a special word or whatever you want to call it to work towards. My word for 2014 is "Purge." I want to purge the clutter from my home, the waste from my time, and the lbs from my person.


I've held onto all of TB's toys, clothes and baby accoutrements thinking I may need them again someday soon. Even though it has been made clear to us we will not, in fact, be needing the stuff again it has felt overwhelming to dig through the boxes as there is so. much. emotion. tied to all of those little things. However, it is taking up valuable space and I finally value the space more than the fantasy of needing the things again. I dipped my toes into the purge process in November. I'll be honest, it was really difficult to sort through the first few batches of baby clothes. There were tears shed. However, once the first few batches of clothing were given away, I felt invigorated and relieved. I took a break during the holidays which perhaps was a mistake as it seems daunting again at this point. To get the ball rolling again, I shifted my focus from TB's stuff to MY stuff. I started in my closet. Holy cow, that place was a pit. I culled many many bags of clothes and shoes and still have enough stuff in there to clothe most of  my neighborhood. What remains though is hanging nicely, stacked in an organized fashion or placed in one of my beloved storage tubs on a high shelf. Most importantly, it's a start. A charity I often support is picking up a small mountain of stuff from my house tomorrow and I'm on fire to tackle another corner soon.

Sadly, most of this is just from my side of the closet! Yikes.

2014: The year I free myself from unwanted baggage (and bags) (holy moly, I have a lot of bags.)