The Urge to Purge

We have spent part of the day today purging. Oh how I love to purge. Having to pack up one area of our house (kitchen) makes me wonder whats going on in other parts of the house. So today I have been poking around all over the place, and purging.

Also, we moved the electronic keyboard into the den upstairs which led to purging in the den. It had become a dumping ground for all things no longer used - a real hodgepodge of junk. I'm thinking that because the contractor is bringing a dumpster for the kitchen demolition, perhaps I can throw out an old sofa that we inherited from the previous owners and other stuff that cannot be otherwise recycled.

Carolyn has started working with Habitat for Humanity and they will apparently take used appliances. I have a call in to them to pick up as much as they want from our kitchen demo. I'd rather see the stuff reused if wanted, than in landfill somewhere. I made about 20 phone calls a few months ago to find a place for some old desks we had ... NO ONE would take them. So hopefully their metal is going to good use somewhere. (Okay, they were very ugly & old.)

I'm slow to purge certain things. I have no problem throwing away clothes that don't fit or are out of style, and I'm not a pack rat nor a collector, but it is tough for me to throw furniture away. My sister-in-law, Vicki, seems to be excellent at moving on. "Good-bye old sofa!" (Resold so reused.) And my friend Anne, "Done with this, need a fresh look!" (She often resells too altho she does not recycle - boo!) I admire that quality to move on and get rid of the big clutter. (Anne, you must recycle but we've been down that road! Henry, I was counting on you to turn that household around!)

The urge to purge is a constant thing with me, BUT I am on a 5-year 'major purge' cycle since, historically, every 5 years I have moved, and thus I have spent my nervous energy preparing for the moves by purging. It is bang-on 5 years since our last move (MD to NJ) so I guess I'm right on schedule.

P.S. Col, if you happen to read this post, do you recognize the framed work on the left?! (I think you can click on the photo to enlarge it.) I know you were with me when I bought it from our fav 'Sampler' store in High Park. Talk about hanging on to stuff! (Bet you have all yours too! With neat backs!)