Saturday, June 11, 2011

purging (our possessions, not my stomach)

When I was pregnant with Nate, I outgrew my clothes in phases. Around 6 or 7 months in, I decided that there was no way I was ever going to get back into the first phase of clothes that I outgrew. I loved those clothes - not the size, just the clothes themselves. It seemed that it would be better for me emotionally if they weren't even around after Nate was born. That way, I would be buying new clothes instead of being depressed about not being able to fit into my tiny clothes again. So I got rid of them.

After Nate was born, I did have to buy all new clothes. I had gone from a size 2 or 4 to a size 8 (and eventually a 6). When Nate was 10 months old, I started fitting into some of my bigger size 4s again. When Nate was 11 months old, I got pregnant again.

I've been in maternity clothes since about 8 weeks pregnant. A couple of weekends ago, I got really serious about getting my non-maternity clothes out of my way. In the process, I decided to get rid of any clothes that I never got back into between pregnancies. I mean, maybe I'll be a size 4 again, but who knows? That set off a chain reaction, and I eventually cleaned out all four of our closets.

Four kitchen garbage bags of stuff went straight to the dumpster. Why did I keep those things? I think it made sense to keep them at first, but then after a few months, it didn't. But, I was keeping those things, so I just kept keeping them.

I listed a few things for sale on Craigslist: a bench (sold - this wasn't in the closet, by the way), a comforter set (sold), an infant carseat base, and a glass pitcher with 8 matching goblets. I listed them cheap so that they would sell, and we're going to spend what I made so far on our date this evening. Woot!

Then, we loaded up 5 boxes from jumbo packs of diapers, 3 suitcases full of clothes, and a few other odds and ends in the van. Those were donated to a church garage sale that is going on as we speak (if you will). I have been to garage sales that had less stuff for sale than what we took over to the church. Seriously.

I sort through it all and decide what stays and what goes. He hauls it off. We're a good team.

It actually looks like a lot less stuff when it's loaded in the van. Now that this is all out of the apartment, we can actually walk around in our bedroom again. :)
It feels good to purge. Very cleansing. However, our apartment is still full of stuff.

QOTW: If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting.

2 comments:

  1. I love purging! I do it at least twice a year. Sometimes just a few things, sometimes loads and loads. Fortunately, we have a few charity grounds (Salvation Army and the like) that pick up curb-side a few times a year. I save the little postcards, and put my donations out.

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  2. A long time ago, in my closet, I would take something out each time I put something new in. (That didn't happen when I had acquired a single piece that had nothing to go with it.) But then something happened. How many red t-shirts did we toss and I still had how many left? You are a good tosser. Need to get all my stuff in one place so I can do that, too!

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