The Queen of Purge – Minimizing What We Live With on a Daily Basis

My latest obsession with decluttering

My Uncle died on March 7, 2003. My family and I drove back and forth between his house and mine gathering his things. His house is 7 hours away and the 4 trips just about pushed me over the edge. I was the recipient of a lot of his nice furniture, many CD’s, keepsakes and memorabilia. However, bringing it all home has made me go into a compulsive mode. After all, I AM the hand-me-down queen and am grateful for any good stuff someone wants to give me (IF I can use it that is). But when I have too much stuff, I get a claustrophobic type of feeling. That is the warning sign that it’s time to purge the house of unused items.

So after our last trip, I realized that there was just too much stuff. I had trouble getting rid of things such as a dollhouse I made for my oldest over 12 years prior! Now come on, it was cute but unfinished (still needed molding and curtains). Since we had no room in the new house for it, we left it on the side yard and did not raise it off of the ground. Because it rained several times, water got to it and seeped up from the bottom. It finally went into the dump.

How many do you need?

Additionally, there are two microwave ovens that work at 75%, tons of plastic chairs (a housewarming gift for all of the parties we wanted to have), old broken pots left by the previous owner, my table saw that I used to make the dollhouse, also left outside and very rusted, and the list goes on!

Something snapped into focus. I’m not sure what, but I have become the QUEEN of purge!!! I made so much room by throwing things away and combining half full boxes that I am in awe! And I am still working on it! My husband and I are working towards minimizing what we live with on a daily basis.

I took advantage of one of my yearly FREE pick-ups by the city. And to say it feels good is an understatement! Someone wrote an article about the trash man being her best friend. I had to laugh and agree! What a way to look at it. I always scurry around on the weekends looking for anything that can be thrown away. The trash is picked up on Monday! {{{light bulb moment}}} I guess the trash man is one of my best friends too.

For some reason, this time my compulsion is becoming an obsession as I have been going through every closet and cabinet in the house; bedrooms, bathrooms (DONE!), kitchen, garage, laundry room (DONE!), and outside in two sheds and a workroom which has been the dumping ground for the past year. You would not believe what I have gotten rid of. I have empty cabinets in the kitchen and laundry room! This is SO wonderful! There’s even space in the pantry.

Though, I did not do all of this at once. I have been doing it little by little each day. I do some each morning and it feels GREAT! Well, I am physically sore. But it FEELS GREAT!

One last thing… How many of you have papers from long ago that you do not need to keep, but cannot just throw in the trash? Personal information no matter how old should be shredded. Let me tell you about one of my new best friends. You’re going to laugh, but when I had to shred 10 years of papers I kept for tax purposes, it took me something like 3 to 5 days.

Last week I said to my husband, “How much do you think ShredEx would cost to come shred all of my boxes of old files?” He said, “Oh gosh Susan… probably $1000.” Then while writing an article I stopped cold and called ShredEx. Guess what??? They only charged me $65 for 10 bankers boxes! I was so thrilled I could hardly take it! While they are only a West Coast based company, there are others throughout the country. Do a search for paper shredding companies near you.

This got me to thinking… How many people DO NOT purge their old papers because they are not sure what to do with them? Or worse yet, how many just throw them away? For years we had tons of papers and did not know where to dispose of them. Everyone has personal information that they cannot just throw into the trash. If we can share this information with others and find some companies to refer people to, it may help others get the desire to purge those old papers! Look for your local paper shredding company in the yellow pages or call a local paper supplier to ask them. They will know where you can find someone to shred those old papers. Take advantage of this if you have a lot of old files and papers. You will be so glad you did!

Is there a company near you who shreds papers that you like? Please share the name and state in the comments below.

Copyright ©2003 Susie Glennan
All Rights Reserved.

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