Purging of the Useless

I’m a sentimental pack rat.  Every now and then I get the urge to purge my room of anything and everything useless.  I have a dream of one day being able to stand in front of my closet and know that I actually wear every single piece of clothing in it, right down to the ankle socks with the pink smiley faces. 

I should be thankful that I’m not a chronic pack rat.  I am capable of letting go of things; but I spend a considerable amount of time debating whether or not to trash each item.  Let’s say I purge my room in January and I’m debating throwing out a t-shirt.  My first thought would be: trash it.  you’ve reached for every other shirt in your closet this past year except this one.  trash it.  My second thought would be: maybe I should keep it.  I mean, it’s still in perfect condition and I can wear it when I’m doing yard work or something.  ok, I’ll keep it.  And so it goes back in my closet.  Let’s say next January rolls around and I decide I want to purge my closet again.  I’m cleaning, I’m cleaning, and oh – there’s that t-shirt again.  This time, I’ll think to myself: trash it.  every time you clean your closet, you debate this one.  just the fact that you’re debating it is reason enough to trash it.  And this time, it actually goes in the donation pile. 

By this process, I slowly – sometimes painstakingly slowly – purge my closet as well as my room of useless junk over the years.  So far this summer, I’ve filled a trash can full of useless junk, I’ve filled two big shopping bags full of clothes to donate or hand down if they’re still in good condition and in style, and I’ve managed to literally remove an entire dresser from my room.  Literally.  Where there used to be a dresser next to my bed, there’s now a big empty space.  Every time I go to put down my cup of coffee, I forget that there’s nothing to place it on and it almost drops to the floor.  Getting rid of the dresser –> thumbs up.  Almost dropping things every few minutes because I forget that I no longer have a dresser –> not a pleasant feeling.