Spring Separations!

It's cleantime...I mean springtime again and I'm ready to get out from under more of my stuff. I've always been a pack rat...but now I'm ready to purge and I have to binge! I sell on ebay, etsy and I have a booth at a local antique store. I also make soldered art from found objects and papers for craft shows and local stores. So in order to sell, I need to buy, buy, buy - and keep it somewhere! Thankfully my husband won the debate of whether we bought the house we've owned now for 7 years, because it has lots of storage for me and my stuff. I've unloaded truckloads full (literally) at my local Goodwill over the past 7 years, but you wouldn't be able to tell by my basement. We've since had a son and would like to have more someday, so I've kept every item related to pregnancy, babies and toddlers. With every box of nick knacks I part with, a box of my son's outgrown clothes replaces it. I therefore never have the satisfaction of cleaning out. Along with those boxes taking over my storage area I have a pile of empty boxes. Empty sounds good, right? No! It started as my husband's issue - when we married I discovered he liked to keep every box from every purchase. He said they're always needed at Christmastime. I never knew boxes were so hard to come by...I ask the people stocking the shelves at the grocery store when I need one. After a couple years of marriage I started sifting through and putting a few out each garbage day. Now that I sell on ebay though, I have trouble parting with them too! As soon as I clean out, that's when I need them! Priority Mail boxes are somewhat easing my pain in that area. I also have every wine and liquor bottle we've emptied in the last few years. I plan to use them in my crafting...someday. I have embarrassing amounts of holiday decorations, mostly Christmas, and some of the decorations for the "lesser" holidays haven't made their way out in a couple of years. I have every childhood note from friends and puppy lovers. I was thinking of putting some of those in an entry so we can all reminisce about simpler childhood days. Then maybe I can part with them since their words will live forever in cyberspace. What I'm sifting through now, with the help of my new paper shredder (Goodwill $2.99) is old papers. I have every paycheck from a job I spent 8 years at - but I left that job 7 years ago. I also have old bills from a house I sold 7 years ago. And, of course, there's the receipts, bills, etc for these past 7 years! Why will I ever need my phone bill from February 2004? I don't know, but what if? Why do I need a paper showing I paid my taxes while owning the house I sold 7 years ago? Why do I need the license plate from the car I sold 8 years ago? A brochure about a place I've already been that doesn't have any information I need? My Grandma's book accounting for her sales at a consignment shop 15 years ago? The mortgage bill I found 9 years ago that told me my former significant other (that I was at the moment deciding whether to split with or not) hadn't been paying the bills even though our checking account was always empty? The clothes I don't remember my Grandma wearing? The box from the lost pendant that my older brother got me on his 8th grade school trip to Cedar Point? A sucker my best friend brought me back from Colorado in middle school? A poster I made in 5th grade? Valentines from everyone in my class in my 1st grade class? And what's even worse...if I don't have something I remember, I go looking for it. I found one of the books I learned to read on and bought it for my son. It's not even a good book! I probably have it in my trunk in the basement, but I bought it anyway. I know there's a variety of emotions tied to each item, so when I'm sorting through the toss-donate-sell-keep system, I try to imagine Peter Walsch talking me through each item. (You know Peter, right? He's the getting-rid-of-your-crap motivator from TLCs Clean Sweep. Really, I think that's his job title.) Sometimes I imagine he's giving me his usual, "Your grandmother is not in this book. You won't lose your memories of her by giving up this book..." in his Australian accent. Other times I imagine him going a little further, "You already divorced the bastard, do you really need this 9 year old mortgage statement showing you 2 months past due to remind you of (one of the many reasons) why?" No Peter, no I don't! I already vacuumed the dust, furballs and cobwebs out from under the fridge and stove - now it's time to get rid of the real dirt. Spring cleaning - here I come!

I'll check back to let you know my results!