We didn’t stay out too late last night at EJ & Sherry’s Halloween party. A fantastic time was had by all, as was expected. It’s nice to be able to spend some down time chillin’ with your friends. My costume was a big hit, and comfy too because I was basically in pajamas!
The rest of the weekend has been filled with getting ready for a garage sale later this week. I’ve been cleaning out closets, drawers, cabinets, everything! I am finally selling Jason’s crib – he’s 11 now, and I don’t think I’ll be having another baby any time soon. If I do – well, I’ll just have to get a new crib! I’m also parting with some of his last baby clothes. *sigh* It’s hard to let go of those things. But if I keep everything, I’ll end up buried by stuff.
Cleaning out and purging your belongs is really an interesting experience. First I have to evaluate the item. “Do I use this? Have I used it in years? Do I love it?” When it comes to clothes, I decided to keep some items that are in great condition, but a size too small right now. But I didn’t keep everything. I had to ask myself, “If it fit right now, would I wear it? A lot?” It took a second run through on clothes I thought I should keep, but I think I have most of them weeded out now, and there is a lot more space in my closet.
The hardest part is the memories. I’m facing memories that I have packed away for one reason or another. Things like Jason’s baby items have been packed away because it’s hard to give up your child’s youth. Other items, like my old clothes, have been packed away because of the memories that they hold that would otherwise haunt me. “I bought this dress to wear to that wedding…” or “I wore this dress the first time I went to…” I have no idea why I used to remember everything I wore to every event. I don’t do this anymore. But I used to – and moving out these clothes means getting rid of those memories once and for all. That’s not easy for me, but it is very necessary.
Sometimes memories can follow you around. Holding on to them doesn’t allow your old dreams to die – instead they just linger, causing clutter, filling up the space where your new dreams should be allowed to grow and flourish.
I keep trying to purge myself of my past. I am no longer the person I was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even 1 year ago. Cleaning out all of this clutter is the only tangible option I have. As hard and heartbreaking as it can be at times, it is a good thing and I know it is for the best. As I crawl in to bed tonight with sore, aching muscles but definitely not on a catabolic state – I will know it was worth it. Speaking of my aching muscles, the day after, I went to a Chiropractic adjustments service on my back muscle pains. If you have experiences about back pains or any muscle pains. You can search through your internet — chiropractic treatment near me.
9 replies on “Clarifying, Cleaning, and Exhaustion…”
It sounds like a lot of work! Good for you for tackling it!!
The people on the TLC show Clean Sweep that I watched last night said “Physical objects can trigger strong memories, but only the memories themselves are important, not the objects.” (okay, so I had to go look that up to see the exact wording.) 🙂
Kristine…so true about only the memories being important…but sometimes we need to see tha actual physical object to get back the memory.
Christine…I know how hard it is to get rid of the baby stuff. I’m trying to do the same with my kids. I decided to keep just a few special items of clothing–things they wore a lot and help trigger the memories for me. (God, my kids are only 2 & 3–I wonder how much stuff I’m going to accumulate by the time they’re 18?)
Just today, I finally got rid of a few old baby toys that have been hard to let go of. And I also gave away their “Baby Mozart” videos which I originally wanted to keep forever so I could watch them and cry when they’re grown and moved out. What a sap I am.
I just went through the Cleaning of the House and Memories. We rented a dumpster and tossed out everything that was not sellable, including some baby things and stuff my family used 50 years ago. Scott added a bunch of ten-year-old “schtuff” as well. I admit that I didn’t throw as many of the girls’ infant clothes away as I probably should have, but we all have limits. Still, I was proud of all of us when they hauled the thing away two weeks later! We can actually move around and refinish our basement! Good for you, Christine. I know it can be really “freeing” and really melancholy all at once.
Does anybody else remember the film (…sorry, ‘movie’!) ‘Labyrinth’ (David Bowie)…
There was that great scene where the heroine met a little old lady who carried about all he worldly goods on her back…A fantastic metaphor for your topic!
I was going to be very shallow and make a comment that this might be a ‘gender’ thing – until I remembered that the worst person I know for collecting ‘clutter’ is my friend Mike. He has been actually known to come back from the local rubbish-tip/car boot sale with stuff that he himself threw away only a couple of months previously! :o)
…Oh, and then I remembered the long-running saga of my school rugby boots…Which regularly make their way to the trash can (thanks Sharon!) only for me to rescue them! (I haven’t played rugby in years now, and they don’t fit now anyway!)
we did a lot of clearing our before we moved and it felt really great. i read this wonderful book called “Clear Your Clutter” by Karen Kingston- you can find it on amazon – that talks a lot about why we keep what we do and why we should get rid of some things that serve only to weight us down.
Most of the memories that I was facing were of my ex, the Insignificant Other – so they are not memories I want to keep. They are memories I need to get rid of – but it was hard facing them as I pulled clothes out and tossed them in to my garage sale pile. They need to go, and purging my apartment of every last trace of him is a good thing. It’s as if the negative energy lingers even now after he is gone all this time – and I want to be rid of it, finally free at last…
a lot of the women at my halloween party were basically in pajamas too.
well, not TECHNICALLY pajamas, but i wasn’t gonna complain about it.
Christine what was your costume??!
We move every 3-4 years so we try to keep up with this. I did this last summer though, kept only a few things. I threw away a lot of papers that the girls had brought home from school, but I kept things that they did in kindergarten and first grade, all the certificates throughout the years. I even went through the baby clothes I have meant to go through each year. Since they are 14 and 18 and we know there won’t be any more babies here, I felt better keeping only the handmade things and tossing the rest to Good Will. We have been in this house for 5 years *at Christmas* which is the longest we have ever been in one place as a family. So, I will have to purge more things once the holidays are over.
I know what you mean about the memories, amazing isn’t it?
Wow, you are brave. When I made a move from the West to the East I had to mail everything so needless to say, I got rid of so much stuff, and I cannot tell you how many times I have longed for some of that stuff. Anyway, happy cleaning, one day I will get brave enough to do so as well.
Mandy