On purging – Part III
Cleaning out my attic. Selling more things.
After cleaning out everything from the bedroom at my mom’s house it was time to tackle the attic. That’s where the real treasures were: the stuff I threw into boxes after high school and after college like those piles of text books and papers I was convinced would be vital references later in life. Those went straight into the trash.
And there were so many things I’d forgotten I had.
Like a giant stuffed horse that was a mascot of out high school speech team (and my speech team sweatshirt)…
And a turtle Mat gave me when he returned from Florida the summer we were dating…
And some old t-shirts…
And old high school dance dresses (I couldn’t get rid of my prom dress)…
And my old sticker books (stickers are pretty much the best thing ever)!
And old IDs that proved that I used to have really short hair…
And all kinds of ribbons and such…
And the first (award winning) story I ever wrote…
And a whole lot of Barbies (some of which I found in compromising positions)…
And yes…I used to chew on their feet (and hands)…
And the blanket that covered my bed through college…
I ended up throwing out a lot and selling a lot at two more garage sales. In the three I’ve had over the last year I made a grand total of $926.46 and got rid of at least a third of what I own. And that doesn’t include the few things I have selling on eBay and the pile of books I’m going to take to a used bookstore and the table I sold to a guy who didn’t murder me on Craigslist.
That’s not to say I don’t still have a room full of boxes, as I’ll whole heartedly admit that I like things. And I own more lamps than any normal human should have. And I don’t want to throw out my prom dress or a short story I wrote in first grade.
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Katie
June 26, 2011at10:43 pmWow, what a trip down memory lane. You’re lucky you have kept so much – my family moved around so much when I was growing up that old toys like Barbie Dolls and Care Bears were long gone just years after I outgrew them. Have no clue what happened to my prom dress. And gosh, sticker books…I used to love my sticker books!
Val
June 27, 2011at6:36 pmI actually lost a lot of stuff in a house fire in high school so I hold tight to what I still have. Sticker books were my favorite thing growing up!
Ali
June 26, 2011at10:53 pmWow Ken’s copping a feel there! As hard as it is to get rid of certain things, doesn’t it also feel really good to unload some of the crap? BTW I had 2 Craigslist buyers this weekend & I too did not get murdered.
Val
June 27, 2011at6:38 pmIt does! I kept a lot of things but getting rid of so much did feel good! I don’t intend to become a “minimalist” but I think more of a “deliberatist” and only have things that either mean a lot to me or that I really love.
And yay for not getting murdered!