The Coat Closet........
It is amazing the junk one can pile in a closet that they rarely use!!! I found baby stuff in my closet, and Tristan is 4 years old now. The kids had shoes stashed in it that they haven't been able to wear for years. Prom dresses and I graduated high school 10 years ago. So all in all I was able to pull about 3 1/2 bags of stuff out of the coat closet!! Can you tell I come from a long line of hoarders ;) I call my self a pack rat but the truth is I would almost qualify to be on that TV show about hoarders, and me kids are following closely in my footsteps. At least I can recognize the problem and fix it before it gets too out of hand.
I hold too much meaning into material items. My husband has been a major help in learning to let go. Mostly because I would rather have him and my children than all of the "stuff" or money in this world! And my in-laws being hit by a tornado a year ago was a major eye-opener too. As they say "He who dies with the most stuff, still dies". Why hold on to a t-shirt that I no longer fit into, but has sentimental meaning that is really kind of dumb. There is no reason! I can either make it into a t-shirt quilt with some of my other "old" shirts or give it to Goodwill. At least if I turn it into a quilt it becomes useful again, instead of wasting space. Some stuff I realized that I have a picture of me with or wearing that item so no need to keep the item. As long as I don't end up with 500 million photographs I am doing okay ;) I also don't mean a random meaning less picture of that item, I am talking about the ones that are of a special moment,t like prom pictures of me and my friend dancing in our dresses. It reminds me of a Sponge Bob Square Pants episode where Sponge Bob became one of those strange hoarders that was keeping every piece of garbage, and when forced to get rid of the garbage ended up taking pictures of everything and ended up with just as many pictures as he had garbage ;)
So anyway back to the closet...... I made room for the adult coats that get used and room for the kids to put coats that are for a different season in. Then we have a crate in the bottom to hold ball gloves, and bike helmets. The top for now has extra blankets in it, and I made room for my vacuum in the bottom. It has gone from a closet that I never use, to one I will use almost every day.
I can't even begin to tell people how good it feels to have gotten rid of so much junk already. I have 10 days worth of tasks done leaving me with 30 tasks left, but I already feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I have also noticed day to day changes as well. While sewing tiny scrapes are no longer stashed in a box with the idea that I might use them. I keep ones that I know I can use somewhere, but some of the small ones I find a use and use it right away or I pitch it. The kids' school papers have not piled up yet, and usually by this time I have a stack started and I wait to go through it till the next summer. So far I have looked them over and if they are not ones I deem important I get rid of them.
I also look at the fact that some day my time on this earth will end and whatever I leave behind, my kids will have to go through and divide amongst them. So why leave them a mountain of junk they didn't want in the first place!! The older I get the more I have to take my turn going through relatives stuff and the more I realize how much of a pain it can be. I really didn't want their stuff, I wanted them. Since I couldn't have them I realized I already had something that they had given me in the past for a birthday or whatever, so I really didn't need something of theirs to remember them by. Moral of the story don't leave your mess for someone else to clean up ;)
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