purge.

I have a major fear of being a pack rat. I definitely have the tendencies, and that paired with the domestically challenged aspect makes me a prime candidate to wind up on that disturbing show ‘Hoarders’. What’s worse, I see these tendencies in my son as well. Yes, The Pack Mule, could easily become The Pack Rat.

At any rate, I’ve been doing some major purging this past week. I really don’t like that we’re the kind of people who just don’t get stuff done. You know what I mean. There are the type of people who, upon getting an idea, or seeing a need, immediately take the steps to make it happen. Not us. We’re the type of people who sit on stuff.

But… I’ve been doing really well, and I’m quite pleased with what dave and I have accomplished. Yes, I’m prodding him into this too.

Here is the list of what we’ve gotten out of our house so far:

1. 2 old mattresses (To the dump. They’ve been sitting in our garage for at least a year. That’s what I mean by not getting stuff done.)
2. 1 HUGE back of clothes and such that has been compiling in my bedroom for several months (to a Goodwill drop off station)
3. 1 HUGE shopping bag FULL of kids’ books (also to Goodwill. I pulled at least half of our kids’ books. Mostly ones that annoyed me .)

Then there is the stuff queued up to leave the house next:

1. 6 sippy cups (sent out an email. If no one wants them, they’re going to Goodwill).
2. 3 mugs
3. 4 glass margarita glasses
4. 5 plastic margarita glasses + a matching pitcher
5. a million baby spoons
6. 6 small plastic cups that used to have sipper lids, all of which fell victim to the dishwasher
7. 5 vinyl watermelon placemats (don’t say you’re not jealous!)
8. 1 pacifier keeper
9. 1 citrus zester
10. 1 orange peeler
11. 1 metal loose-leaf tea ‘ball’
12. 1 Old Spaghetti Factory Italian soda glass
13. 2 really simple 4 piece plastic puzzles (have someone who wants these, just have to connect)
14. 27 or so cloth fitted diapers, 7 covers, and 5 hemp doublers (also have someone who wants these and need to connect)
15. couch (all vacuumed out and ready to go to goodwill or some other donation site)
16. train table (my kids build their tracks on the floor now – have a friend who wants this)
17. Pack N Play + 3 sheets (posted on Craigslist – waiting for bites. May repost at a lower price.)
18. Stroller/Travel system (same as Pack N Play)
19. Crib (No idea what to do with this. Can you donate these? It’s a drop-side, and with all the recent recalls, I have no idea if it is one of those or not, but I assume no one will want it. Ideas?)
20. 4 HUGE crates of clothing blanks leftover from my tie-dye business. (NO idea how to get rid of these. Don’t want to just give away because it’s worth many hundreds of dollars.)
21. All remaining tie-dye inventory. (I’ve unloaded a lot of this the last few years at the MOMS club garage sale. I guess I’ll just keep doing it until it’s mostly gone and then just donate what’s left.)
22. Several partially used jars of powdered fabric dyes (I’m thinking Craigslist or Ebay. Not really sure.)
23. Table top Puppet Theatre (my kids don’t use this because they have no puppets. And, no, I’m not going to get them some for it, because that would defeat the purpose of what I’m trying to do here. Think I might offer this to friends by sending around an email.)
24. Star Stacker baby toy (offered this to friends at church – we just haven’t connected. I think I’ll put it in a bag and take it there and put their names on it for them to take whenever they might see it.)
25. A Huge crateful of scrapbooking supplies from my Creative Memory business (again, no idea. My advice to you: don’t EVER get involved in ANY business venture that requires the keeping of inventory!!!!)
26. Several shelves and a crate full of homeschool and/or preschool books, guides, art supplies, games, etc. (might drop some off at the preschool I used to work at, or more likely, Goodwill)
27. A box already packed full of stuff for Goodwill – random baseball hats, a camping lantern that we can’t figure out what’s wrong w/ it and don’t have the patience/desire to investigate further, an old laptop, a toy fire chief’s truck, several cloth diaper/burp rags, a couple crip sheets… maybe more. Can’t remember, I’m not going to dig in and look either. Once it’s packed, it’s packed.
28. A bag in the garage w/ old tie-dye clothes that didn’t come out quite right.
29. 1 diaper bag
30. 1 spinning spice rack w/ one missing bottle
31. a frame backpack (the kind you put your kid in – we got a different one)
32. a ring sling (might send an email around about this one too)
33. a bunch of bibs
34. Crib bedding (Goodwill for sure!)
35. Old screen door (we have some ‘metal collectors’ across the street. I think I’ll ask if they can take it.)
36. Old plastic wading pool (I think I just need to rip it into pieces and dole it out into the trash for a few weeks.)
37. 4 big toy trucks (tried to sell them at the garage sale, and was stupid enough to bring them back home when they didn’t sell. Goodwill now!)
38. Media cabinet (Goodwill, I guess. But first I need to get all the VHS tapes out of it and (I guess) get rid of those… especially since we don’t own a VCR!

Holy Cow! I’m sure there’s more too. What makes me mad is the fact that the reason I still have any of this stuff is not because I need it or use it, but because it’s easier to live with it than it is to do something about getting rid of it. Seriously. How pathetic is that?

Well, enough wasting time writing about it. Time to find a box to fill!