Purging out the house

Amazing-ness of amazing-ness. I actually spent all of yesterday (until dinner) and all of today (except brunch) in my house! Yes, even though I am a homebody there was another reason alltogether for this.

For those of you that know me, you will be well aware of the fact that I suffer from a little OCD-ness. My clothes are arranged by type (casual vs. work), sleeve/ pant/ skirt length as well as color. My shoe boxes are arranged by type (again casual vs. work), brand, and color. I find it sadly thereaputic to go through my closet most weekend, re-folding and arranging my clothes and taking stock of what I have. I typically then separate the clothes that I think wont make it anymore.

As a result I have accumulated a corner filled with things I no longer want or need. I thought about selling it off at a flea market, but found the thought of packing it up, moving things, setting up shop and selling to be a bit tedious. As luck had it, my company decided to run a donation drive!

We decided to donate to http://recyclecharity.org/en/ They are focused more on going green and recycling, but will also use the donations to support those in need, and what is nice is that they are pretty transparent about where and how they use the funds collected.

So... I decided to not only clear out my closet, but to clear out the entire house. I went through my shoe cabinet again, cleared out rows of handbags, and went through my old jewellery. I dug through my bathroom cabinets for make-up I would never use and through my messy stash of electronics to see what else I wont need.



I ended up with ~15 bags ready for donation, and a house only filled with essential items. It took me an additional 1.5 hours to move everything to my car, drive it to the office and stash it in the donation boxes... but it was well worth it.

It sounds anal, and boring, and really who really enjoys cleaning out the house? but its fun to find small things that you had forgotten about, cards from loved ones. That diamond ring you had completely forgotten about, the necklace that you had been hunting around for. Shopping your closet, rearranging your library, and to remember to be grateful for everything that you have.

As for me, its also a reminder to not live in excess, to really fully utilize the things that I do have and to try and appreciate it as much as possible... and if all else fails, I now have more space to buy new things!!!

IM KIDDING! - week 2 without a mall visit and counting!