Over the past six months I have been trying to purge our home of all the junk. After two decades of marriage and 5 kids we have a lot of junky treasurers. I am married to a man whom I dearly love, but he does not like to throw anything away. So, I have done much of this purging in secret. i.e. when the love of my life is at work and the little elf's are at school. (I hope he isn't reading this.)

In November I rented a dumpster. For a whole month. It was emptied once a week. I filled it up four times. I wanted to donate a lot of it but charities in our area have gotten soooo picky they wont take just anything like in the good ol days. So, most of the stuff got thrown in the dumpster.

If you need a cathartic experience, I highly recommend this. All the "stuff" was causing me stress. As I threw it away I felt a burden being released and a new spring to my step. I am sure there is some deep meaning in this, I am just not sure what it is. (As a side note, a lot of the stuff that entered the dumpster was rescued by someone, a neighbor, who thought it was a treasure. Many items were saved from an eternity at the dump)

When we had our garage clean out day last weekend hubby did finally get into the spirit of getting rid of all the stuff. I couldn't believe how much stuff we put out at the curb for pickup. There was an old entertainment center, a desk, small end table, snow toys, and much much more. It looked like we were Jeb Clampitt's long lost cousins, I am sure the neighbors were thrilled.

I called the lady at the dump for a special pickup. She remembered me. What does this mean when the lady at the dump knows who you are? Didn't you recently rent a dumpster for a month? Yes. Didn't you have a special pickup a few weeks ago. Yes. You are only allowed three special pick ups a year, you will only have one left. OK. I am sure she thinks my house looks like one of those people who have OCD and never throw anything away. She has visions of years of newspapers lining the walls, empty cereal boxes piled on the counters. I actually thought it was a little funny.

Yesterday, hubby and I set our sights on the back yard. We cleaned up. Went through the pool toys and other outdoor toys. Picked some weeds, and basically cleaned everything up for the summer season.

Here is my problem. I now have more trash, again, than will fit into my one giant bin the city provides for weekly pickup. I need my last special pick up of the year. I am a little afraid to call. If I get the same lady, I am afraid of what she might say. Maybe I will have hubby or one of the kids call. I guess I could just call and if she answers hang up and continue to call until someone else picks up the phone. I know. I am a big fat chicken.

What do you have that you need to throw away? A few items, or an entire garage worth of stuff. Come on tell me. Make me feel better about myself.


ps. No one ever missed one item I threw away. No one has ever asked "where is such and such". I knew they didn't really need it. Moms are so smart.

Labels: stuff