Tag Archives: organization

Purging Petronilla part 2: 112 things in 01/2012

And here is part 2 of our January purging efforts!

While the first half was mainly championed by me (as my husband was occupied with a series of post-burglary door-securing projects), the second half was mainly championed by him.

Go baby go!

It all took place in our 2nd bedroom, which is the residence of lots and lots of papers. Academic papers and articles my husband has printed out over the years, a file of my papers including old college stuff, childhood stuff, drawings, poetry, etc.

Papers are one of the hardest things to purge, because before throwing them away I usually feel the need to check each and every one. Which takes loads of time. And if I form an emotional connection with the paper in question that I’m reviewing because it stirs up memories of our early dating years, or my triumphant A+ in that one French class, then it becomes hard to throw away.

But we forged through! Not quite mercilessly . . . but a little mercilessly.

We got rid of well over 60 things–old checkbook covers.

My husband’s old Dark Shadows catalogue.

My old manuscript-style study of the book of Mark.

It was the most intense, amazing, satisfying, brain-stimulating study of the Bible I’ve ever done. And it involved lots and lots of colored pencils.

InterVarsity (the Christian campus organization that we belonged to as undergrads) loves their colored pencils. I remember thinking “how childish!” when I was first introduced to this technique of studying the Bible, but a mere 20 minutes after thinking this, I realized how great the color-coordinated marks are for seeing patterns in the text.

Sigh. I loved my undergrad life.

But it’s over. To the trash with you!

I also purged more old college syllabi.

Goodbye Intro to Criticism!

Jonathan Elmer did a fantastic job with that course . . . but am I really going to read through all my notes ever again? Probablement non.

When all was said and done, after this year’s purge I only kept the materials from one solitary poetry class and one lone French class. Maybe those can go next year, we’ll see.

Things that we uncovered that did NOT get purged:

My friends! Big Hermie, Little Hermie, Kaiser and Winston. I always thought of Kaiser’s name as spelled Cizer, by the way. It feels important that I should disclose how his name is spelled in my heart.

And my sheet music!

That ain’t goin’ nowhere soon.

This is just a tiny stack pictured, but there’s tons of it–a box full. Piano music, vocal music, choir music, classical guitar music, violin music. And it all must stay. That stuff’s expensive, man. And I totally want to take up the violin again once we’re in a more sound-proof apartment where I won’t die of guilt when the sreeching noise of my ineptitude fills the room.

By the end of our paper-purging evening, we had two huge trash bags going to the dumpster.

And it felt gooooood. With a couple empty file boxes, I was also able to find a new and safer place for my camera equipment.

Next year we’ll have to do 113 things, and I’m already looking forward to it. Not that we can’t purge throughout the year (we will! especially if we move) . . . but there’s something to be said about doing it as a joint project with your more-than-willing spouse, and feeding off of each other’s enthusiasm.

Until next year, Petronilla!

Purging Petronilla Part 1: 112 things in 01/2012

Purging part 1 of 2 is happening this morning! If you missed it, you can read about the goal in this post–and I’m so excited to hear from all of you who have joined the purging craze! It does good to a woman’s heart to make her little space in the world a little less cluttered and a little more organized, doesn’t it?

Aaaaaaah.

Our first round of purging happened the other weekend, and we got rid of 60 things. (This was just after the burglary, in which some items were involuntarily “purged”, heh heh. I wouldn’t exactly have chosen to get rid of my engagement ring . . . but anyway.)

Ready to see? First, this little set of espresso cups that I bought my husband in Spain (during our dating years). I have affectionate memories of buying them and surprising him with them, but after 6 years of carting them around, it’s time for me to admit to myself and to the world that we don’t use them anymore.

I mean seriously–you can see the dust on the surface of those cups, right? Yuck. They had to go.

Next up, a few items of clothing that no longer have a place on my body.

That purple shirt does nothing for my, you know, chest. Adios, muchachos.

I have enough trouble making that area look not flat-as-a-board that any shirt who refuses to sign up for the curve-enhancing program must be chucked. It’s a personal policy that I must cling to unswervingly.

Next: a fruit basket that we don’t use (we have a different fruit bowl we like much better).

Some books–duplicates, plus depressing French books that I haven’t read since college. And on top of the pile, a chunky bracelet I just can’t pull off:

A set of silverware (we counted this as 1 item). It was my grandma’s, and after asking my parents and sisters if they wanted it, nobody wants to take it off our hands.

It’s not really valuable, and being silver-plated, it requires special care. Not sure about you, but I’m not a huge fan of things that require special care. I prefer my Target stainless steel ware, so I let go of sentimentalism and purged.

Goodbye, and I hope you find a new and beautiful home.

A cookbook I never use . . .

. . . and VHS tapes! A whole heck of a lot of them.

I ordered 6 of them on DVD (and therefore didn’t count those items as part of the 60 that we purged, since we’re replacing them instead of ridding ourselves of them forever).

Goodbye, you almost-obsolete pieces of technology.

Also going obsolete: this film-based camera. I’ve been a digital girl for years, and it’s just been kicking around, causin’ trouble.

Other items that went: old make-up (into the trash), old cassette tapes (into the trash), and old umbrella (into the trash), an old pair of sneakers from . . . high school? Into the trash! Hoobeddy habbiddy!

Here’s the haul, which made its way out our door in 4 bulging bags:

This is how I felt when it was over:

Hip hip hurrah!

Part 2 and the remaining items next week. Let me know if you want to join in, and if you’ve already blogged about it, feel free to send me your links so that I can include them in my final post!

You can also read about Layla’s Purge, Heather’s purge and Sarah’s purge–thanks for joining in, ladies!