How to Purge

I'm attached to my stuff.  Really attached.  Get your slimy hands off my netbook, my planner, my Nook, and my purse!  Do not touch my scarf collection.  I don't have much stuff, but I really value what I do have, more than I like to admit.  So when my friend said she would turn to me to purge her stuff before her big move (to her new house with her new husband!!!), I laughed.  Me, purge?  Ha ha!

Really, though, I purge on the way into the house.  I try not to buy something until I've wished (at home) that I had it at least three times.  (For example, if I put on the same dress three times, but never wear it out of the house, because I need brown shoes with it, I buy brown shoes.  And I have this FABULOUS casual purse that is cross body, but I can't wear it with dressier outfits.  I constantly wish I had a purse like it, but in a dressier material.  If I ever find that, I'm buying it.)

When I bring something home, I try to get rid of something that I never use.  New purse?  Get rid of one that I never use.  New shirt?  Get rid of the t-shirt that has shrunk enough that it doesn't cover my belly.

I have two places to get rid of things.  One is the trash.  If the shirt is shrunken, it goes there.  I have a permanent goodwill box (in the form of a lined trashcan in my laundry closet) that I put goodwill items in.  When the trashcan gets full, I put the trash bag in the trunk of my car and deliver it to goodwill and reline the can.  Having a permanent, convenient spot for give away items really helps.

I used to save stuff for certain people.  I no longer do that unless it is VERY special, like my kid's homemade Baptism outfit.  If you save stuff for certain people, it halts the purging process to much.  After going through the long process of contacting someone, getting the goods to them, and holding it until I saw them, I gave up.  Now it goes to trash or goodwill.  That's it.

Gifts go to goodwill immediately if I'm never going to use them.  I figure that someone will really appreciate "buying" a gift still in the box from the goodwill store.

But what do I tell my friend?  She already has the stuff and she is ready to move.  How do you do purge stuff you already own and didn't intend to get rid off?

I suggest that she and her daughter each get a large box to use as their special boxes.  They can even decorate them!  If they love something that they haven't used in the last year, it goes in the special box.  Otherwise, they should use the one year test.  If they haven't used it in the last year, it goes.  The ONLY exception, other than whatever they can fit in the special box, is anything that is used regularly, but that hasn't been used in a year.  (I have a black dress that I wear to funerals, for example.  I only use it when someone dies, but I ALWAYS use it when someone dies.  I also have a couple of serving platters that I only use when I host Thanksgiving, about every third year.  But I ALWAYS use them when I host Thanksgiving.)

Everything else goes to goodwill (if it's in perfect condition) or the trash!

Also, and I'm probably an awful friend for saying this, but I'm glad I'm not moving right now!  :)

Etcetera.