Purging is a lot of work

I'm doing something I haven't done in quite some time. Purge. No, not in the "I have an eating disorder way". I am purging myself of stuff.

If you asked me five years ago if I ever thought I'd see this house which we had just purchased feeling rather full, I would have said "No" and left it at that. But that's just what has happened. It took five years and I'm pretty sure that adding a kid over a year ago played a big part in it but we've managed to make this house which seemed rather huge - 2,100 sq. ft. plus a basement adding just over 1,000 sq. ft. - feel rather tiny. Maybe it's just because it feels very much "live in".

We have stuff in every closet. As I sit in the office, which doubles as an art studio, I can see with the open closet shelves from floor to ceiling nearly completely full of boxes. I've deemed the contents of each of those boxes necessary at some point in time but I'm sure if I could sort through them during this busy week I'd be left with an overflowing garbage can and some more space.

Some of the stuff is just stored away. It's stuff we've used in the past and may very well use again. We are slowly accumulating clothes that the rapidly growing little lady of the house doesn't fit in to any longer and just in case we'd need them down the road, we have them. Of course on the flip side, I found the old mirror from our pre-remodel bathroom stuffed away in the same closet which was home to a nicely framed Ferarri poster I accumulated during a tour of some printing company in the Twin Cities when I was in college. Those items will be curbside as soon as possible.

It's that never ending battle of deciding what is worth saving and what has served its purpose that we must all fight or risk becoming an episode of "Hoarders". I've seen what living life attached to possessions far beyond their usefulness is like. I helped that couple move last summer from a 2-bedroom apartment to a five bedroom house. All their crap, and most of it was just that, didn't even fit in the house. They still can't use most of their garage because if they bought it, there must be a purpose for it and they'll surely need it - eventually.

But I won't live that way. I've been busy, using free minutes here and there, shredding old papers from my hulking filing cabinet. It's step one in my purge. When the weather thaws the shed out back gets the same treatment and if the couch keeps misbehaving it, too, could very well end up curbside on spring cleanup day. Am I alone in this process of heavy purging from time to time or do most people do light purging more frequently? Is it a yearly thing or have I let things - mainly my filing of documents - go three years too long?

Or should I just close the door and focus on updating MinnPics? I think we all know the answer to that. People would much rather look at the pretty pictures of Minnesota than read this drivel!