25 July 2009

To purge or not to purge...

I'm preparing for a group yard sale my friend Christine is hosting next weekend and am having some issues. I like stuff. I'm a museum curator, for goodness sake - stuff is my profession. But when you live in a house where storage is relatively non-existent and you actually haven't used said stuff since you moved in two years ago, it's time for a little trimming. But I keep having the inner conversation - 'you may be able to use this' or 'you should save this and give it as a gift' or 'with a coat of glossy paint this could be xyz'.

Help! Tell me that I need to purge. I look at design magazines and sites like ApartmentTherapy and love the interiors that are clean and open and airy. And yet...

By the way, I'm still trying to figure out where to keep my bike in this tiny space. Love the way they incorporate a bike that looks exactly like mine!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I vote purge. If you have the skills to fix stuff up with a nice coat of paint, you can always rescue items from garage sales down the road when you have a more pressing need for them. But it's hard to appreciate the nothing (space/peace) over something (stuff that has emotional value).

Cathy said...

Purge! I'm trying to do the same here. Faithfully purging out one little area of the house daily and putting at least 1 item into the trash or recycle or thrift store bag (usually lots more!). Things can always be replaced (and those that can't, should be kept and treasured).

We should have a little purge support group, Josh is no help here except that he yells at me when I bring home awesome glasses from yard sales.

Only books are sacred. Don't purge books. Just take them in to work.

H said...

I would like to join a virtual purgeing (sp?) support group. The only good thing that came out of moving six times in six years was I continuously got rid of lots of crap. Haven't not moved now (gasp) in three years, I have so much to purge!