The Great Purge... De-Crappification 2013: Part 3



I’ve never been a chotchky person, you know… someone who puts cutesy things on shelves that they’ve collected or photos of their family all over the walls. I have zero stuff like that. When I have received stuff like that as gifts, I am sad because I know that I will be getting rid of it as soon as I can. One time someone bought me a wooden sailboat with a scripture printed on the sail. They knew I was a Christian and walked into a Christian store and bought this “thing” for me believing in some naïve way that anything Christian would make me happy and satisfy their obligation to give a gift. Ugh.
Shouldn’t there be a rule? Don’t buy perfume, books, music, clothing or collectibles for someone unless they specifically ASK for it? But I digress.

So, it’s not collectible thimbles from pancake houses around the world that I simply cannot part with. That is not my problem. Forgive me if you do that. I can’t stand that sort of thing.
My problem is the accumulation of crapitude.

One reason that has been the bane of my life- for what seems for forever- is that I have four children that are really widely spaced in ages. Not a problem, of course. The problem is that it goes girl, boy, girl, boy. Hand me downs then are then held a long time in boxes in my garage waiting for the next appropriate gender child to grow enough. After a child is done with the clothes in their size, I get rid of my non-favorites and nonessentials. The rest go into a plastic tote to store. I often ask myself why would I hold a box for so long? I could, in theory, get rid of all of it and then re-buy all of it later. I can’t bring myself to do it. The expense of it is so high in my mind!
Clearly I am not ready to cross the purge bridge with my hand me downs. Maybe soon that will change.