So, I’ve been packing. I have deluded myself into thinking I am doing a pretty good job of NOT packing garbage I won’t want at the other end. I have filled a couple lawn and leaf bags of crap which went out with the trash today but it isn’t entirely true. I caught myself looking at a package of ducky bath beads… never been used, still cute in their yellow ribboned bag from 4 years ago, and then tossing them into the “bathroom box” I was packing. All the while I was thinking, “I’ll sort it out when I get there.” NO!!! Stop the presses and the packing! If you haven’t used the blasted bath beads in 4 years why do you need them in the new house? Am I saving them for a “special occasion?” Are they for guests who are coming to take special bath bead baths at my house? What the hell are bath beads anyway??? They have already been moved once before. It is totally ridiculous!
Now the bath beads aren’t really a problem except that they point to my overwhelming pack rat tendency. I save so much stuff all in the name of “Just in case” Just in case what?!! Just in case a five year old herbal tea I have never liked suddenly tickles my fancy? The spare buttons I saved from a shirt I no longer own will match perfectly with something I may buy in the future? The almost salvageable piece of wrapping paper will suddenly appear nice enough to use even though I have opted to buy more wrapping paper rather then using it for the last three years?
It really is time to get RUTHLESS as Karen Ehman says in her book “The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized“. I know that I won’t miss anything I do toss or give away. I am really giddy with the thought of my clean slate new house and see it as a once in a lifetime type of opportunity to do this organization thing right! A lofty goal but as Ben Franklin says, “I hope to be, by the endeavour, a better and a happier (wo)man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.”
And before I get back to packing I think I will let my girl practice using scissors on some pretty paper, take a ducky bath bead bath and play tea party with some real tea bags. See “just in case” can come, maybe I really do need to save that shoe who’s mate hasn’t been seen since the Neolithic age. NOT!
Amen.