Unstuffing stuff

I was going to stuff envelopes for Habitat for Humanity on Friday. Their envelopes, it turns out, were fully stuffed, so my shift was cancelled. What to do? What to do?

Well, I did a lot of sorting and purging of our 'stuff'. I've felt a pull to do this for many weeks. It feels like something inside of me is telling me to get ready, prepare our home, pare down our belongings to make room for something new. I don't know what that something new actually is. I like to think that I am simply getting ready for our eventual move when we get around to buying a house (I hope in the next four or five months). But, I have also been experiencing more and more 'MUST HAVE A BABY' feelings (a topic for another blog), so maybe my purging need is related to that. Whatever the reason, I just had to get into some drawers and see what was lurking.

Last week I cleaned out a closet and went through our books. We now have a growing pile of stuff on our dining room table that will eventually be donated to the Diabetes Association. It's an impressive pile.

Yesterday I faced my art supplies & stationary stash, as well as a junk drawer. I had envelopes in three different places, scraps of paper waiting in vain to be collaged into a brilliant expression of my mood, and four partially filled sketch books. I found old pagers, swim googles (Hubby's), keys for unknown locks, luggage tags, string and a Gustav Klimt address book. Six drawers of stuff were sorted into five categories: keep it; give to child who will appreciate it; donate it; recycle; garbage.

I feel like I have satiated the purging need for the time being. I know it is a only matter of a week or two before I get itchy to peak into another dark drawer. The gift wrapping drawer and office supplies are the likely next victims. Then there is the storage unit and other scary things like my filing cabinet.