"When items go a long time unused, unloved and uncared for, they become stuck, stagnant energy that actually physically drains you of your energy." *

How is that I live in what is essentially a six-bedroom house, and have not one empty room in which to pile crap so I can move the boys into their new room and worry about the mess in the other room later?

And how did we accumulate so much crap? Hmmmm? I got rid of so much stuff when we moved four years ago – I streamlined clothes and toys and all sorts of paraphernalia. And here I am, today, with more stuff than before.

I know some of it is that we seem to be the dumping ground for H’s family’s stuff that they don’t want anymore. Much as I hate the china cabinet, it does a fine job holding my china and table linens. I appreciate the hand-me-down clothes; the hand-me-down toys, really, not so much. And I actively say no if it involves anything motorized...and still..

Some of it is that I am a child of a child of the Depression so find it extremely difficult to get rid of anything that might even remotely come in handy someday. Which is why we have three Winnie the Pooh comforters, two Bob the Builder comforters, and several extra random bed comforters, including one down one, plus myriad extra sheet sets and blankets, folded up in a cabinet in what serves as our guest room. And three boxes of glassware and mugs in the basement. Next to about four different car seats, and piles of porch furniture cushions.

Not to mention the cut-glass punch bowl with sixteen matching cups that was my mother’s, that I cannot bear to let go, even though I have never used it, not even once; the canning kettle I have used exactly once; the ice cream maker (which I actually use occasionally but takes up a lot of space); the old coffee pot that still works; the blender that SUCKS but matches my mixer and food processor; the hanging glass rack that might be cute if we ever get around to punching that hole in the dining room/kitchen wall; the three glow-in-the-dark skeletons Primo and I trashpicked for Halloween decorations; and a boxful of a variety of leftover paper goods (three Thomas the Tank Engine plates, a pack of Bob the Builder napkins, etc.).

I cleared out what will be the baby’s room closet yesterday (the catchall for our winter coats, my maternity clothes, and H’s “extra” guitars (don’t ask)). I now have two more bags to go to Vietnam Vets – since H’s old suit has not been removed from that closet since I unpacked it into there four years ago (thank God, since it’s really ugly – he is a handsome man but his mother used to buy clothes for him, God help us all); ditto to several winter coats, a pile of size-small maternity clothes, and the four size-six skirts that I had been holding onto. I simply threw away the three bent curtain rods, the lid of a wicker basket that has long since been thrown out, and a pile of papers.

(In the plus column, I found that pair of pumps that I needed to wear with the dress I wore to the bat mitzvah in June. I kept them. They were the only thing I had missed.)

Into that closet will go the clothes – sorted by size and labeled in office-paper boxes I have been bringing home from work in droves; once the fourth baby outgrows the clothes, right to Goodwill, or the Parental Stress Center, or somewhere NOT my house. Same with the extra pack-n-play (how did we wind up with two?), the dozens and dozens of baby blankets, the two mobiles, and the baby bathtub you use for all of two or three months. I also plan to donate the boys’ sneakers they’ve outgrown, the gazillion baby hats they never wore, and all those sleepers that button up the back. The old computer monitor can go. The boxes of photo frames, stacks of old Martha Stewart magazines, and crates of LPs can be Freecycled.

Notice I mention not one word about my hundreds of books, however?

I am a hypocrite of the highest order.

But I feel better already.


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* Ariane Benefit