Day 15: To Throw Out or Not

To Throw Out or Not

Last night, my mom and sister were cleaning out the garage, which used to be my studio while I was going to school, before I started the gallery. They're converting it into a closet now, and I am not surprised. They've been working on this project for a while now, maybe two weeks, a little bit at a time. The right side of the garage is a stack of things, my things, (a drafting table, portfolio, books, etc.) which are going to sell at the garage sale my sister is planning on having. (Which is never going to take place) The left side of the garage is the laundry area and the rest of the garage is a disaster, there's stuff all over the floor.

Now, this was the problem, my mom doesn't throw things away, and my sister wants to get rid of stuff we still use. So, there was a bit of noise, screaming, and misunderstanding going on in my house last night. I, normally, don't like to participate in these revolutions, except when they're throwing out my stuff. So, I walked into the garage after dinner, placed my cup of wine on the table in the middle of the room, and just looked at them. My mom looked at me and said, "Don't worry, don't lift a finger, we got it!" Obviously, she was being sarcastic. I just smiled and stepped over all the stuff on the floor trying to find the computer desk. As I sat down, my sister started asking me if I need this or that. With the gallery being small, I still have art supplies at home, so, most of it still my stuff. My sister picked up my black portfolio that I bought about six years ago when I first started art school. She said, "I'm going to sell this, you never use it." I just nodded and turned to the computer screen. Right then, my mom grabbed the portfolio from her and said, "No, don't give it away, we can put all these papers in it and store it here. You know how much money she paid for this? Why does she want to give everything away? No, we're keeping this!" I turned to her and said, "Mom, I don't want it, just give it away. I bought it six years ago. I don't want it!" As I was telling her I didn't want it, she set the portfolio down, and started to put all my papers in it trying to organize them in there. I just got up, went over to her, stood there and looked down at her saying, "I don't want it!" She looked up at me and kept at what she was doing. I just stood there, surprised that she was still trying to pack it up. So, as I stood there looking at her, until she came to her cracking point, and just started to laugh at what she was doing. Fortunately, the portfolio was set aside to be sold at the garage sale that's never going to take place. The conversion is still not complete, but closer to the finale. It'll take a couple more screaming sessions until final completion.

Tip of the Day: Get rid of the stuff you don't use and haven't used for years. Don't hold onto junk. You need the extra space, but you won't realize it until the stuff occupying the space is gone. Get rid of it! Give it away! Someone else can use it! Try it, it feels refreshing!

"I have an early memory of being sad and reluctant to throw away my old pair of sandals. I just really felt it was an injustice to them; they had character and had been loyal. I was three. Ever since then, I have found that I grow very attached to objects, often right away, sometimes after some time. I've been through extremely disordered stages in life and now I'm over it. For me I realised that objects require cleaning and I'm just not up for that right now. That really, really helped me to realise that. Basically I've pared down everything I own. But, when I do throw things out, it's nearly always in a 'frenzy' - it takes for me to get sick of not throwing things out before I do it and then I can work through and throw "nearly everything" out. I try to get rid of everything because I know I'll always keep some stuff no matter what I tell myself.

Best of luck to all " - http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt116289.html