Purge Day 10 (The Last One!!!)

Ok... so the goal for the final 10 items is for everything to be of the clothing variety...
This is going to be difficult, but I can do it.

1. 1 pair super cute gray tweed shoes... too small :(

2. navy blue fitted t-shirt (that I have worn since junior year of high school... no biggie)

3. 1 pair pajama pants

4. v-neck fitted t-shirt

5. Obama fitted t-shirt that I never wore... I have another one that I'll keep for posterity's sake

6. Ugly Srat t-shirt with creepy children on the back

7. super worn srat t-shirt that has unfortunate associations with it

8. srat t-shirt from a formal that was before my time (and is also a size medium). Generally I found that by getting rid of t-shirts that weren't really mine or weren't size small, I was able to cut out several... I still need to get rid of many many many of them though.

9. Bread Loaf T-shirt from my summer in Santa Fe. The back of the shirt is awesome, and the front of the shirt is super lame / awkward. I only wish that I had been in the computer lab when WWIII broke out over how to do the logo on the front. I would not have been on the winning side, but my opinion would have been heard nonetheless.

10. 2 non-fitted polo shirts!

FINISHED!

Purge Day 9 - Wednesday (aka Saturday 10 days later!)

Usually when I sit down to blog / purge (I do them simultaneously) - I usually know where I'm going to start, what I'm focusing on / something that is DEFINITELY going today, but today, I have NO clue where I'll be starting - I think that although this is where the process gets more arduous, it's also where I'll feel the most alleviation from clutter / too much stuffedness.

1. 2 pairs of underwear that I do not like

2. 2 pairs of sunglasses that I do not wear / use / need (of course as soon as I say this I'll lose the pair I do use - can I then count them as an additional item purged?)

3. shirt with a hole in it :( - I was actually wearing shirt today, and noticed the hole. How convenient.

4. 1 pair of gym / painting shorts

5. 2 pairs of boxers to be mailed to a friend in a far away land

6. an ill-fitting "going out" type top

7. 2 glass milk bottles - I used one to keep change in, but I cashed that in, and now I've been using a smaller piggy bank - so the bottles can go away.

8. one long-sleeved t-shirt from a srat formal that was not mine

9. "old" school pictures from my first year teaching.

10. old pair of tennis shoes

And it took me over a week and a half to find these ten items - MUST DO LAUNDRY - MUST PURGE CLOTHES - I think the goal for the last ten items will be for it to be ALL clothes - (and to have them posted by Wednesday... we'll see)

Purge Day 8 - Tuesday

I definitely thought Monday was only day 6. It's a bit of a relief to know that I'm well into the downhill stretch (only 30 items left...).

1. bra that I do not wear (I could do something awesome like take a picture of me wearing it, but I'd probably get fired and feel like a major slore for doing that - so I'll pass).

2. bra that I do not wear

3. fuzzy slipper socks - If I had to choose between my slippers and these socks, I'd take the slippers - so I'm choosing, and the slippers are staying - bye-bye socks!

4. package of rubber bands (hair ties) not strong enough to hold my hair up to my preferred standard (ever since I had really long hair, which I no longer do, I haven't been able to go back to the smaller rubber bands - and when I run I use TWO of the jumbo ones, so I go through those rather quickly too).

5. assorted half-used cosmetics that I'm not sure why are still in my bathroom

6. THIRD box of books for classroom library!

7, 8, 9, box of reading quizzes from another teacher - One set of quizzes for Romeo & Juliet, one set of quizzes for the Odyssey, and one set of quizzes for Animal Farm. I'm definitely a hoarder when it comes to teaching materials, but I figure that by the time I'm teaching high school again (if that even ever happens), I'll be completely ready and wanting to create my own materials.

10. a very gross, very dirty (in the dusty sense) doll. I always have issues getting rid of "toys" - but this really has no sentimental meaning, and is beyond the state of being clean-up-able such that I might allow any future as-of-yet non-existent child of mine to touch it.

OK this is officially hard - I definitely need to go through all of my paperwork and purge files, but even if I do bank account, IRA, and student loan purges, that's still just three items... then there's also the matter of the VHS tapes - maybe I need to just resolve that WHEN I buy a new TV (hopefully soon), I will get rid of the entire box? (If I had the cash flow to purchase the TV now, I'd make the old TV & box of VHS tapes items 99&100 as a present to myself!)

Purge Day 6 - Sunday

1. old car kit for an iPod

2. Computer security lock (never used - no clue how to use it)

3. rain jacket (I'd get rid of a second one if the one I took to England with me were a size smaller - can I use this to justify purchasing another rain coat and then getting rid of TWO???) - probably not.

4. Two pairs of glasses frames / lenses (these go to the Lions Club right?)

5. travel cosmetic bag

6. old contact lenses

7. backpack

8. sewing basket

9. belts x2

10. vera bradley wallets (two of them!)

forty items to go... it's starting to get difficult - I think I'll be better if I can do all of my laundry and look over things with a rather discerning eye...

Purge Day 7 - Monday

Confession: I'm posting Monday's list on Tuesday, but I'm posting Tuesday's as well, so I'm not technically behind...

1. jeans (I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this pair of jeans, but I'm never going to shrink the two inches I'd need to shrink to make them an appropriate length - damn shrinkage)

2. corduroy jacket

3. bunny rabbit piggy bank - given to my mom who was eying a bank at the store today! This is like double purging because we didn't have to buy something new.

4. gloves

5. gloves

6. gloves

7. black scarf - do I really need three of them??? (no)

8. grade books from the 08-09 school year (pretty sure I don't need these again since I'm at a different school, and if not, oh well).

9. Confusing word posters made by my class when I was student teaching... except I kept three that I need to laminate and put in my classroom now.

10. fitted t-shirt; it's just old - it will likely be replaced, but for now I'm down one item, which is nice!

I won't lie - today was difficult, perhaps more so because I know that this is actually yesterday's post, and I still have to find 10 more things to get rid of!

Purge Day 5 - Saturday

1. Computer Monitor

2. ANCIENT firewire cord for a very early iPod (and the iPod)!

3. Sweater

4. Sweater

5. Sweater

6. glass block separators from a craft / construction project - I wonder if Habitat takes stuff like this?

7. Beginning Teacher books - donated to one of my mom's employees who is going back to school to be a teacher (yay)!

8. hooded sweatshirt

9. long sleeved US Ski Team t-shirt (one of my first ever online purchases!)

10. dell computer software

HALF WAY! (I'll also admit that the pile of stuff in the hallway looks rather impressive)

Purge Day 4 - Friday

I'm house sitting this weekend, so I'm hoping to be successful on Friday and Saturday. It's actually Thursday night when I'm starting this, so hopefully it won't be too difficult. (I might need to catch up on Sunday, but I'm feeling optimistic!)

1. James Taylor t-shirt (too big)

2. assorted magazines and newspapers to recycle! (prompting the creation of a "recyclables" box for this project - does the box count as one object? or can I count all recyclable items from one day as a single object for that day??? I might give myself some leeway here)

3. discman (why do I still have this?)

4. TWO old cell phones! (and the requisite chargers, etc.) I guess I put these in one of those bags to mail off and be recycled?

5. old laptop - again, the questions about proper disposal have kept this around for WAY too long

6. Box of books to take to school (for classroom library) - I consider this purging because they're all books which could "walk off" and I'd survive.

7. A second box of books for school - definitely counts as a second item!

8. "Teacher Planning" type books to take to school - WILL NOT return to my "home" until I am in possession of my own office type space - definitely not anytime soon.

9. the box my digital camera came in... yes, this counts. yes I am this bad. (and yes the box did go into the previously created "recyclables" box)

10. two packages of "Christmas" peeps - I was letting them "age" (and I had one yesterday - they are definitely aged to perfection) but I A) don't need to eat them and B) am tired of looking at them - GONE!

WOW - two sets of purging in 24ish hours! well done, emily!

I was also thinking that perhaps it was fitting that today Oprah's show featured hoarders... I'm certainly not one, (and I don't watch the show regularly) but it definitely made me feel a little less terrible about the crap I keep - and realize that if I don't get rid of stuff like the aforementioned camera box it could get really ugly!