“If you don’t need it or haven’t used it in a year, trash it, recycle it, or donate it. If you keep it, give it a home!” – Judy King
Mom was definitely NOT a packrat. She was quite the opposite. I think she secretly felt a rush when she threw things out. In her kind and loving way, she would leave big, black trash bags at my house for me to do the same thing. The problem for me was, knowing what to purge and what to keep. That was when I would call Mom and ask for her help. 9 times out of 10, she would say “trash it”.
Mom’s philosophy was simple. Don’t let stuff you don’t need crowd the things that are really important. My closets looked like a magazine after she would help me organize them. They were color coded and had plenty of room to add extra things if needed. My pantry was the same way. The problem for me was keeping it that way. Somehow, I always managed to regress back to my unorganized, cluttered way of organizing. Again, she would come in and kindly offer to help me get it back together.
Today I am more thankful about this beautiful quality in Mother than I ever have been. It comforts me to have things that belong to her. Jewelry, make-up, clothes, bags, shoes, books, letters, pictures, blankets all give me comfort. I don’t have to rummage through a bunch of “junk” to get to the stuff that was important to her. I know if she kept it, it was important.
In the top drawer of her dresser, she neatly organized her jewelry into colors and separate boxes. Beside those boxes were just a few notes, cards, and letters she kept that were important to her. After all these years, she kept a paper I wrote in high school entitled “Me”. Of course it spoke of how important my relationship with my parents was and about values they had taught me. When I found that paper, it was like she reached down from heaven and hugged me. I loved knowing my words from a long time ago were still important to her.
With all of that being said, I made some trash yesterday. Actually, I made A LOT of trash yesterday, and my pantry thanks me for it. Closets are next. Might take a while….
My trash from the pantry purge – only Mother would truly appreciate this picture
6/29/12
If I Were My Mother, I'd Tell Myself... 