From Dragonfly: Cleaning House

I'm a pack rat. I've always been a pack rat, someone who hates throwing something away, thinking, "I just may want this someday..." I kept the cartons and containers from Passover; I have small scraps of colored paper; I have every letter and every card sent to me over the last 9 months; I have small pieces of paper with notes on them; I notes from my GRE practicing; I have small scraps of yarn; I have unfinished projects; I have books I've already read; well, you get the idea. Don't forget, I fit all this, plus my clothing, active projects, food, hygiene, cleaning supplies, etc. all in a 3' x 1 1/2' locker. Don't get me wrong, I don't belong on the show, "hoarders," there are no mouse droppings or cat carcasses hidden in my locker. I can get what I want out of my locker (as long as I don't mind something ALWAYS falling out while I search for it). My locker always closes (with a little push here, pull there). Well, maybe I could be on a "nearly hoarders" tv show...

The thing is, though, that in recent years, I have learned to sift through everything and once in a while, purge. I can't say I end up giving away/throwing away much - but those little scraps of paper with old notes go in the garbage; any photographs find their way to one of my two photo albums; letters get put into a manila envelope and their outside envelopes are tossed (once I write down any new addresses for folks); books get sifted through and most given away; my food shelf is emptied and put back in neatly so I know what I have exactly (which lasts for about 2 days before the shelf is a complete disaster again); my clothing gets rearranged by type and refolded; I use my handmade locker organizers to separate my cards from my socks/underwear; from my cleaning supplies; other handmade shelves are separated by craft project type; the shelf with all my important documents is emptied, documents are put into piles of type, and they are put into different brown document files. At least one of these tasks is done on a weekly basis.

Today, however, is my BIG purge day. I am going to empty my full locker (probably done about 5 times since I arrived besides when I've moved), and really clear things out. I need to decide what I am taking home, shipping home, or giving away. I will put hobby craft together to do a mail out next week - most specifically my blankets. So, I need to finish my blanket project in the next week... I can do that. Then, the small amount of yarn I have left will be given to someone who is in need. We all pay it forward in here, especially to those that have no/little outside support or a long time inside. Any hygiene products (except soap of course) that I do not use up will go to Taz. Food items (there won't be much) will be split among Taz, my roommates, and Mama - depending on their tastes (remaining rice to Taz, ranch dressing to Mama, and my roommates (especially Mexico and Long winded) will happily take ANYTHING! I'm not giving this all away today. I still have weeks (still can't be specific on how many, but things are looking up...) to do here, and will continue to feed myself, work on projects, read books, do crosswords, wear clothes, etc. I am just making my plan, and I'm purging what I can (so my darn seasoned salt won't fall out of my locker every time I open it... so I can grab out my yarn colors without half the lockers being on the floor...). Yep, I'm a pack rat.

I remember back in a sociology course in college. My professor was talking about how hoarders and neat freaks can not get along... I'm both in one. I love everything to look pretty, clean and for everything to be in it's proper place. It just takes me a bit to get around to doing the work. So, maybe I am a secret pack rat (was a public pack rat during my years of addiction). Maybe my home looks clean and everything looks like it belongs where it is, but don't open my drawers... don't ask me to find something specific. You will shortly learn that my cleanliness is possibly only cosmetic and my pack rat self found Ikea as to help me come  up with creative ways to hide my inadequacies.