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The Urge to Purge

No I haven't become bulimic...but I have spent my time off from school this month going room to room through our house and cleaning and organizing.

Ah, it feels so good to get rid of stuff and neaten up all of our previously messy, overstuffed drawers, cabinets and shelves! It really is appaulling how much stuff we have that we really don't need. We truly live in a consumumption-driven world characterized by waste and excess.

It is actually cathartic to get rid of things and create a more organized environment. In the process, I have also learned a few things about myself:

1. I am a compulsive toothbrush buyer. I am embarrassed to say how may new toothbrushes we have in the house. I can't seem to pass a display of toothbrushes on sale without buying one. It's like I worry I'll wake up one day and I'll have nothing to brush with. I don't know why.

2. I can't throw away even little things I don't want or need, if I think someone somewhere in the world could use them. Case in point - the 15 unused contact lense cases I found in my bedside table. I almost convinced myself to throw them out...but then I realized that one of the local women's shelters might take them.

3. If I used to like an item of clothing, I have to keep it for years before I can be convinced to give it away. I realized that I have things that must be 15 years old in my closet...and some of them were "vintage" at the time of purchase!

4. My family and friends either don't know my taste in jewellery or don't like my taste in jewellery. I have a drawer full of large, colourful, in some cases quite valuable jewellery, that loved ones have given me. It's lovely, but I rarely change my jewellery and I favour small silver stuff only. Do my friends and family not notice that I don't wear this kind of thing or are they trying to tell me that I should be? I'm not sure, so just in case, I am keeping it all for now.

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