Day 13: On the chopping block today: Charlotte’s downstairs toy and book stash. I knew this would be a bit of a challenge since I had already purged quite a few of her toys before Christmas, knowing that she would get some pretty fabulous things from her doting family members. Just because I had already sifted through this area a month ago, though, doesn’t make it exempt. There is always something that can {and should} be let go.  I have an awesome storage system from Ikea that helps keep the downstairs toys organized and semi hidden from view. But the most important feature of the storage unit is that the spaces are limited. Hooray! Self imposed limits… I’m a genius.
Today’s totals: 15 children’s books, 1 puzzle, 6 toys = 22.
Day 14: Today was a really long, exhausting day for me at work. If you don’t know, I am a pediatric speech therapist and I work in an outpatient office of a children’s hospital here in Hampton Roads. Now, you may be thinking “How can someone who teaches kids how to say their ‘s’ sound be exhausted after a day”? That’s only the tip of the iceberg as far as the scope of practice goes for speech pathologists. My job encompasses so many more aspects of communication than saying sounds. In essence, speech therapist’s teach children {and adults} to communicate. We help give them a voice, a picture, a gesture so they can be heard. Autism, Down Syndrome, Fragile X, cleft palate, stuttering, hearing loss, brain injuries, stroke, and on … if it impacts communication they come see us.   My job has a lot of emotional ups and downs; maybe not as many as some other careers out there, but still plenty for me to stress over. I get to see miracles happen, hear first words spoken, watch learning take place; and yet in that same day I have to watch a parent struggle with coming to terms with their child’s disability and all that that means for their family and that the ‘future’ they had hoped for their kiddo starts to look a little different. And sometimes I am just mentally and physically exhausted after 8 hours of trying to empathize with and support parents while simultaneously planning and implementing goals that will  hopefully be successful in improving their child’s quality of life.  So today I came home and did nothing. and that’s ok.
Today’s totals: No physical possessions purged today, but I gave away 8 hours of love and therapy to children who needed me.
Day 15: I ventured into the kitchen this morning to unload the dishwasher and never really left. After I put the dishes away I started digging through each and every cabinet and drawer. There was a lot to dig through. The cooking spatula/spoon container, hidden cabinets above the fridge, the tupperware bin {it’s an abyss in there}, window benches with built in storage underneath, the china cabinet, the shelves above the washer and dryer… so many places to store things.
Today’s totals: 3 more tablecloths, 3 baking pans, 2 serving bowls, 3 spatulas, measuring cups, cookie cutters, 2 vases, 2 sippy cups, 1 to-go coffee mug, 6 ‘side dish’ bowls {you know, the little ones you would put fruit salad in…not sure the technical term for those} = 24ish
Day 16: I am half way through the first month of my own 7 experiment. I am beginning to think that I will not be able to make it through all of the rooms and piles in my house before the month is over, but this is my experiment so I can make it last longer if I want. I am re-visiting Jen’s book, specifically her chapter on possessions, for encouragement and focus. This is not simply a ‘spring cleaning’ task that is done annually. I am doing more than purging things I no longer like. I am purging things that, though I love them, I don’t need them. And it hurts. But I am making space for something much more important. This is a great summary of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it:

“If a fast doesn’t include any sacrifices, then it’s not a fast. The discomfort is where the magic happens. Life zips along, unchecked and automatic. We default to our lifestyle, enjoying our privileges tra la la, but a fast interrupts that rote trajectory. Jesus gets a fresh platform in the empty space where indulgence resided. It’s like jeans you wear every day without thinking, but take them off and walk outside, and you’ll become terribly aware of their absence. I bet you won’t be able to forget you are pantsless, so conspicuous will this omission feel. While that metaphor is in shaky theological territory, that is basically the result of a fast. It makes us hyper-aware, super-sensitive to the Spirit.” p. 161, 7

This may sound like a ‘duh’ moment, but I am feeling 50% lighter than I did on January 1. The crushing weight of my things is beginning to subside. Though the things are still in the garage, I haven’t even given a second thought to any of them, which is definitely different from any purge I have ever done before; places shirt in donate pile, walks past shirt 2 days later and decides to wear it that day, then keeps it.  I think I can attribute the success and magnitude of this purge to my mindset: what is mine is not mine, but God’s. It is easy to share and give away things are not yours to begin with.
Today’s purges were from random places around the house; there was no rhyme or reason, I just made impulse decisions as I went about my daily chores.
Today’s totals: 1 lamp, 1 laptop case, 4 more tote bags {I kid you not} = 6. So close, so I dug through another cabinet and decided I could do without 2 vases, bringing the total to = 8.
Day 17:  We are entering the baby purging zone. I say we because you are, of course, supervising me on this journey and keeping me honest with my goals to “give ’til it hurts”. I have been putting off dealing with Charlotte’s clothing because 1) there are a lot of bins to go through… not a 30 minute ordeal, and 2) I.love.her.clothes.   I’m not kidding, I love them. Not only are they adorable, but each one has a memory attached to it; when she wore it, how old she was, how much sass she exuded while wearing it. It will be difficult to let them go, but there’s no way it can be avoided any longer and in the end…. it’s just clothing.

So out of the garage and attic I pulled 7 rubbermaid bins full of girl clothing.

You don’t have to keep it to yourself, we can say it together: RIDICULOUS! About half of Charlotte’s clothes were hand-me-downs from a generous friend, so those will be going back to her which makes it much easier since they were never mine to begin with. That is actually the frame of mind we need to use in regards to all our possessions; like I said before, nothing that is ours is ours, everything that we have is God’s.
Today’s totals: 2 large bags of baby girl clothing, size 0-9 months = well over 7 items {probably closer to 70 than 7}, and I haven’t even gotten to 9+ month things, oy.
Day 18: Today we are sick. All 3 of us. I don’t know if I can muster the energy to drag boxes in from the garage to continue sorting through Charlotte’s clothing. Blah.
Ok, I typed all that before I had coffee; we are still feeling like ick today but I managed to dig through Charlotte’s closet, dresser, and upstairs book stash thanks to a caffeine supply from my Keurig  {which I am considering getting rid of…………………..}. Charlotte kept herself occupied by picking things out of the donate pile and putting them in the keep pile and vise versa. very helpful.
Today’s totals: too many to really count but I’ll try. 2 baby slings, 2 infant snow suits, 3 decor items from when I was a baby that I had been saving… but when I truly thought about them I came to the conclusion that I would never hang them on the wall in her room {they definitely don’t go with her color scheme}, I don’t actually remember them, and they had been broken and repaired numerous times {unsafe!}… they had to go, 4 books, 20 cloth diaper inserts + 2 diapers {we’ll count those as 1}, 1 bag of clothing and shoes {we’ll count that as 1} = 13.
Are you purging too? Do it. and don’t let something stay in your house, in your life, simply because you have a space for it.
Remember: Few. Meaningful. Purposeful.

If you are just tuning in I am taking part in my own little experiment in self-reduction…. because there’s too much of me and not enough of God in this world. I was inspired by Jen Hatmaker’s book 7 {which you can find here} and you can read about the beginning of my journey here and the beginning of month 1:possessions here.
In other not important at all news, you may have noticed my blog has received a little face-lift. I’ve always wanted it to look better and be more ‘bloggy’, but I’ve never been willing to put in the time to make that happen. A change of colors and font are all that I had time for at the moment, and at the end of my life I’m pretty confident I will not utter “I wish I had spent more time making my blog fabulous” {unless, of course, I know I am dying and decide to say those words in jest, referring back to this very moment on my blog… only time will tell}.
Day 8: Today I made soup. The chicken noodle variety. From scratch. The kitchen was a complete disaster afterwards. My husband enjoyed it though, so it was worth it. I am quite possibly the slowest cook in the kitchen, ever. What most people could accomplish in the kitchen in 30 minutes would take me about 2 hours. No lie. So if I ever say “I cooked”, just know that it was an all day affair and nothing to be taken lightly. Other than cook, destroy the kitchen, then clean the kitchen, and wrangle a toddler, I dug through a few more drawers and containers in my bedroom today. I found 5 nail clippers and 4 tweezers in my drawer. And I got the strangest deja vu… like I’d seen hoarding of grooming tools of this magnitude before. Possibly in my own life. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you a post from my blog circa Spring 2010 when I confessed to the blogging world that I had enough tweezers and clippers stashed away to make Chewbacca’s groomer jealous. In 2010 I vowed to never let a collection like that form again under my watch. 4 years later…Fail.
Today’s totals: 4 nail clippers and 3 tweezers, 2 ancient cookie baking sheets {casualties of me digging around in the kitchen while cooking} = 9.
Day 9:  Today I didn’t purge anything. Well, not from my home anyway. I purged a few things from my office at work, mostly papers and therapy materials I’d been hoarding since grad school that I never really use. I truly did not have a moment to dig through any area of my home today because as soon as I left work I raced to picked up Charlotte from my sister’s, put gas in the car while she screamed “mamamamamama bubu bubu bubu” {Mama, unbuckle me!}, got home and changed my clothing {I try to do that first thing when I get home because I don’t even want to think about the amount of germs and saliva that are on my scrubs each day}, got dinner started for Charlotte, prepared her diaper/jammies/bath stuff, then Chris and I headed out to a foster parent training course while my mom came over to put Charlotte to bed. Whew! We got home around 10 and if anyone knows me they know I am a 9:30/10pm bed-timer for sure so it was lights out as soon as we got home. I’m not even sorry. That’s life, and I knew that it would be difficult to find time to purge things on the days that I work. I have been and will continue to try and get rid of more than 7 things each day anyway to make up for some of the days I can’t purge.
Today’s totals: 1 big fat goose-egg.
Day 10: So this little project is becoming very difficult to keep up with. I really want to just spend a few days on a binge purge, but my calendar has a mind of its own and keeps over-scheduling my days and evenings. I don’t know that my boss would support me taking a few weeks off of work to ‘clean my house’, so I will continue purging in small increments. It’s probably less painful that way anyway. On day 7 I tackled the linen closet, who, prior to this project, sat with its door bulging at the hinges from all the fitted sheets tangled and stuffed behind it. Seriously, how do you fold those things?! I decided to revisit this closet, determined to get rid of more than just 2 pillowcases and a set of twin sheets. And I was successful.
Today’s totals: 1 set queen sheets, 2 king pillowcases {I hate that extra fabric dangling off the edge since we don’t have king pillows, we only have normal people pillows}, 3 beach towels {a huge sacrifice, just sayin’}, 2 comforters = 8.

Day 11: Today is Charlotte’s 17 month birthday. We spent the day enjoying each other’s company and some bubbles. 

I spent her nap times cleaning out the built-in bookshelves downstairs. This picture is halfway through the process; I had already emptied out a few of the shelves before deciding I should document. This cabinet unit provides me with an abundance of hidden storage space, adding fuel to the fire of my hoarding tendencies. I discovered today that we have nine bibles in our home. nine. Do you know how many people we have in our home who can read? Two. Just a tad bit overkill, although everyone knows the more bibles you have in your house the more angel wings you get when you go to heaven. Don’t quote me on that, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fact. Ok, don’t get your panties in a twist, it was a joke. 

I have really been avoiding going through our books. I love books. And I like the idea of keeping hard copies ‘alive’ in this age of electronic books. But having nine bibles definitely falls under the category of excess, particularly when there are thousands of people groups across the globe without even one bible translated into their language.  I am only allowing us to keep 3 shelves worth of books so I saved a few of my childhood chapter books to give to Charlotte when she’s older but really hacked away ruthlessly at the rest of our stash. If we don’t ever read it, then we don’t need it. Also, no wise-cracks about our television. It is what it is, and what it is is fabulous with its side-by-side DVD/VHS playing skills.
Today’s totals: 4 cookbooks {let’s be honest… I don’t really cook anyway}, 10+ fiction and nonfiction titles, 5 candles/candleholders, 8 pieces of tchotchke that I didn’t even care enough about to dust but somehow had a hard time getting rid of = 27.
Day 12: Happy Sunday! I don’t want to be a downer, but I’ve gotta be honest: month 1 is starting to get embarrassing. If I hadn’t promised to publicly document this purging process I would certainly prefer to keep my hoardiness to myself. But being open with my struggles against possessions will, hopefully, strike a cord with someone out there who is feeling consumed by their never-ending desire for things and may just need some encouragement to get things started. Today I sorted through my tablecloths and serving platters. I have a lot of tablecloths and really just 1 table to put them on; the math doesn’t add up. I felt the need to keep a few for when we have guests over so I can cover the burn marks on the table from a misunderstanding my iron and I had {that’s a story for another day}.
Today’s totals: 6 tablecloths, 1 cake platter and cover, 3 serving platters, 3 serving bowls, 2 little mitten cheese spreaders {seriously adorable… and yet, excessive}, 15 place mats = 30. Today definitely makes up for day 9, not just in numbers {30 things is pretty hard core} but in the amount of pain it caused me to physically put several of these items in the donate box. And yet, as difficult as it was to say goodbye to my chip and dip serving bowl, the sheer fact that I am even experiencing  feelings over a dish makes it that much clearer to me that I am still not getting it. God, please break my heart for people of this world and not for the things of this world.
If you’re joining me in this adventure, keep this in mind as you make decisions about your possessions this week:
Few. Purposeful. Meaningful.