Sometimes I do right afterwards. However, it doesn't last long. The more I do it, the easier it gets. And after reading Flylady's message today about getting rid of clutter, I am so glad I'm on that path!

Good for you!

Sheryl

Maybe three years ago (4 or 5) I did my usual after-Christmas purge. I put a lot of decorations in a plastic bag. Then to hide the mess because we were having guests over, I put the bag outdoors. DH, trying to be nice, saw the bag and figured it was garbage,stuck it in the garbage can. I didn't realize for a couple of days that it was gone,but I was very upset. The bag contained my Precious Moments Nativity Set. I had spent about $200 collecting it in pieces over the years. I still brood about that set.

Not at all...it makes me feel great!
I figure, if I lose weight, I will reward myself with something new, anyway.

I might have extended the "haven't-touched-it" period beyond a couple of months. But part of purging is guessing on whether you will need that item again, and sometimes you just flat guess wrong. There have been a few things I've gotten rid of that I decided later I wanted back enough to buy it again. But not many items compared to the dozens (hundreds?) of which I've divested myself.

Jannie, so sorry about your decorations-that would bother me tremendously too! But that wasn't actually *you* doing the purging so I'd take you off the hook for that one.

Jig, I agree with Sheryl and the other folks though-don't feel too bad. Especially if you have children, *stuff* will almost certainly breed in dark corners and multiply again all too quickly. Really, it is amazing how things just keep accumulating.

I've never regretted purging; the closest I've come was a couple of times when I discarded something only to discover that my husband "needed" it. Example-a large red plastic Pizza Hut cup. Only after I tossed it did he declare it was his cup for use at family parties; seems he could always tell which one he was using in the sea of half-full disposables we tend to produce. Another time I got rid of one of those holiday Oreo tin cookie boxes only to be told it was ALWAYS the one he uses to bribe his students on the last day of class when they fill out faculty evaluations (no kidding; he has been teaching for 20+ years and the kids now know and anticipate his cookie treat :).

However...the cup went out with about 20 assorted random plastic fast food giveaway cups and the cookie tin was tossed with 5 or 6 other miscellaneous tin containers, so for those as with most other discards the good far outweighed the bad. Besides my husband is a systems analyst of German background-can you say rigid in his habits? He really isn't logical because there are other cups in the house and other boxes for the cookies. But then, that's not an organizing problem is it?! It's a nutty husband problem :).

Anyway, don't feel bad and enjoy the clutter-free zone. While it lasts...

Ann

I never feel guilty after purging MY stuff. And I try not to purge my kids' stuff too soon.

If I get rid of their stuff w/o discussing, it's bcs I know they don't REALLY want it.

And I try to never *store* anything in a plastic trash bag--not even the stuffed animals, if I can avoid it--unless I can scrounge a clear one. I'm terrified of someone tossing stuff. I know people who use plastic bags to move their clothes, but I won't.

I don't have qualms about stuff that can be replaced with *something* (usually something better than what went out.

Where I have qualms is BEFORE I toss something. I can waffle like nobody's business. But once I've tossed it, I'm free and clear!

Oh I read the subject as "ever feel guilty after a SPLURGE" and was thinking about getting those wickedly good slippers at LL Bean for 50 dollars (but they are SO good!)...and then realized it was about PURGE. Haha! No I don't think I've ever felt guilty after a purge. (Although I have felt guilty about hoarding stuff sometimes, but that is a different story)

And I use brown paper grocery bags to "store" anything rather than plastic bags, especially when I am grouping things in one floor (2nd) to carry them all together to another (basement)

The only things that I have ever felt guilty about and wanted back were my journals from 8th grade through senior year in high school. After I graduated high school, I just bagged them up with a bunch of other trash and tossed them. Boy do I wish I could re-read those memories now!!! Pretty much every other thing I've ever tossed, I've never thought about again. Don't worry too much about your DD's toys, she will probably never miss them, and I bet she got a lot of new ones for Christmas/Hannakah anyway. As far as where to put your dog, I put my dogs in one room when I leave the house. The bathroom can be great place to put them as long as they can't get into anything. Don't feel bad, it was just "stuff".

When I was 17 and getting ready to go away to college, I did a real mean clean-up of my bedroom. The things I threw away included notes from old boyfriends and my stamp collection. Now, 35 years later, I wish I still had my stamps. Now when I toss stuff, I ask myself "What's the worst that could happen" and "Can this be replaced if I need it later?" (Thos e love letters would still have been discarded.)

NO!!!!

Clearing out makes me feel lighter and happier -- and the benefits from actually organzing so that a system (like handling the daily mail) or a space (like a closet or drawer) works better for us FAR outweighs any negatives!!!!!

I always tell myself that if I had REALLY REALLY cared about any "missing-in-action" item ------ well ----- I would have made a viable space for it. I would have truly cherished it. And I don't have ESP to see into the future!!!

Yep -- I AM getting so much tougher about criteria for "stuff" that seems to HAVE to stay!!! LOL!!!

DH runs our small business selling stuff on EBay out of our garage and home office so those are always packed with items to be photographed, measured, listed, sold and packaged. And so household "stuff" needs to be kept in check so our little house doesn't look like a junk shop! AND so that the business will work -- and even thrive!

No guilt here!!

You're more on top of things than me... I'm still finding and purging things that haven't been used in YEARS, not weeks!!

You did OK--except maybe the dog crate--but at least you kept the dog, right? LOL

Enjoy your empty spaces, and don't let anything come through the door that you don't truly love.

True Confession: I have considered taking all the artwork off the walls because someone told me a room without pictures looks big and empty. They said that like it was a BAD thing, but that's sort of the look I'm going for!

wow, i guess i'm in the minority with the guilt thing. although, i do have to admit, i'm feeling better about all the new space i've accumulated in my home! as for my daughter and her toys, she hasn't said one word about the things that are gone!! the dog has been more of an issue, she doesn't miss her crate either, but i kind of do. i've resorted to "storing" the dog in the laundry room when i leave the house. she's a chewer and an all-around naughty dog, so she does have to be penned up somehow when nobody's around to monitor her behavior. the cat litter box is in the laundry room to, so there's a bit of a logistical problem in keeping the dog in there with the door shut when nobody's home. i solved this problem by sneaking up on both of them before i leave the house and scooping each one up under an arm and tossing them into laundry room and hurriedly shutting door (or one or the other will escape). i'm considering a baby gate for the laundry room doorway, that way the dog can be penned and the kitty can come and go as he pleases.
another thing i've realized, the more stuff i've given away, the more i realize how much more i still have to get rid of! my decorating style has changed a lot over the years, but for some reason, i have kept most of the shadow boxes, and country clutter that i used to love so much. i started taking stuff down from the walls that really don't make me happy anymore, and those things are the next to go. hubby and i are already discussing new artwork, and some nice quality furniture now that i have space to put the stuff. i guess this is my midlife crisis, reinventing my living space....i told my husband, at least i'm not running out having an affair, i'm only redecorating! i also warned him and the kids not to sit in one place too long, or they might end up on the freecycle list! lol

Julie -- Just a thought about artwork -- what about switching out your artworks to a family gallery wall -- with simple black-and-white photos (matted alike in creamy white and framed in simple black frames) You could add a selection of family photos --- or vacations photos etc ....

http://ww1.potterybarn.com/cat/themeindex.cfm?cid=thmhtd&cmsrc=promo_1228_display&src=shpcaccfrafrm%7Crshop&src=shpcaccfrafrm%7Crshop

This is an excellent article from Pottery Barn on how to create a display wall ....

OR take down the artwork -- and hang one LARGER artwork?? Or maybe in different colors?

Just a passing thought or two ........ :)

Teacats,

We're not talking photos, we're talking Art. With a capital A. I had multiple long, long, long lectures that came with the Art.

Our walls remained mostly bare for many years (my choice) until my parents decided I needed REAL Art for the walls. So... there came part of my inheritance early...delivered by my parents personally, with the stipulation that I should not sell them or otherwise alter them because they are Art. And the Art is five framed Art pictures in a small house. They're OK as Art goes... they're just big.

Given a choice (I wasn't) I would have kept one and sent the other four back.

Ah!!!!! yes -- the "passing on" of stuff -- my MIL does that -- because she will not get rid of anything so she "passes it on" to the next person in the family. And checks to see if we still have it (some things have long gone!)

After the lectures on The Value of Art, I'm going to be keeping these for a while...

but I must admit that most of my clutter came from other people's passing it on!

I don't think so. 99.9% of the time I felt invigorated. Only a few times I needed it right after I got rid of it (after not using it for years!)

Hi,
This is my first time posting here - slid over from the quilt forum for a minute or too.
Julie- could you rotate your Art? We too have been given some Art from DH's family and we switch it out each season. Of course, that means you need a safe closet to store them in but it works for us.
And, yes, sometimes I do feel guilty after a purge. Of course, it also takes me a long time to work up to a purge to begin with...I get bogged down with the "some day we might need this"...
Kelly in snowcovered NH

Kelly,

The Art is bigger than our closets, which are small. Besides, I know me well enough that it's too much of an effort on my part to switch back and forth (I know, it's a small effort really... but I did prefer bare walls).

NEW NOTE ON GUILT: I still don't feel guilty about purging, but I do tend to feel some self-satisfaction... DH has a thing about hanging on to jackets that nobody in the house would wear even if they did fit someone (they don't and never will). I can never keep track of which ones he remembers he has and which ones he doesn't remember. I scammed him tonight in believing one might have been mine (I said, "Is this mine? I don't remember wearing it but it has paint on the front of it.) He fortunately didn't recognize it (it's one of many he's never worn because they didn't fit him) and suggested I throw it out. WOO HOO! LOL

I read this and tried to think of something I really missed. Besides the one thing - as a college student who was not capable of taking care of something special yet, I destroyed (by accident during a move) a map from my grandfather. I am still sad that that is gone. But by far, I felt much more guilty that I hung on to some of that stuff so long than for getting rid of any of it! Granted, when I first started purging, I second guessed myself a lot. I don't anymore. I got rid of a huge box of baskets last week. Before this, I would not even think of getting rid of them - I could use them for gifts, decoration, etc. But except for a few that I kept, I realized I didn't even like most of them. This is progress for me, and I can't feel guilty when I see the improvement in the house!

Julie - don't take this the wrong way, but it seems like your house is full of MIL's castoffs, not stuff you actually like! I have some Artwork stored that I really don't like, either. DG (my grandmother) painted. I have a couple of her paintings, but I really don't like them. One I remember her having up as you came in her house. I like the colors and all, and I had it up in here for a long time. Then one day I LOOKED at it, and realized it was all smokestacks (granted, reflecting in water), but I didn't want that up on my wall any more. The other was just abstract, but I don't like it (or the really elaborate & big frame). There were a few pieces I would have liked of hers. Oh, well. As with my grandfather's map, I was too young at the time to take care of those things, so I missed out on getting any of them. I do have some things of hers that I have been able to take out of storage and display since doing all of this purging, though. And THAT is the great reward of all of this.

RJVT,

Yes! My house is full of other people's things. DH won't part with anything that came from his dead parents house because when they died it became sacred--doesn't matter how junky it is or if he's never seen it before in his life. Most of what came from my parents (except The Art, a baby chest, and small momentos) is now gone. Everything is gone from my grandparents and his grandparents and dead aunts & uncles except those things I truly like (but have to store because we have a small house).

P.S. My trunk is full again and there is a computer monitor in the front seat of my car... I've got a meeting at church tonight and I'm stopping at the Salvation Army on my way!!!!

we didn't purge on purpose. our house burnt to the ground in'78. there are two things(?) that I still miss, the complete collection of Zane Grey novels and a scrap of old newspaper. When my DH's uncle remodeled his house he found the walls were insulated with newspaper. there was an article about my great grantfather donating the land to build a school. that is the thing I really miss.