UBC October 2024 - Purging

Hello and welcome back for October's Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Something good happened at our house last month...

What's so good about trash bags, you ask?

They contain clutter and stuff I finally got rid of. There were way more of them. 

I hired a "purging coach" who worked with me for several hours. She basically held up the bin bags for me and I said goodbye to things that couldn't be donated. She took lots of other things with her and will donate them to second-hand shops and other charity shops. 

I found travel guides and maps. They must be so outdated, I wonder if somebody may pick them up at all?  

Before she left, she gave me an assignment. I was told to go through all the places in the house that I wanted to clear out and stick post-its on the items: Red for throwing away, orange for donating and green for keeping. Fortunately, my husband and son also took care of parts of their “problem areas”, which made me happy.

A week later, while I was driving to my own work, she came back with a friend and they worked hard. They got rid of everything we wanted to part with and rearranged the things we wanted to keep. You can't imagine how empty the laundry room suddenly looked! 

Let's enjoy some before and after pictures:

A few days after, coincidence had it that the bi-annual flea market for toys and books was being held at our elementary school. Colin went ahead and tried to sell some of his stuff. The Donald Duck books sold really well, but nobody wanted the stuffed animals. 

I told a friend about my project, and she asked "what brought it up? Why now?" 

I don't have an answer. It's just that I've been putting it off for so long. The amount of stuff was so overwhelming that I didn't know how and where to start. I once came across a lady on Instagram whose job it is to tackle something like this professionally, and - since Martha is not available for overseas jobs -  I thought to myself “that's exactly whom I need”. 

Then I went back to my umpteen other priorities and stopped thinking about it. 

Until I came across another post from 1-2-3-Ordnung by chance. We had a telephone meeting before Sabrina came on site for the first time, so I knew roughly how something like this might go. Also she sounded nice and understanding, not like an evil drill sergeant. 

Looking back, I am so relieved that a big chunk has been cleared out. There's still al lot to do, and I might invite her back, but for now I am happy to have tackled so much. I really feel lighter, and that's a good feeling.

Would you consider inviting a professional to help you clean up?