Purge, Donate and Recycle

I am a big believer in getting rid of the old to make room for the new.  Over the next year I cleaned out a lot of the old.

It started with a week after Jeff's passing when Zack had wanted some of his t-shirts.  I reached into his closet to pull one off the shelf and a huge pile of shirts, sweatshirts, sweats and sweaters came falling down on top of me.  

I pulled them all out and started creating piles on the floor.  Then, I went to his drawers which were stuffed with so many t-shirts they were jammed to the rim.  Soon I was staring at piles and piles of clothes ~ again items I suggested he donate to a homeless shelter over the years.

I then made my way into the basement and started going through the boxes.  And to my dismay there were numerous boxes filled with football gloves, athletic socks, football towels, every ticket to every event he went to, security credentials to every event he worked, newspapers, magazines, media guides, and on and on. 

No wonder he felt overwhelmed ~ I was overwhelmed.

My anger boiled as I discarded meaningless stuff into our garbage cans.

I knew what was important, sentimental and worth passing on to Zack ~ the rest was purged!

Walking out to the garage to make on going trips to the garbage, another layer of anger had me screaming into the air, "You told me again and again you would clean out this garage and Now here I am having to clean up this mess!"

There was stuff cluttering that garage that should have been thrown away a long time ago, but he had always said to "leave it alone, he would get to it."

I went to Home Depot and bought one of those Bagster's and I called our friend Mike to see if he could help me haul away and clean out my garage.

When we were done I could actually park my car in there if I wanted! And the relief was amazing.......after clearing out the clutter and the junk.

I purged a lot of unnecessary items from my house ~ but I am a big believer in donating and recycling.

If there is something that I have but I don't need, or want, and someone else can use it, I would rather give it away.

I had Big Brother/Big Sisters pick up 5 big loads of boxes and bags over the next year.  Tons of Zack's toys got donated. I dropped off old cell phones at a Verizon donation box, I donated old eye glasses at Lenscrafters for the needy, I had a friend drop off 6 Dooney Bourke purses to a Dress for Success location, and furniture that I no longer wanted I offered to friends.

There were probably many things I could have sold and brought in some money.  But I feel that what you put into the world comes back to you.

I have had a lot of people help me over the years, and if I can help through donating, I will.

Giving to others is more meaningful than the small amount of money that may be gained.