An Ode to the Wet Dream of an OCD organizer

Listening to: The psychosis of the McDonalds play area

Mood: Meh

As I’ve always overshared, I have a serious love of organizing things. I don’t think I qualify as an OCD person, but I do love me some organizing closets/basements/attics/etc.  Understandably, I thought I would LOVE going through our house and getting rid of all of the nonsense we’ve collected in the past few years and the things we can’t take along for other reasons. Turns out the only part of this I’m enjoying all that much is using up our supply of red wine. With a duty of around 300%, we will certainly be finishing that up before 

we leave.

Aside from the things that we can’t take along for practical reasons, it’s a lot harder to sort and get rid of things than I thought. For one, it’s almost impossible to keep stuff sorted out in the first place. That toy horse the kids swore they were done with has been taken out of the sell/give away pile more times than I can remember to scream at the kids about. For most of the stuff, it’s more practical. We went through once and got rid of the stuff that was just obvious, it’s the less obvious things I’m having trouble with. A weed whacker? There’s just no way we’ll need or want one living in an apartment in India. A set of huge metallic mixing bowls that I could buy again in India? Not quite so clear. Also, my baking stuff.  I won’t have an oven, but it really worth buying all new pans when we return from India just so I don’t have t store them while we’re there? I’m waiting for my husband to go through with me and do a final sort through. He’s great at providing a definitive “Woman, there is no way you’ll need that.”

As it turns out, it’s a lot harder to actually get rid of stuff we don’t need/want than I thought. Perhaps the flaw in my logic is that I was going to try to make a little bit of money off of things rather than just walk into Goodwill with full arms and a smile. I thought this would be a piece of cake with underpricing and Craigslist. Turns out, not so much. I have neither the time nor the energy for a garage sale….so I’m not even sure what to do with my stuff. This right here offends my Midwest sensibilities. Cheap stuff, in good shape and barely used that NO ONE is interested in??? What??? I’m getting quite frustrated that no one wants to throw $15 bucks at me for a weed whacker that is barely used and cost $90 to buy.

Ah well, I suppose I should just give up on the idea that stuff is worth anything anymore if it’s not new and just put it out by the curb with a free sign. It certainly would clean up some of the clutter that has enveloped my house like a bad case of mold on an old loaf of bread. Sigh. One of the reasons I HATE moving. Our house devolves into chaos for long periods of time.

Becky