The Purge Pt. 1

Gaining the courage to pack up and leave is a big moment of your life. You become so wrapped up in the excitement of moving away and starting a new adventure that you forget about reality. Specifically, you forget about all of your crap. I wouldn’t say that I am necessarily a hoarder, but I have accumulated a LOT of things over the years. I obviously can’t take all of this stuff with me to Ireland so I have had to do the hardest thing there is to do: Purge. I love love love my stuff but getting rid of it is hard. So I have decided to break up my purging into 3 segments: the first this month, the next in December, and the final in April. I am allowing myself to only keep things that can fit in 5X10 storage space. So follow me and try these different tips when purging your crap. Be sure to check out my purging video up above!

Set a goal

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As I said before, I have a goal of only keeping things that can fit in a 5X10 storage unit. That space is already cut in half since I know that I am for sure keeping all of my furniture my parents got me as a graduation gift. That means I only have about half of that space for other items. Because I have so much stuff that I am attached to, it makes it a bit easier to keep in mind that I only have so much space. I also pick that space size because it is something I can afford monthly. So set a goal of how much you get to keep and STICK WITH IT.

Split it up

Don’t get rid of your stuff in one clean sweep. This is essential for two reasons: 1) if you do it too soon and get rid of a lot, you might get rid of something you needed and 2) if you do it too late, you may become overwhelmed and either keep too much or get rid of too much. This is why I split my purging into 3 parts. I have the initial one to get rid of items that are most definitely not needed, the second one during the holidays because it’s always nice to make a clean sweep before the new year, and the final one to make the last sweep of things before I go. By the time my last one comes, I will be living on the bare essentials until it’s time for me to leave.

Treat stuff like a tattoo

Aside from my furniture, I have to treat everything else like a tattoo. I have 6 tattoos so that’s why this method really works for me.  I look at it and say, “will you be in my life forever?” or “are you a reminder of a life-changing event for me?” If yes, you get to stay. If no, you got to go. This is how we typically decide on tattoos right? If it is something truly special to you and you want on you forever, you get it etched on your skin. Why not treat our stuff the same way? So I treat my things as seriously as that and it actually comes in handy.

Play happy music or TV show

This process and become incredibly depressing, at least for me. You are through years and years of your life trying to decide what you have to throw away. You may get so wrapped up reminiscing that you sit down somewhere for hours and put off going through the rest of your stuff. Trust me, this happens often! So put on some music you can jam out to or a television show (probably not hoarders!). As you may see in my video when I am going through my closet, I often look away and stare to the left. That is me watching New Girl as I go through my stuff because that show is hilarious and gives me the motivation to go through my things.

 Make a profit

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Try to make some money off of this! Another reason I planned two of my purges in October and April is because my best friends’ parents and my parents have community garage sales on back to back weekends. So I pack all of my stuff into my car, take it to my best friends’ parents garage sale and sell it. I then pack up what’s left over, drive home the following weekend and sell the remaining things. Everything that is not sold there is driven straight to Goodwill. I make it a firm decision that none of the stuff will come back to my apartment after it has left it. So try to make some profit off of your stuff and put it towards your traveling fund!

These tips should help you if you are needing to get rid of stuff as well. I hope you continue to follow me as I purge all of my belongings! Look for the next update in December!