A Cure for the Shopaholic within

If you walked into my bedroom, you would see a neatly made bed with a white and red down comforter, complete with matching throw pillows; a glass-paned case with color-coded bookshelves; a dresser with just a lamp and candles on top; a nightstand with another lamp, lotion and an alarm clock; a stand-up mirror; a teeny-tiny desk with my laptop; and a chair.

The point is: you would see no clutter. I have a total paranoia of the cutesy, knick-knacky way that people live. I like things to have a place and stay there.

But. I also have an attic storage space off my closet that is filled with boxes and plastic containers. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve saved: An entire rectangular box stuffed with years and years of journals. Bridesmaid dresses. Candles. Old clothes. Old bags, purses, slings. A leopard-print pillow, a pillow an old roommate made me that doesn’t match my room’s decor. There are school books and class notes, syllabi, even a poster someone made about Ezra Pound. I want to go through this stuff and get rid of a lot of it. I’m sort of brainstorming about it right now, determining if I want to purchase containers, if I want to just get rid of most of it, if I want to continue hoarding old letters that go back at least 10 years.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be a New Year’s resolution, as strange as it says to predict that for oneself in November. I just know I won’t have the time to get to it before then. I might plan to take out one thing every day–that’s a start.

One very positive side affect of looking at this task ahead of time is how it makes me not want to shop now. I don’t want to go out and buy more stuff to have end up in the storage space, you know? When did I become a person with tons of junk?

Sigh.

Filed under shopping, the everyday, thrifty tips |