Let the purging begin...or not.

Since my room will be painted in the upcoming weeks and I'll have to move everything only to put it back again, I've decided to use this opportunity to start purging some of my stuff. This is like a trial run for the real purge that will have to take place late next year, when I move into my condo.

I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit of a pack-rat. I keep EVERYTHING, "just in case." But I also keep things for sentimental reasons: I have bags of paraphernalia from my trips to Australia, Europe and Asia that I've been saving up for a travel scrapbook; I have old letters and postcards from friends; I have cute little knick-knacks that I received as gifts way back when and boxes of cute stationary and cards...and let's not forget the clothes.

(This is just a fraction of the cute stationary I picked up while I was in Japan a couple years ago)

My clothes have taken over two bedrooms: my own, which holds mainly my fall/winter/transitional wardrobe (these seasons are the longest in Canada after all) and my collection of handbags; and my sister's old room, where I keep my summer wardrobe and all my many shoes.

The other spare room is my den/study, where I keep 2 desks: one which, aside from administrative details and notes, also houses more cute stationary and the other, which I use as a work-table for my jewellery hobby.

So...I started out with great intentions. I pulled open one of the drawers in my ancient wardrobe and started sorting things into 2 piles: one to keep and the other to donate. When I tried putting the drawer back in, the plastic runner on the side of the wardrobe broke, and the bottom fell out of my drawer.

What was I supposed to do with all the stuff I was going to keep?! I hate looking at the hole where my drawer should be. Until it can be fixed, my keepers are in a big plastic bag and the drawer is leaning against my wardrobe. The hope is that the contractors will have small enough nails to secure the bottom in place. I'm not so sure that it can be saved though...I'm all set to go to Ikea this weekend to buy a new wardrobe since they've got a big sale going on now anyway.

Long story short, this minor setback was enough to put me off a chore that I wasn't all too keen on...I know I'll have to get to it eventually...but that broken drawer is the roadblock. As long as my keepers are in a plastic bag, I can't begin sorting to purge because I know there will be lots to donate and I'm a bit freaked that in all the confusion that may result, I'll donate the wrong bag. That would not be good. A mistake like that could put me off purging in the years to come, and I don't want to be the crazy pack-rat woman who keeps everything and anything. No. It's better to postpone my purging until the conditions are right...