purge progress (By Laura)

Ryan and I set out to do some serious, SERIOUS, purging the other day, as I mentioned.  It was satisfying, and challenging, and in spite of the fact that we were getting rid of some precious items from our past (many, not all), we managed to get through without much marital tension at all!  Ha!

In reading our most recent book, "You Can Buy Happiness, and It's Cheap" by Tammy Strobel, we have tried prepared ourselves for the potentially emotional job of purging.  Getting rid of junk is one thing, but to be honest, we're not really junk keepers.  I can attribute many of my junk-less habits to my dear Dutch husband who learned about cleanliness from his parents, and moreover, from his cultural heritage.  (Those Dutch are clean!!)

I grew up in, well, a rather messy house.  Happy, but messy.  So in the first few years of our marriage, or perhaps the first decade, we had some "ironing out of differences" do deal with.  This resulted in (a) me becoming much more tidy, and (b) Ryan simmering down a little on what I like to refer to as "his problem".

But I digress...

Purging sounds great in a book.  It sounds great when you talk about it with friends.  It sounds great when someone else is talking to you about their purging.  But in reality, it is hard work!  Where is that line between "this is too precious to get rid of" and keeping everything that has some sentimental value?  Thankfully, Ryan and I each only had a few things we felt strongly enough about to really put our foot down, and were (so far) able to respect each others' feeling about said items.  

A few items that we have discussed and left until later to decide on?  Read on.

Whether or not to lose the piano and find ourselves an apartment-sized one.  This is really tough, because I, the piano player, am very attached to having a piano, and one that is decent.  The piano we have really isn't much to talk about.  It was a "hand me down" and has hammer marks in the top from some kid who got bored (previous owner's kid, obvs).  It spent a year or so outside under someone's deck before we came and adopted it.  (It was free!!)  But it is a full sized upright piano and it sounds like one.  No, it doesn't hold its tune, but it has weight to the keys, a full booming sound when I plunk hard (which I tend to do quite often), and it is a source of calm and therapy for me, as piano playing always has been.  So to downgrade to a smaller, weaker version is a little daunting for me, and there's no saying that we will have to, but there's a chance of course.  A chance.

Whether or not to keep our large Mac or "trade" it for an ibook.  We have a nice, large Mac, which requires a table or desk.  We use it to watch movies, shows, and for the internet.  Since we're getting rid of our TV (we haven't had cable for a good many months and prefer it that way), in the event of getting rid of this screen, we will only have a laptop sized computer to use and watch movies on.  Is this the end of the world?  For me, no.  For Ryan, possibly.  It would save a lot of space not having a desk space needed, and from my homeschooling perspective, it would save me a lot of strain of children constantly seeing the screen, and then constantly begging to stare at it.  I have seen this completely change before when we moved our computer out of the main living space.  Suddenly no one even considered going on the computer during homeschool time!  Ha!  But yes, this is a decision we must make together.  And make it we shall.

So, there are decisions, and there are things to consider in each of these.  Not always easy, but at least we're processing, right?  We're not static.  That's a good thing.

We have done about two fifths of the house, I'd estimate.  We have more to go, and some improvements on the place as we prepare to show it.  (Ack!  We are still hardly able to say that out loud!)  This is a big deal for us to decide to move, because we love our home, and our neighbours, and our street.  But principal is speaking more loudly and so on we push, and we are excited.

So wish us luck as we continue on!  Next steps: wash walls, patch and paint, replace downstairs carpet, fix up back yard, oh, and start the homeschool year on Monday.  Whew!