"Messy,messy,messy!"

If you were to ask any one of my immediate family what my bedroom looked like growing up they would all have said the same thing...."Messy, messy, messy!". Now don't get me wrong there were a few days a year that the floor wasn't littered with an assortment of clothes or that my closet didn't require a Hazmat Suit. I would clean it up only to find that it required more energy to keep it clean than it did to just create "organized piles." To top this lazy habit off I was also a packrat, in the truest sense. I kept everything, every giftbag, box, envelope and ratty looking notebook. You never know when you're going to need it, right?

Well since moving out on my own 3 years ago those habits have been slowly changing. I couldn't handle the clutter that I once adored and with each consecutive move I threw away more packrate prizes. Then I got married and we had to combine 2 full lives into one space. On our last move I threw away or gave away enough stuff to warrent a trip to the dump and to the Sally Ann. How wonderful that purge felt! We moved into our new home with only the things that mattered and I was able to unpack practically everything. No more - just in case boxes of crap.

Unfortunately for my parents and myself there are still numerous boxes in their basement of my childhood memories, treasures and you guessed it junk. We brought home a couple of those boxes at Thanksgiving, to slowly rid my parents of burden.

As I unpacked them today I discovered some helpful things - among the most exciting my Post-It Note collection ( a story for another day). However the majority of the box was stuff that was garbage. I have another garbage bag full of stuff - old hockey programs and tickets, magazines, receipts (for toothpaste!) and so much more. I finally finished off the dreadful box 15 minutes ago with a sigh, a very large and dramatic eye roll and a laugh. How did I ever see through the clutter?