The Purge

To me, everything has sentimental value. This particular personality trait of mine has lead to an abundance of "things" collected and saved over the years. I've packed away birthday cards I insist on keeping. Old notes my girlfriends and I passed back and forth in Junior High and High School. Champagne corks I scurried to find as a kid at NYE parties (my Great Aunt Betty used to help me find them and write the year on the bottom). Four giant tubs of Beanie Babies I refuse to get rid even though it's likely I'd have to pay someone to take them off my hands. T-shirts, sweatshirts and old uniforms, even though I know I'll never wear them again. Thousands of pictures and negatives, kids nowadays don't even know what a photography negative is! You get the idea - I like to keep pretty much everything.

As the new year approached, Mitch and I shared our personal yearly goals and set a few together as a couple. It took some convincing, but I agreed to declare 2017 as the "year of the purge" in the Helleen household.  Before the year end, the goal is to have gone through each and every room in our home - disposing of the things we don't need, or forgot we even had. 

January started off in full force. The storage room was in an embarrassing state. During the holidays, that was the "just throw it in there" room. It got to the point where we could barely open the door. What seemed like a super daunting task turned out to be relatively easy and high successful. Everything was taken out of the room, re-organized and labeled. In the storage room alone, we managed to fill 4 garbage bags. This whole purge didn't seem so bad and I was itching to continue on.

In the first 4 weeks of 2017 we've also gone through two playrooms, the upstairs bathroom. our basement and part of the kitchen. We're well on our way - but we have oh so far to go! 

{below are pictures of our cleaned out playroom - plus our new creative corner!}

Purging also meant getting rid of a lot of baby stuff that has piled up over the last 5 years. I dreaded this portion of the household cleanse. Remember? Everything has sentimental value! We handed over a few bigger items to family to use for their own young babes, and then I started going through tubs of clothes - which was truly my worst nightmare. 

I imagined myself, sobbing in a bin full of newborn onesies. I'm happy to report I wasn't quite that dramatic. Much to my surprise, going through each individual piece of clothing mostly brought joy to my heart and a smile to my face. It's funny how looking at one little outfit can transport you back years ago to a specific moment in time. That happened more than once and to be honest, it was sort of magical. I've made a little dent in our bins and bins of clothes - but plan to spend the next several weekends making that my own personal project. Let the purging continue! 

With the new year, I also decided to try another type of cleanse - a juice cleanse. It's something I've always wanted to try and when my co-worker asked if I was interested in a 3-day juice cleanse I took her up on the opportunity. 

I mentally prepared myself for 3 days, 18 juices and gobs of water. Did I mention there was no Diet Coke allowed? Or any caffeine for that matter. The three days were a true mental challenge and full of surprises. 

I dreaded the headaches I assumed were in my future due to caffeine withdrawals, but surprise #1, they didn't happen. 

I am a girl who loves food and doesn't skip meals - usually I try to sneak an extra meal in, so I was worried about starving throughout the day. Surprise #2, that didn't happen either. Each of my 6 daily juices were tasty and quite filling. As soon as I felt hungry, it was about time for my next juice so I never felt like I was waisting away. 

Once day 3 was complete, I imagined I'd jump right back into drinking an absurd amount of Diet Coke and stuffing my face - but nope. Surprise #3, although Diet Coke still tasted delicious I've only had one a day since. (I'm not willing to admit how many I was having a day.) 

Overall the entire juice cleanse was challenging, rewards and somewhat enjoyable. I'd totally do it again, although actual food has been delightful. :)

I realized I never posted anything about our holidays. They were wonderful and exciting through the eyes of a 5 and 2 year old. We had a blast with family and friends and were reminded how grateful we are for all we have. Below are some photos from the multiple celebrations. 

 

Until next time...

The Helleen