Trares
The past month has been all about over-indulgence.
Certainly, that goes for eating — with all of the cookies, candy, roast beef dinners, eggnog and everything else that comes during the holiday season. And I’d argue it was a time of emotional excess. There were more laughs, more great conversations, more chances to see old friends and distant family than I can count.
But just as December has expanded our waistlines, so too is our house feeling a little bit overstuffed.
Our closets are busting out. New clothes poke out of impossible-to-close drawers. Anthony’s toys are threatening to take over the living room, and I think they’re winning.
I don’t necessarily prescribe to the idea of New Year’s resolutions; if I want to change my habits or set a new goal, July is as good a time as January.
Still, the start of a new year does carry with it a sense of renewal. And in that spirit, I can’t wait to start cleansing ourselves of the clutter.
First off, my closet. Hanging among new shirts and sweaters are old button-ups, outgrown suit coats, holey jeans and items that have gone untouched for close to a decade. My vision is a grand purge of anything that I haven’t worn in the past year; the trick is to not let “what ifs” cloud my focus — what if I need a pilled-up sweater sometime this winter? What that too-tight shirt miraculously fits later this spring?
Everything in good shape will go to charity. Everything else is gone.
Same for my dresser drawers. Sure, that faded t-shirt reminds me of a concert I attended in 2012, or our fraternity formal senior year. But it hasn’t seen the light of day for years. History.
Next, moving to the garage. Typically, I keep everything fairly orderly, with boxes for decorations, outdoor toys, our grill and more. But over the course of the holidays, it has grown into an amorphous blob of patio furniture, bicycles and so many Amazon boxes.
As I take down all of our Christmas decorations, it’s a great opportunity to beat back the chaos. (Yes, I’m a stickler for putting up the decorations no earlier than the weekend before Thanksgiving, but I keep them up into January.)
Then I want to get Anthony involved. It’s tough for him to look at his toy room and pick out anything to get rid of; that Hot Wheels track half-finished and random LEGOs could someday come in handy, he’ll argue.
We’ve been working with him about letting go of things he no longer uses, though. With Santa bringing new toys, it’s time to get rid of some stuff. We don’t need to keep every Happy Meal toy he’s ever gotten, or the box of Halloween and Easter trinkets collecting dust in the corner. In talks we’ve been having already, he seems to get it. Hopefully, this goes smoothly.
I realize the mountain that stands in front of us. Too many times in the past, I’ve started these de-cluttering projects with vigor, only to lose my resolve part of the way through.
This is gonna be my year though.
Ryan Trares is a senior reporter and columnist for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
