December Was Dumpster Month

Merry Christmas!

G just said, “You don’t post on Christmas, right?”

“If it falls on Thursday, I do!” I said.

It’s almost 2 pm on Christmas Day. 

G made a lasagna this morning. Ira is coming at 4 for dinner.  We’re having lasagna and broccoli. Red and green. 

I’ve spent a relaxing morning taking a long, hot bath and Marco Polo-ing Emily.  

This post is usually the one where I do my “Inspired By in ___” list with stuff I’ve been thinking about, reading, watching, listening to, etc. 

But when I think about December, all I can think of is the Dumpster. December was dumpster month.

I asked for it for Christmas. G had it delivered in early December. 

Newly delivered:

Dumpster almost filled:

I’ve had this strong urge to purge for a long time, now. 

True story:

I often feel a strong desire to move from here, but then I look at all our stuff and think: How? 

It would take months and a herculean effort to move all this shit! 

Then I feel stuck. Then I feel sad.

Even if I don’t move, I still want to feel as if I could.

At the drop of a hat. No problem.

But Why a Dumpster?

I aspire to Zen simplicity. I want only things in my life that are beautiful, useful, and require minimal upkeep.

But my actual living situation does not reflect this. It’s not terrible, but it’s not good, either.

The trouble is, every time I try to clean and organize, I run into the same problem: what to do with all the stuff that needs to go to the dump because it’s broken and ugly and nobody wants or needs it? 

If we had a dumpster sitting conveniently in the yard, that would incentivize me to tackle the mess.

Which is what happened in early December. 

We only had the dumpster for ten days, so there was a definite sense of chop-chop.

G and Fred replaced the tub surround in my bathroom that week, so construction waste was the initial contribution. 

Here’s a before and after of that project. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Fred is amazing. G, too. They’re a good team. Yin and Yang. One worries about everything; the other, about nothing. 

After the bathroom was done, G tackled the back garage, and as she worked, she put things on the curb with a FREE sign. 

A lot of stuff went that way.

She took other items to My Neighbor’s Closet, the local thrift store. 

Once we got the flywheel moving, it gained momentum, and by the end, we were both maniacally launching stuff into it with increasing speed and gusto.

The day the dumpster left, we were both astonished and exhausted. We now have space and organization where before there was clutter and chaos.

Gretchen Rubin has a book called, Outer Order, Inner Calm.”

This is so true. The calm I feel every time I go down to the basement or into the back garage is the gift that keeps on giving.

I hope you get what your heart desires this Christmas. I wish you peace, and love, and most of all, enough, cleaned out, open space in your heart to contain it.

Merry Christmas, dear readers! Thank you for your kind attention and comments this past year. It’s so nice to know you’re there!.

Love, Kath