Purging

There's a sense of optimism that goes with having a garage sale. Shedding boxes of assorted items that no longer make sense to hang on to is both satisfying and liberating. Having moved a time or two, I am quite familiar with the process of getting rid of boxes of stuff that live under the stairs, in the basement, and in the space over the garage. It seems I can store three boxes of clothes, and the next thing I know there are seven for me to remove. It's amazing how we accumulate stuff.

Recently, I was helping a friend set up for a garage sale. He and his wife are planning to sell their house, so the couple wanted to dig in and deplete all the stuff they don't need any more.

Now having three kids under the age of five meant they had piles of clothes these young ones would never wear again. He asked me if I would help him price the items.

So with the season opener on the air, we were off and running -- well, sort of.

The first three boxes were full of newborn boy's outfits. We spent the first couple of innings examining each piece for condition, frayed edges and, most of all, stains. Each piece was held up, critiqued, and priced to sell at anywhere from $3 to $.25. At this rate, I figured we'd be done by the end of the game.

Then his wife began hauling in other boxes of clothing -- 25 total -- in all sizes, boys and girls.

Yikes!

At this onslaught, either the game would be a record-setting extra-inning affair going into the wee hours, or we'd have to drastically change our pricing technique. Undeterred by this tsunami of kids' clothing, we stepped into high tide and got into the flow of things: pants were all $1, shirts were 25 cents and, if something looked really good, they went for 50 cents.

We laid out eight tables of kids clothes and arranged the other miscellaneous stuff in an attractive setting. Then we waited.

Three days later, he had $700 firmly in hand, mostly by selling 25-cent outfits. Now that was a lot of clothes!

My friend announced the staggering good news to his wife with the admonition, "Let's not accumulate that much -- ever again."

And with that I say, gentlemen, that's good advice for us all.

You see, each one of us carries around boxes of "stuff." Some are filled to overflowing with regrets; some are marked as "bad decisions." Others say, "Stuff I don't feel good about." Maybe it's time we check out those boxes, and drag them (along with their contents) to the curb. After all, there's nothing there to be passed on or resold in them, it's purely garbage. We need to let go of this stuff and give ourselves a fresh start, with the resolution we will not accumulate that many items, ever again.

Good luck getting rid of some dead weight this week.

It's easy to hang on to all sorts of things that weigh us down. Getting rid of life's outworn physical objects is simple compared to some of the stuff that drags us down inside.

Anything bogging you down? Anything you've had good success in pitching to the curb? Any words of advice to others who may be burdened with things they need to unload?

You can pass along your words of wisdom by clicking here and telling us about it.