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More than two years after moving here, I'm finally unpacking. My closet has been a disaster area for a while, mostly because I owned far more clothes than I knew what to do with. So over the past week, I've taken six big bags of clothes to the SPCA Rummage Sale store, and I actually have another bag's worth that ought to go over there (I forgot about the clothes that were hanging up). And once all those clothes were out of there, I had a little bit of room to maneuver, so I started actually organizing. I find it amazing that a generally stuff-phobic, anti-acquisitive person like me can nonetheless accumulate mountains of stuff. The organizing and culling feels awesome. I assembled a wire cube storage unit today that I bought over a year ago.

Two years ago I spent fall break in Ocean City, MD. Last year I spent it in Pittsburgh with James. This year, I'm here in Charlottesville, cleaning my apartment. And I'm happier than ever.

There's something so therapeutic about getting rid of stuff I don't need. It makes me appreciate what I keep even more, because I know that I'm keeping those things for a reason, because they mean something to me. It makes it easier to find things, easier to move around in my apartment (which was pretty neat to begin with, but now it's better). And it just feels good, knowing that I'm never going to have to put that stuff away again, that I'll never have to move it again. And it's extremely rare that I ever end up missing anything I give or throw away.

This has also made me realize that I have enough clothes and shoes for now, so I'm not buying any more this year. And I'm eating out of my pantry a lot, realizing that anything I don't eat, I'm going to have to throw out or move to Pittsburgh with me next summer. Plus, eating things I already own is free.

I'm learning a thing or two as I age.