Today is HUGE for me…you see today is the day I part with some dear friends. Today is the day I say enough is enough to some friends that have outgrown the boundaries of our friendship. These friends have been with me through good times and bad, they’ve supported me with their sane ways even in chaotic times. They’ve provided necessary limits for me when I wanted to give in to the temptations of the world.
But as my friendship list has grown over the years I find I just don’t have the time for them all. Some have become too demanding, not willing to stand on the sidelines waiting for me to come around, to give them all the equal attention they so deserve. I think it’s best I cut our ties while we are still on good terms. I just know someone else will be able to love and nurture these beautiful friends more than I have been able to over the last year. Oh how I’ve neglected them and they deserve so much more. It’s only fair that I share some of my special friends with others even though I yearn to just hold them tight and never let them go.
I will be strong, I can do this.
They will be missed.
PS: Now before you go thinking I’ve clearly jumped off the deep end (!) please know that I still have many many friends. In fact look where they wait so patiently for me….my container for my containers. Two shelves tucked away in my laundry room hold my friends in waiting. Waiting for just the right moment to come out and embrace all the potential that they hold for our friendship. You just never know when you’re going to need a good friend. Such a beautiful thing.
PPS: Please also know that I don’t advocate having such a friend stash for everyone. Please only stash your friends if you have the space to do so. Don’t let your friends become clutter 🙂
Diann @ The Thrifty Groove says
LOL Laura! I can so relate to this. But, as “parting is such sweet sorrow” it also feel pretty good! Have a great day!
Laura says
Thanks Diann, it really is one of the best feelings ever. So addicted to the high 🙂
danielle says
I find friends to be expensive…so i don’t get very many! LOL we have totes for baby clothes but that is about the extent of it…i really need to work on my organizing skills though cause i am pretty much the opposite of a junky….i guess that would be sober? LOL
Laura says
Too funny!
Natalie Campbell says
I’m getting ready to do the same thing!! I was just going around taking some pictures of all the stuff I need to do, so I can blog about it. I am completely overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. I keep buying dressers and containers for storage…but never get around to doing it!! I have so many pieces of wood furniture that I want to paint…and so many containers that I want to fill…but I just don’t know where to start with it all.
jackie says
I am laughing so hard at your post….THAT WAS AWESOME!!! I have lots of “friends” as well and i have a hard time parting with them. I guess the good thing is that i don’t have too many extras and what i do have store in the attic.
Andrea Scoville says
you GO girl!!!
Christine Smith says
I did this too! I have my friends ready to pose for the camera and get listed on FreeCycle.org in my area so someone else can get some use out of them. And I also still have a stash of friends in my laundry room. I am having a wee bit of trouble getting myself to give my extra friends away as I am in the process of reorganizing my entire basement and want to make sure I won’t need any of them. Mostly they were from my homeschool days and before I go the most AMAZING storage unit from Ikea for all my papers, kids school stuff, art supplies etc.
AShley B. says
Phew! I thought I was the only one with a container stash! Do your friends come shop it like mine?! I love being able to have a solution to a clutter problem at 11pm on a sunday night!
Laura says
That’s exactly it! I like to be ready whenever the organizing frenzies kick in which is usually late at night 🙂
Suzanne Jackson says
Yes, I almost hyperventilated about the friends you are unfriending until I saw the stash of friends waiting in the wings!
You know, those who don’t know better would say that someone who has a container for their containers might have container issues. However, I say that you are just organized and prepared!
Laura says
LOL…you are too sweet Suzanne but let’s face it…I definitely have some issues…hahaha
raven says
Man, I can never let go of my friends! I never found ones I liked at the dollar stores here though, so part of my clinginess is what I spent :/ And I do always seem to find new uses for them.
I have about 50 containers from The Container Store (some recycling bins, some open front shallow bins, and the clear shoeboxes and accessory boxes) that I just can’t part with. UGH! It’s silly, but I do know with these that the second I get rid of them we’ll need them again. The recycling bins just came out of the pantry in favor of a new style/bigger/better use of space ones I got a few weeks ago; now the stack of the 8 we had is sitting in the garage doing nothing. Those might go. I’m going to try using them in the garage for some of DH’s larger tools and power cords and such though, first.. they were expensive :/
The shoeboxes… I think at one point we were up to around 40 of them; we’re now down around, I think, 10. As time goes on in this house, we’re building more permanent storage (like the expedit in the laundry room with the lekman boxes) and my “I can make this work anywhere” stuff is becoming obsolete.
Maybe I do need to.. *sniffle* have a going away party.
girliefriend says
I’d be more than happy to adopt your old friends. I need to increase my inner circle. 😀
se7en says
Hahaha!!! I realized that I had a problem with friends like yours and I had to let them go… When I had three kitchen cupboards devoted to containers… when I needed containers for my containers and then some… Oh the heady freedom of all the space!!! And have to say I haven’t missed them at all…they all left and there have been no regrets!!! Keeping things for just in case is really just ridiculous!!!
Nonna Beach says
Clever post….gave me a real kick in the pants !
I have way too many of those type of ” friends ” all over the house calling to me to whittle down on the stuff they are carrying. They give me a flase sense of security that I am organized. Now that I finally have a spare bedroom to work in, maybe I will be able to jettison a few of them too !!!
Latoya @ The Scott's Crib says
LOL! I really thought you were talking about people! Great post!
Caitlin says
Very amusing! You have been inspiring me to discover more friends. I’m getting quite the collection, but I’m still need more – no surplass for me yet. My husband doesn’t understand and considers them as foes, even though I think I’m very thrifty when choosing friendships. He does appreciate the order they bring into our lives – I know he will grow to love them as I do.
Katrina - @craftsbykatie says
I wish I were your next door neighbor/bff. I would take in those poor orphan friends of yours.
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
Nooooooo! Send those to me, I’ll give you my address. LOL!
Kidding. Actually, in the last couple of years, I’ve done the same thing. I take it as a good sign, it means I’m getting rid of stuff!
Sheila says
Is there any way for us who don’t have friends to befriend those you’re letting go? =)
Marcia Francois, Organising Queen says
Oh, I am looking for one of your friends to organise the kids’ art supplies 🙂
But I agree, it’s good to let go of some of our friends sometimes. I regularly force myself (!) to let go of some of MY best friends in the world (notebooks and pens) and send them to good homes (my clients and people in talks/ workshops) 🙂
FUN post!
LuAnn Braley says
Stay strong, sister, we support you! :O)
The things we have such trouble giving away can find good homes elsewhere. After my mother passed away earlier this year, my brother (with my blessing) gave away most of the furniture in her house to a refugee organization in the town where she lived. Even some of the sentimental pieces: some dining room pieces acquired by Mom and Dad when he was in the Army in the late 50’s, pieces that we all had a hand in restoring during the 70’s, and the couch that my brother and I had known since our childhood.
Hard? A little. But, DB can’t use them and I live too far away to retrieve them (in any practical sense). And if my family were the refugees, I would sure be grateful to have some nice furniture in an unfamiliar home.
Great post!
Kim @ Homesteader's Heart says
My friends are rude and just lay around in odd places. They really need to pick up after themselves and find a permanent home. LOL!
I’m proud of you girlfriend.
Susanne says
Whaaaat? I am in shock. But you need to do what you need to do. I’m sure there is someone who will quickly befriend them and take them home.
RadiomomRhetoric says
—yes! there is a time when your organizing habits can CAUSE clutter!! I totally agree!
Someone I read once said something like watch how many BINS you have to ORGANIZE your Clutter! If it is clutter–it is clutter. LOL I have to watch that!
Aarthi says
Hi,
I no exactly how you feel..but hopefully they’ll find a wonderful new home 🙂
I’ve been following your blog for a while now and might i say that you have a wonderful home.
You’re a true inspiration to us mere ‘organizational mortals’
😉
Ashley S. says
I cannot help but look at your discarded friends and think…man, I wish I was a neighbor that she loved so I could have those. Oh how I love boxes to organize with. Yes, I know, I need help.
Pam says
If I lived near you, I’d totally give your friends a new home and let you come visit them!
Peggi says
I can’t believe that someone else feels like they are loosing a friend when they release containers!!!!! I am in the midst of a clean sweep of my home (just turned 50 – whodaguessed) and it just is killing me to let go of someof the things I’ve held on to – just in case – I may need them to redistribute, reorganize etc!!!!