The Six Month Purge
I have been reading books about the Thomas Jefferson education. They are really interesting reads if you are interested in homeschooling. Oliver and Rachel DeMille are founders of this educational philosophy based on how the great thinkers and our Founding Fathers were educated. They co-author the books. I have read two of the three main books discussing what a Thomas Jefferson education is.
The first book is A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders in the Twenty-First Century. The second book, which I have not read yet, is A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion. The third book is Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning.
In book three, Rachel DeMille lists and describes 55 ingredients that combine to create a great learning atmosphere at home. One ingredients leaped off the page at me. It was the Six Month Purge.
It is not an easy task to complete or for that matter to even begin, but Rachel insists that it is a necessary ingredient. Cleaning eats away the day for any stay-at-home mom. A mom trying to educate her children and keep a clean house is even more challenging. Therefore, a six month purge is needed to help the mom tackle the housework easier.
Simply, a six month purge is going through your house, room by room, and getting rid of what you do not need or want. You sell what is valuable or you can donate it to a local donation center. If it is not worthy of selling or donating, then you throw it away.
You are supposed to do this twice a year to keep on top of all of your stuff. If you have not used the items in six months, but cannot yet part with the items, you place them in a box and store it. After the next six months, you either donate it or throw it out or keep it in storage depending on whether or not you needed it during that time period.
My husband and I discussed whether or not we were going to attempt the six month purge. For us, it is a daunting task because it is more like a six year purge. On top of that, Lane is a pack rat. He sees the potential in everything. He might need it at some point in time. And, there have been occasions when he was right. We did need the item; however, those times do not occur on a regular basis.
I was thrilled when he jumped on the idea. He was most agreeable. We both worried about becoming overwhelmed with the task. We agreed to take it one step at a time. Breaking it down into little tasks is not overwhelming and it gives you a sense of accomplishment when you complete a step.
We chose to purge the yard first. This might sound funny to some of you. What could you possibly need to remove from your yard? Well, you have not seen ours.
We had broken pieces of tile from our remodel in buckets. We had outside toys like a hobby horse that had seen better days. Rusted and/or broken buckets had been discarded. Since we do not have trash pick up out here in the country, we had not thrown them out. We also had an old grill that we had not used in years taking up space outside.
Lane hitched up a small trailer and we began to neatly fill it with the discarded things from our yard. I hate to say that we filled the trailer and included an old rug that I no longer wanted and a futon mattress. We burned boxes and feed sacks. We reorganized our feed area for our animals. Everything looks so much nicer.
We also have a pile of items ready to be taken to the scrap metal place. For example, we have an old swing set, a water trough with a leak, etc. It will be nice to get a little money back for selling the metal items.
Purging the yard inspired me to weed the front landscaping and my herb garden. I re-mulched the herbs and my potatoes. Lane decided to weed eat and mow the yard. It feels so good. I love being productive. I like the sense of accomplishment.
From time to time I will let you know how the six month purge is going. It might take us six months for all I know, but it will be worth it. If I can spend less time cleaning, then I will enjoy my life much more.
The springtime is when people traditionally deep clean. This is a great time to air out your house. The six month purge might be the next step you need to take.
Oh my, I need to do this SOOOO bad! It’s amazing what piles up when you can’t say “No.” And homeschooling… I’m always picking up something here and there for future use. Eek. Good luck on yours! I’m going to try to sneak a in the purge pool a toe at a time.
Boy do I need to purge. I think I’ll do that very soon. I just hope I can get the kids in on it.
I love the idea of the 6 mo. purge. I’m on it right now. Well not on
Sunday that’s the Lords day. But I have started with our tiny office.
Trust me it is tiny but full. I worked on the file cabnet and found
junk from 2-3 years ago. I have sorted papers and books and now I
know where everything is. At least in the office. Next I will tackle
our bedroom. We have stuff under the bed and in the closet that we
don’t even know about anymore. We are like you, a little at a time
but it feels great to know you have helped someone by giving what you
don’t want to charity and by cleaning up. I am a neat nick but only
on the surface, I have learned. Now I am going after all the nooks
and cranies. Thanks for the tip and it’s the perfect time to Spring
clean. I love the Founding Fathers too and just finished the 5000
Year Leap recomended by Glenn Beck. It is all about what our Founding
Fathers wanted for our Country and it is in their own words too.
Thanks again and keep up the good work. Pat
You can try the Fly Lady method of handling clutter so you do not get overwhelmed. De-clutter for 15 minutes at a time and then take a 15 minute break. Do this for a set period of time in one room only. Also, she has a 27 fling boogie where you throw/give away 27 items from that room. She has a week by week rotation of areas, so that at the end of 3 months you have gone through each room in the house ate least once. Then you start all over again.
I come from a family of pack rats. I dread going to my parents for this very reason. My mom holds on to stuff because it ‘holds a memory’ as well as “I might need it someday”. There is another book I can loan you called “It is all too much”. Not a good fit for me to have given it to my mom though! She does like Fly Lady because that fits her personality more.
Just a thought. Fly Lady has a website as well as a book you can check out from the library.
The main benefit to being married to someone in the military is the deadline of a move to compel you into cleaning/purging every year or two. We are packing out in 8 weeks and I already have 1/2 of our school room books packed and sealed in boxes. The downside is that I can never host a yard sale because I never hold onto that much stuff!
Good luck with your purge, you will feel proud when it is over:)
We try to do at least a semi annual purging- the big one being around Christmas to make room for all the new stuff. I had a heck of a time with it this year though- especially in my sons’ room. More on that here:
http://pamelajorrick.blogspot.com/2009/12/boxing-day-week-month-or-how-long-is-it.html
Good luck to you!
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