In "PURGE" Mode!!!

This past week I have been in a real PURGE mode!! I  have no earthly idea how I ever crammed so much stuff into the closet and drawers I have been cleaning out! So far I have filled a dozen garbage bags with two of those being the BIG black ones!! I STILL have a ton of clothes! Louis Dean was VERY impressed with me getting rid of so much! He was more than happy to haul it all out to the truck.....it was too much for the trunk of my little Ford Fusion!

WHY do I have so MUCH?? I often say I go through life carrying a lot of baggage! Well, I have a little LESS of that now! Most of what I have was either given to me or picked up at garage sales and thrift stores. The NEW things I buy are almost always on sale from the upscale department stores.....though I seldom really need to buy any NEW stuff!
So WHY do I like to shop so much at the thrift stores? Louis Dean and I were talking yesterday and I was telling him about my childhood. Lots of people come from humble beginnings and as a child I knew we were poor. We ALWAYS had food and plenty of it....even if that 'plenty' ran to bologna and oatmeal and tomato soup. What we did NOT always have was clothes. Or at least not ENOUGH clothes. One of the delights of my childhood was when Mother would bring in a box of things 'someone' had given us. I do not know WHERE these boxes came from but it was always a thrill to go through them and find 'treasures!' Once I pulled out a burgundy velvet coat.....and I felt positively RICH!! I never knew WHAT I might find in one of these boxes!! So even as I reached adulthood and could afford to buy anything I needed at any department store I wanted.....I continued to enjoy the 'thrill of the hunt' at the thrift stores! I have often thought about how God has blessed me many times over with 'Abundance'......He has truly given me the desires of my heart!

Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens