When I get that urge, I go furniture shopping. Sounds risky right? Well it reminds me that I have no money for new furniture and therefore what I have is better than milk crates and cardboard boxes. I walk out of the furniture store feeling like I accomplished two things: I overcome my urge to purge, and I get a little shopping high too (This only works if you actually realize</B> you are too poor for furniture and don't actually buy anything)!

It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels exactly the same way!

we're pretty colorless people to start. So, we haven't felt the need to purge anything we purchased yet.

As for the bathrooms and kitchens, I do not wax nostalgic over yellow or blue fixtures or retro wallpaper.... we loathe that awful stuff.

I never seem to miss things I gave away, probably because my memory isn't so great anymore, so I literally forget that I ever had them.

Interestingly, friends and family seem to get more upset when I get rid of things or change things in my house. I don't understand how they become so attached to my stuff.

I don't get those urges, except in the "Augh, get rid of the clutter!" kind of way. I'm very attatched to my furniture, some of it I purchased in high school and have adored ever since. I tend towards redecorating using paint and accessories rather than furniture. Prefering to spend the money on other things and not having time to paint help reign that in, though.

when i get the urge to purge, I usually purge a category, say.... corduroy pants. I always keep the best piece of the bunch. That way, in my guilty moments, i can indulge just a little. Keep the regret away too.

We banish to the basement and that way for about a year we can grab it and use it or not or think we want to then dont lol. then i usually offer it to my mom or someone family-wise, then it goes to my brothers yearly yard sale which proceeds go to fixing up his house with his new fiance, but alot of stuff lately has been freecycled and that i really dont worry about. i do find i tend to freecycle certain things. maybe thats my strategy. all of our items, ok 90 percent of our items except for our kitchen table and 2 chairs, is either a hand me down or thrift store find, oh or someone gave it to us as gift. From the wrought iron/glass coffee table to the matching 66 vintage chairs or the hand carved wood knitting bowl with legs from 1950. even our art is the same situation except one we got on a trip. i have an orange room, yellow, purple, pink etc. color will always win

I have to say that getting most everything secondhand makes it easier to part with later, because it didn't cost a mint. In some cases, I've been able to sell things for the same price I paid a few years earlier.

I get this urge all too often, and favorite things are given the boot in an effort to "edit" my living spaces. Fortunately, I've learned to put things away in boxes in the basement, but not actually get rid of them. They come back once I've gotten over the desire to create a certain look and just want to be surrounded by my silly old things, because they make me happy.

I tend to go through cycles of accumulating and then purging all my worldly goods. For me, it's really extreme, and not a very budget-friendly way to go through life, I've learned. For instance, because I'm a grad student in literature, I've had to buy the same Kerouac book 3 times. 3 TIMES! because I kept giving it away. And the first time I bought it, it was at Half-Priced Books, so after repurchasing it again and again, I ended up paying about $30 for what I originally would've only paid $5 if I had just held on to the damn thing. So now, you can pull that book from my cold, dead hands. Which I've told my boyfriend a few times now when he encourages me to pare down my library.

So, yes. I know this type of regret. And I still feel the opposing pulls of nesting and and living with just a single bag full of clothes. I tend to store things I want out of the way for a long time (I have a big garage so it's not inconvenient)--then once it's been out of my life for a while, I feel like I'm much more clear headed about whether I really want the object itself, or if I just was sick of looking at it temporarily.

Yeah, that must be why I never get rid of anything. Ever.

Love what you have. Get rid of what you don't love and move on. It's just stuff. The ability to make a choice and stick with it shows that you trust your own judgement.

Things are always coming and going at my house. I seldom buy anything new, and I love the process of looking for "just right" things. Once I make the decision to sell something, I just start mentally detaching from it. There are a few things I'll always keep, but I can't think of anything that I regret selling.

A few years ago, I sold (almost) every piece of furniture in our house on craigslist. It was fabulous and I'll probably do it again sometime. The only down side is that we usually end up lacking certain things for a period. It took me a year to find the right sofa. And I still don't have a dining table.

I had that urge, the urge to get all new furniture or even to move and for the first time ever.... I stopped, I looked at what I had/ where I lived and I decided what I really wanted was my place/my stuff to look better and so I found paint colors, a good re upholsterer, a lamp repair guy, a sewing machine I could borrow, some cans of spray paint (that Montana brand has every color imaginable) etc....and I have to say I love the transformation.....some things I have carted around for 15 years and they finally have reached their potential......I agree wholeheartedly work with what you've got and try to surround yourself with only things you love - usually they can grow with you.

I'm like heather77, I can't remember once it's gone! I really appreciate the new-found space and always wonder why I didn't let go of things earlier.

YES. I had this amazing Eiffel Tower clock that I died over when I was about 15. Then I moved away to college, didn't have room for it, and when my mom asked if I wanted it, said I didn't have room for it and she threw it out. Which was a legitimate excuse--I really didn't have room, but I really, really wish I still had it.

I constantly collect new items for my home and then have to get rid of items to make room for the new stuff. I find that I like giving things to family and friends rather than to goodwill. If I miss it, then I can always go visit it and see that it has a good home. The only problem with this is that some of my friends have started putting dibs on things in my house...like "i want those lamps when you get rid of them". haha

I just sold a bunch of pieces I'd gotten a great deal on through my job and everyone thought I was crazy. But even though they were nice, I really bought them because they were a good deal. And I managed to turn a tidy profit when I sold them. Now that I'm moving, I'm definitely going through a "purge" phase.

i had a super groovy curved, orange 70's coffee table and despite the urging of my mother (or maybe because of it) i painted it brown because i was going through a neutral phase. UGH! neutral phase?! stupid, stupid, stupid!

I was regretting having gotten rid of the bed in what used to be the guestroom (before I redecorated the space as a den)while my folks were visiting this past weekend...

Taking a nap on the sofa is one thing - Spending 3 nights out there was not making me happy.

Fortunately or not I don't have the financial wherewithall to make snap decisions like that.

I have never missed anything I dumped.

I've passed things to friends and relatives and had brief moments of "Oh, crap, I really could have used X here." But I always find something better for the space. For example, I used an awesome antique library table (found on Craigslist for $60) as a combination bookshelf/TV stand for a few years. I gave it to my parents when I moved into a smaller house. I realized I could have used it as a storage piece in the new dining room, but then I found a Thaden Jordan buffet for less than $200 that was much more practical and a better fit. The regrets don't last too long.

When my husband and I moved in together I got rid of my beloved papasan chair (just the frame -- I kept the cushion for lounging on the floor) and a table I had found whilst dumpster diving in college (okay, it was sitting beside the dumpster). I'm constantly coming up with reasons why I should have kept that table and the papasan chair, though it didn't fit in our first home together, would have been the perfect reading chair for our current bedroom. *kick kick kick*

This is a timely topic for me. My second, larger bedroom is the storage area for my stuff. The problem is that I like a lot of what I have but have no room for it all. Sometimes, I'll rotate something...put a item away and bring out something new. I did give a few things away on freecycle and sold though consignment. Yesterday, I wanted to make room for my bicycle because I'm sick of looking at it in my living room. All the crap I had to bring out just to make room the bicycle....then to bring it back in. My purging urge has been heightened, so I'll freecycle some more things, do consignment, etc. It's a tough process for me to get rid of things...just have be a little tougher! I always keep that bedroom door closed.

I lent a marvellous small mid-century armchair to a friend about twenty years ago when it was excess to my needs and he needed some furniture. Over the years I've dropped many a hint about getting it back, but he's dug in his heels and resisted all hints. I used to resent this but lately I just feel good that the chair is a part of his family - it was in his apartment before he got married, his wife fed their baby in it, and now he sits in it with his daughter to read her stories.

Oh, and I just wanted to say thanks to Abby for ditching the royal "we" in this post. It makes it more personal.

I've had regrets with clothes mostly...I don't quite do the put it away for a year and decide though. I will box it up and sit it in the corner for probably about two weeks - that way if I decide I must keep something, I can remove it. After two weeks, it is taken to Goodwill or somewhere to be donated.

My mother gets more regrets than me and it's usually right after she's moved. She decides to toss something saying it's not worth the energy moving and when trying to replace it, finds the replacement is too much or nothing is as good.

I am loathe to give things away or sell things that I really like, so if I DO get rid of something there's a very good chance that a. I never really liked it, or b. I thought long and hard about it. As a result I can't recall any home-related object given away that I miss.

I agree that it is easier to purge when you have all second-hand or hand-me-down items that fit your needs at the time you obtained them, but don't satisfy your current needs. I have a harder time of getting rid of furniture than I do clothing, and I don't regret tossing/donating/selling any clothing item so far, but I always re-purpose furniture instead of giving up on it. If I can't find a purpose or place for it, I'll store it until I find an appropriate place--oh, and my husband just loves when I store stuff! ;) A helpful tip for clutter-victims: take all little knickknacks and objects off all surfaces in a given room (living room is a good start) and place them on a card table like you would as if you were having a yard sale. From there, examine the entire group and only pull what really holds any personal value to you (things you love!) and only keep those items. The rest, well, you know what to do. Hope this helps.

I don't over buy or over pay for things so this is not a regret I can say I've ever really experienced.