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A few weeks ago, my husband came home with several new storage solutions for our home. Although greatly appreciated and needed, it also marked the beginning of what will be remembered as the Great Vestal Reorganization of '08.

It's time to clean out the closets -- again.

I have spent the past few weeks staring these things down. Furniture arrangement had to be thought through, which led to deep cleaning from the baseboards to the ceiling. The ominous storage room was opened and rearranged to hold things that needed to be stored out there for a while.

Now that most of the new organization pieces are in place, a greater task awaits me.

I know I need to take all the information I have gleaned from watching HGTV and organize my own home.

We are way overdue for a good purge.

On these TV shows, the professional organizer shows the homeowner how to make piles that will hold things to keep, things to throw away, things to donate and things to sell.

Although it seems simple enough in theory, it's painful in practice.

My parents and grandparents did not waste anything. They saved things "just in case," born out of the mind-set of the Great Depression.

I don't remember growing up a pack rat. I do remember using hair spray lids as chairs and a tin bandage container as a hamper for my Barbies.

Toilet paper and paper towel tubes were saved for projects for Vacation Bible School, and clothing was handed down from one child to another.

I loved reorganizing my belongings and keeping things straight. Even as a young bride, I remember sitting in our apartment on Cottage Place in Greensboro rearranging things so that they would fit better. It was easier before we accumulated 21 years of stuff in our marriage.

When we moved here, I thought we'd never fill the extra closet in our bedroom, much less all the cabinet space in the kitchen. I could not imagine our storage room and attic full to overflowing.

What I could not see then, I feel the effects of now.

I could not tell you on any given day exactly what is in my spare bedroom closet. I know when I pull all of that stuff out, I will see things I have not seen since the last time I went through this purging and reorganizing. That alone should tell me I do not need to keep certain things anymore.

My problem is knowing what sort of things I should hang onto and which things I should get rid of. Even if I do decide to get rid of the item, I have to also figure out which pile the excess belongs in.

A recent show featured a single mother with a 5- or 6-year-old son. The mother wanted to save her son's baby clothes for the day she would have the time and the skill to make a quilt for him from those tiny outfits.

The organizational expert told her she would never make that quilt and she should just get rid of the baby clothes so that she could reach her goals for a more organized house. After some arm twisting, the mother relented and allowed the baby clothes to be sold at a yard sale.

I can feel that mother's pain. I have grand ideas of how I could use or reuse almost anything I've saved in the past 15 to 20 years. Some items are filled with "someday" what-ifs.

I have some AOL disks, laughing cow cheese containers and loads of leftover material that would make wonderful projects one day. Do I continue to hold onto them for that one day the perfect project comes to mind or do I get rid of them?

I know as soon as I throw them out that I will need them again. It always happens that way.

I dream of a house of fewer possessions weighting me down. To live lighter, where everything in my house has a specific reason for being here.

The huge task of dragging all of the items out of closets and the attic awaits my time and efforts.

They say that organization of your belongings reduces stress. I'll let you know if this is true once I find order again.

Don't hold your breath. It may take me a while to dig myself out from under all those assorted piles.

Linda Vestal is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend living in Gibsonville. Contact her with comments or story ideas at lindavestal@triad.rr.com.