One of the benefits of building a new home (and selling your current one) is the opportunity to take stock of the things you really need or want — and purge those that you don't.

I've spent the better part of the past month sifting through stuff I've accumulated during the seven years I've been in my house. It's the longest I've ever lived in one place as an adult, and the first time I've had an entire unfinished basement for storage, so you probably can imagine the sorting and purging I've had to do!

What I kept were things that had meaning and memories for me, like the German mushroom-shaped music box from my infancy, my beloved collection of Kodak Brownie cameras , and many photos, scrapbooks, and yearbooks.

And what I didn't keep? Well, early on I'd made the decision not to have a rummage sale — I just didn't have the time or energy to organize one. Instead, I had a "free sale" where I invited my friends and family members over to take what they wanted. My best friend Charlie got a wooden caddy he'd been coveting for years. My mother took back many of her own belongings. Barbara got artwork, vases, assorted paper products, and lots of books. She was thrilled to have them, and I was thrilled to give them a new and deserving home.

Everything else I didn't need or want was hauled off in three tax-deductible trips to my local Goodwill . The rest was packed into a PODS container  and shipped off to storage.

Now there's an idea I wish I'd thought of: They bring you the container, you load it up at your leisure, and then they take it off to storage and deliver it when you're ready. Genius!

Have you experienced your own great purge, maybe after moving out of the dorms at the end of the school year? Was it as cleansing for you — both physically and emotionally — as it was for me?