While it may seem logical, given the title, that I'm going to post about all the people I saw over the weekend at Old Home Days -- which was the best year yet by far -- no, I'm going to wonder aloud why I can't throw anything away.
1. Aside from my Pappagallo purse, I've held onto things which no sentimental value, such as a tube of Peppermint foot lotion that I purchased at the Jamaica Plain CVS in 1996. I've moved this particular item three times since owning it. After I publish this post the lotion is going in the trash.
2. I have a pair of brown M+M earrings that have a lowercase "e" on them, purchased for me by my mom at Love of Pete in 1981 or 1982. Why? I have unsharpened pencils that are just as old which I kept because they were decorated with alligators or lollipops or something.
3. I have trouble growing plants from seed because I just can't bring myself to thin them enough. I dig out the seedlings that I should be throwing away and plant them in little pots, and then water them until they get too big for the pot before I give up trying to find homes for them.
4. I hang onto computer files and e-mail, and I still have every promo CD that I've ever received, and in many cases I kept the mailing envelope and the one sheet as well.
5. I discovered over the weekend that I have two old cell phones and three working cameras that are not in use.
Any ideas how to break this habit?
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7 comments:
Marry somebody who likes to throw stuff out? That's the only think that worked for me. Might be too late for you.
Put them in a box for a specified period - like six months or a year. If you don't need them, want them, or think about them in that time frame, throw out the whole box.
@ jse -- I think your lovely wife might only like to throw out your stuff. I remember she held onto syllabi from classes she never even took for at least five years after college!
I will come purge you junk - I have been doing more & more of it with my own crap and I can't tell you how liberating it has been (but I do still have my old Pappagallo too and the covers my mom made for it - that I can;t part with)
Keep reading that clutter causes stress - I'm stressed when I try to figure out what to do with all this stuff!
-chiens' mom
lhm: that doesn't help. I open the box and rethink everything.
em: if you find the magic solution, let me in on it. I have been trying, but damn, it's hard to toss stuff.
Add a genetic predisposition and guilt for my contributions to landfills to the mix and I'm one messed up pack rat.
Give the cameras to a preschool!
Then again, why listen to me. I'm such a pack rat that my house is filled with other people's stuff!
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