I would like this to be a lazy Sunday, but I doubt it will be. I really need to go through some more closets and weed out old stuff. We have enough miscellaneous cords and cables for computers and whatnot to outfit an electronics store. Extra monitors, mice, keyboards, old tv's, and the list goes on. I really need to get rid of some of it. I ask myself this question several times a year,
"Why do I hold onto this stuff"? !
I pretty much figured it out years ago - my father was a pack rat and I mean a MAJOR pack rat. When I was growing up, it seemed that every year a new storage building would pop up at the back of our yard. By the time my parents moved out of that house, there were at least 4 large and 1 small that lined the yard! My dad said that this was all the stuff he "needed" to keep. Yet, he continued to add to the collection of crap he had back there. Walking into those buildings was like going to a yard sale. This is probably due to the fact that everything there he bought at a yard sale!! Boxes upon boxes filled with miscellaneous screws and bolts. When you ask him what he needed all that for - cause he might be looking for that one screw one day. Is is that hard to run to the hardware store and spend 50 cents on a whole box of them if needed?! GEEZ!
I noticed years ago that I was becoming the same way. But I've never been able to reach his status because I simply don't have the room to put it all. I'm confident I could do it though if I didn't have these restrictions! Right now, our basement - which is actually part of the "living" area of the house, is slam full of junk. Some of it I really do want/need to keep, but the majority could go for sure. So why do I hang onto it? Well, the old dining room table and chairs takes up the most room. The reason I keep it is because when I got our new dining set over a year ago, my youngest daughter was bummed. She loved the old set that we had used all of her life. She begged me not to get rid of it and save it for her to use one day. She was 12 yrs old at the time. So what is a mother to do? Say NO - I want it out of here? Your memories aren't important?? Of course not - so it sits in the basement taking up an inordinate amount of space. I realize it will be years and years before she could possibly use this thing and by the time she can, she won't WANT to use it. But I keep it none the less because believe me, she would notice if it were gone. She doesn't notice that she can barely walk through her room because of the piles of clothes, but she WILL notice if that table were to disappear!
You wouldn't believe it by looking, but my husband and I actually got rid of about 2 truck loads of stuff last summer out of that room. Guess what? Its filled up again! We probably donated 5 large boxes of miscellaneous cords and cables - but we kept another 5 boxes. Have we touched them since then - maybe once. Will we use any of it - probably not. But just as soon as we dispense of them, we will need something that was in there. And the answer is NO, we cannot just go to the electronics store and buy a new one - why do that, we already have it!
As far as the computer monitors sitting in the den downstairs - this one is NOT my fault! They are too heavy for me to move, and to date, I haven't been able to get anyone to move them out of there. After all, where would put them?? Like how I take the blame off myself for these?!
So, back to the question, "why do we hang onto this old stuff"? Some for sentimental reasons, some because we might need it one day, and some because we are too lazy to move it! Will we fix it one day? Probably not until all the kids have gone to college and we decide to downsize our home. I'm OK with that. There is something comforting about weeding through it once a year, finding some old momento you thought you'd lost and tucking it back into a box to be buried again. One day, this is all we will have left to comfort us and our children when our time is up. Maybe they will have a big storage building to put the stuff in OR maybe they will finally get rid of it.
Happy Sunday!
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