Thursday, March 11, 2010

It's all TOO MUCH!

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m somewhat of a hoarder. Oh, not like those on TV that barely have room to walk through their homes because of piles of garbage, but I have way too much stuff nonetheless. And I have finally decided it’s time to get rid of some of it. I started yesterday by listing all my paperback review books on Freecycle. Then I flattened and discarded the cardboard boxes stored on the back porch. I went through my file drawer and got rid of paid bills and bank statements (yes, I shredded them) that were several years old. I threw out birthday, anniversary, Mother’s Day, and Valentine cards from year’s past. Who but me would ever be interested in those anyway? Little things add up. I have 25-30 bookmarks and use the same ones all the time. Why? I have a sack of VHS tapes to be donated – some never opened but certainly not new. I have come to the conclusion this type of hoarding is kind of like weight gain – it just creeps up on you until one day you realize it’s TOO MUCH! This wouldn’t be that big of a problem if I didn’t live in a tiny house. ‘Stuff’ is stored in my one-room upstairs. ‘Stuff’ is stored on my back porch. ‘Stuff’ is stored in my basement, although not so much since the floor sometimes floods down there so that's basically wasted space. (We're working on that)  ‘Stuff’ is stored in my garage and in my shed and that’s now a major concern because the shed roof has a big leak and the shed isn’t worth fixing and must come down. Where am I going to put thatstuff’?

So, I’m going to continue to discard more and more and maybe while I’m at it, some of the body weight will disappear also. If you don’t see me here for a while it will be because I’m not reading as much. Wish me luck.

3 comments:

Lisa Rusczyk said...

Good luck! I hate throwing away stuff too - especially greeting cards. I have some that are 20 years old that I can't part with.


Our house is so full of stuff that I've lived here a year and I still find things I haven't noticed.

Kat Bryan said...

I've always heard if you don't use or wear something in a year, you should toss it. There are always exceptions, of course.

It doesn't help when Jim keeps saying, "Don't throw away anything of MINE!"

Lisa Rusczyk said...

Haha! My fiance would have a fit if I tossed anything of his. He's worse than I am about hoarding. Every time we go through the kids clothes to pack stuff away, he keeps about half the out-grown clothes because they remind him of things and he can't bear for them to be out of sight.