I have a problem with clutter. I keep almost everything. Want a few examples? Suuuurrreee: I have the boxes for 10 pairs of sneakers that I've purchased over the past 12 months. I have the box for my PS3. I'm going to keep the box for my MacBook Pro (with 16GB of RAM!). I have bags of clothes that I haven't worn for years, but I keep them because they're in good condition. I have a draw full of socks with holes in them that I could use to dust my furniture (yeah right). I have cans of vegetables one of us purchased at some point that I'll never eat (canned asparagus, blegh). I'm pretty sure that there is a tin full of saffron in my freezer (not a spice that I would ever think to cook with... oh yeah I don't cook). I have 2 half full boxes of pizza (one muslim friendly, the other not so much) in my fridge. I have draws full of receipts that I've never looked at. Old mail containing expired coupons. Textbooks that aren't mine. A closet with a shelf or two full of unloved stuffed animals (poor guys, they are jealous of G-Money). I could go on... the list seems to be endless.
Why do I keep all these things around? I don't know. Maybe it's because I've never had much of my own stuff and seeing these various things around the house makes me feel normal. Normal as in, "Yeah, people send me mail" and "See, I have arrived. Look at all the stuff that I've accumulated." Maybe it's because I'm unorganized and prone to misplacing things...by not throwing out anything except absolute garbage I feel secure that I could find everything. There aren't any dead cats a la Hoarders, but there are a few petrified spiders. I know it's a bit bizarro.
As part of cleaning up my act, I've decided to shed some of the stuff. For the past 3 weekends, I have made a point to throw out a bag of these indiscriminately accumulated items. I couldn't really tell you what was in the 3 bags though. It's almost like I block out that the whole event ever happened. This weekend I'll be getting down to more meaningful things. Meaningful as in these things are probably worth money to someone somewhere or it's possible that maybe I could find a use for these things someday. I know that if I keep that mindset, they'll never go anywhere so I'll try to follow the motto in the above picture that started this whole post. Wish me luck, kids.
