I’m usually very good about purging the closets and garage of things we don’t need or use anymore (one of the benefits of having too little closet space- it forces you to get rid of stuff) but there are exceptions. A selection of things I can’t seem to bear to part with, even though DEAR LORD I should:
- mismatched socks that have been through dozens of wash cycles waiting for their mate to reappear.
- fabric scraps
- trinkets from former students
- book club books, even the ones I didn’t like
- the dregs of jars of condiments
- favorite tshirts from high school
- back issues of Cooks Illustrated and Gourmet
- cracked/broken tupperware
- promotional usb thumb drives
I’ve got tons of mateless socks at my house too, just hanging out in the laundry basket. Maybe we could set up something like Match.com for our socks. Even lonely socks need love, too.
1. Plastic containers missing either their lids or their bases.
2. Vases that came with flower arrangements.
3. Good cardboard boxes, even after the point where I have more of them than I can possibly use.
4. Mugs.
Um, yeah. We’re starting to pack up our apartment and yesterday, though it pained me to do so, I tossed about two dozen back issues of Cooks Illustrated. I’d hauled them through five apartments but yesterday was the day to throw them it out.
Note that I still have half-used boxes of old stationery and Christmas cards, and a shelf of paperback books that I bought, started, hated, and refused to finish (but can’t give away because what if I need to read one of them some day?)
I actually have a GIANT fabric shopping bag FULL OF sad, sad socks. I can’t throw them away either because I know as soon as I do, the other will turn up and then I will have killed a helpless sock for no reason.
Swistle’s list is very near to mine. I will also add: personal mail/cards. I never throw it away, ever.
A. still has (and wears!) t-shirts from high school. I do not understand the two of you.
I make homemade treats for the dogs, and one of the ingredients is turkey baby food. I CANNOT dispose of those little glass jars. THEY MUST BE GOOD FOR SOMETHING! I do use them to carry salad dressing to work. But, really, one would suffice. And yet.
You’re up to your ears in the BlogHer thumb drives aren’t you? That’s hilarious. Even the Firestone bracelet one? I donated mine.
I can’t get rid of old paid bills. I’m scared I’ll have to produce them as proof or something even though the payment is online and can be pulled up at any time. But that paper bill! THAT IS THE ANSWER!
We have years of old National Geographic magazines. Years. I don’t know why I can’t just donate them all to an elementary school or put them in the recycling bin, but I can’t get rid of them. I just can’t.
I used to save personal mail – cards, letter, newspaper articles my mother clipped for me. Then one day I saw my husband throw away a birthday card his parents sent him. And I stared. He told me that he never looks at them again and I realized he was right and threw them all away. It felt good. But I do feel a tiny ping of guilt when I throw away anything my grandma sends me.
haha i still have all my blogher thumb drives as well. WHAT IF I NEED TO CONVENIENTLY TRANSPORT A FILE? i might NEEED those then!!
Interestingly, mismatched tupperware is one of the easiest things for me to toss. I hate having junky looking stuff in the kitchen.
Harder? Cosmetics, even ones that I know have GOT to be gross and should definitely go. Also I wear makeup a lot less than I used to, so almost everything goes bad before I use it up. It just feels so painful to me to throw away a pretty color of anything, even if I know it’s disgusting by now.
I am guilty of the mismatched sock hoarding too. You just never know when a mate might reappear!
Other things on my list: cards and postcards, cardboard shipping boxes (like the ones from Amazon or Zappos), old goopy nail polishes (maybe they’ll magically degoopify?), and books of all sorts.
And now I have the urge to do a big spring cleaning!