Doesn't it feel good to throw stuff away? By the door, there's a bankers-box of odds and ends to toss. There's also a larger Rubbermaid® container on the balcony. It contains odds and ends more suitable for giving away.
I'm always shocked to see the huge amount of extra junk we accidentally collect. I ended up going through boxes in my closet as I was looking for my cheque book. I use it so rarely, I had to scrounge around a bit. Eventually, I remembered where I'd kept it (after the last time I'd had to search around for it). By the time if its discovery, however, I was knee-deep in reams of old paperwork and a ton of unnecessary items. These particular boxes were packed when we had wall-to-wall carpeting installed. That was supposed to be a temporary situation but the carpet was laid more than a year ago!
It was surprising to see some of the things which hit the throw-away box. Some paper was quite old. Why did I need the little, yellow booklet containing international immunization records, especially since my last entry was 1994? There were broken mp3 players and a cell phone about the size of a football. Tourist maps from long-gone trips were waiting to be recycled. The camping lantern which used multiple D-sized batteries had to go. There were many things which had no right to have ever made it into the apartment in the first place.
The other, give-away box also has many items which had not been used for years. I gave up on keeping fish, so why was the tank taking up space here? Cute, but unused planters can surely be used by someone else. The Iranian ceramic mugs, purchased in Dubai, are nice but simply take up too much space. The list went on and on.
It feels nice lightening the load a little. Even if these things were worth something, which they weren't, it is silly to surround oneself with too many objects. Getting rid of junk is good for the soul. I'm sure of it.
Now, how do I make sure not to repeat the unnecessary hoarding?
