humor, life, thoughts

Enough with the Stuff

Lori

I never thought of myself as a pack-rat. I despise clutter and like cozy but spacious living areas. How about you?

prpod2 (800x467) wmSo, I didn’t understand why I found so much stuff when we packed to move out of state. Or, I should say, dug out of the rubble that was in our house.

Not only did we get rid of a lot of stuff before we left, but we had a garage sale and sold lots of stuff.

When we unpacked to move into the new place, I hadn’t realized that we still brought a lot of stuff. With less storage space in our temporary rental, we left a couple dozen boxes in the garage for the last three months. It seems that we haven’t needed any of that remaining stuff. Why not just toss it, right? God knows we need to move those things out of the way to get two cars in the garage for our first time experiencing winter in 27 years.

Well, we decided to go ahead and pick through those remaining boxes. Turns out, there was some stuff there we actually use, but aside from those things, there was the stuff we don’t use. Stuff that sits around collecting dust. Stuff we brought with us 1,200 miles.

Let me ask you, dear, kind reader, do you keep the following kind of stuff we kept? Do I have to face that I’m a pack rat? Should I keep or get rid of this stuff? What do you think?

1) Vinyl Record Albums from the 1970’s & 80’s (more specifically STYX, REO, Boston, Kansas, Journey and the like)
2) Boxes of CD’s from the 90’s

CD83115 (800x438)                                                  These aren’t even half of them

phalbums (800x450)
3) Photo albums up to the year 2005 (Above shows only half of them)
4) A VCR
5) Old home videos needing to be converted
6) Old video camera that took those videos
7) Boxes of books (Many are history books and spiritual books I refer back to on occasion, plus a few fiction novels I couldn’t part with.)
8) School yearbooks.

yrbooks (800x410)The middle one is my husband’s, other two are mine.

My husband has one high school year book and three from middle school (we called it junior high), for a total of four. I have four high school yearbooks, three from junior high, plus one 4th grade class picture (below) for a total of eight. I have no children to pass these down to and can’t understand why I find them important to keep. Would you say I’m a pack rat yet?

4thgrade (800x443) wm
9) Several boxes of KEEPSAKES! This one needs a lot more discussion. At some point, another blog post is coming on this subject. When it does, I will want to know who keeps the type of keepsakes I have kept, or if I’m, once again … a freak.

kpsakes1 (800x436)One old, battered box of many with keepsake-letters

Are you a pack rat? Do you keep any of these things I confessed to keeping? Have you kept anything else that you haven’t been able to part with?

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Published by Lori

Observer, thinker, learner, analyzer, and author. Love dogs. Enjoy cooking, laughing and spiritual centering.

23 thoughts on “Enough with the Stuff”

  1. Pingback: For Keep’s Sake! | Lori's Lane

  2. I like things to be organised and like to have a good de-clutter, but I don’t think you’re wrong keeping these types of things – I have vinyl records, CDs, photo albums, keepsakes – maybe I’m just a pack-rat too!

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    1. I’ve had about 50/50 on the comments in keeping these things. So, half of us must keep this stuff around. I just can’t part with it, especially the old letters I’m going to share in a future post. Thanks for sharing what you keep, Andrea.

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  3. The albums have gone (and yes, I had that blue one from Styx), but we still have CDs, even if we’ve ripped them all for the iPods. You never know when the Cloud will disintegrate, after all!

    Thought of you today when I heard that Gary Richrath passed away….

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    1. Hi JM. What did you do with those albums when you got rid of them?

      I know, so sad about Gary Richrath. I follow REO on facebook, and the band members have been putting up memorials.

      Thanks for sharing a bit about what you’ve kept.

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  4. Ooh, I had a laser etched Styx album that went astray when I left some things in storage at my then sister-in-laws house… I’ve never stopped mourning its loss!
    We too have old memorabilia, photo albums, cassette tapes which I keep because of messages my school friends scrawled inside the covers. The G.O. keeps them because he dreams of playing them someday 🙂
    I must say more stuff comes in our door than goes out, and it’s unlikely to change. Like Charlie@Seattle Trekker we like our museum.

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    1. Hi EllaDee. Who knows, some of the things we have may just be in a museum some day when they unearth it. Ha. I have a luminescent blue vinyl album by STYX. I think I have that laser etched one, too. Was it the Paradise album? Can’t remember for sure. Thanks for sharing about your museum.

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  5. I wouldn’t feel too bad. We have a media cabinet full of CDs and DVDs that we rarely use anymore. We also have an overflowing book shelf. Have the yearbooks and class photos as well. Guess it will be harder for future generations to be pack rats, as everything will be stored electronically in the “cloud” haha.

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    1. That’s true, future generations most likely won’t have photo albums, or any of the stuff I mentioned. My keepsakes include old hand written letters. Those don’t exist anymore either. Maybe they’ll be historical some day. LOL. Thanks for relating to me, Joy.

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  6. I’m just going through this same thing – trying to get rid of “keepsakes.” Some things you really shouldn’t throw out, but others are just sentimental junk. The hard part is sorting out which is which.

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    1. You’re right, the sorting out part is hard. Are you getting rid of much? Maybe when we buy a house and move from this rental, I’ll be able to part with some of it. Thanks for your input, Anneli.

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  7. I’m definitely not a pack rat, yet I still have stuff I don’t need. I parted with my record albums and VHS tapes a few years back. Now it’s time to do the same with my CDs. I even gave away tons of books, but somehow my shelves are full again. I kept a few personal things, like yearbooks, but now I’m wondering about the necessity of those too. I never look back at them, and I doubt my children ever will. Maybe come next spring cleaning they’ll go…

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    1. Hi Carrie. When we buy a new house, I’ll give you a ring when we pack so you can get rid of some of this stuff for me. I’ll just leave so I can’t stop you. LOL. I hadn’t looked back at those keepsakes before, but since I found it all when digging out, I keep looking at them now. I didn’t even remember I had them. Thanks for sharing your experience with ‘stuff.’

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    1. I’m glad I’m not the only one who keeps stuff. I try to be organized with it, too, but that doesn’t always happen. At least we bought and filled a bunch of organized storage containers now. Thanks for confessing with me, Jill. 🙂

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  9. I wrote a comment and it disappeared. Maybe I didn’t save it?! I do save some pretty interesting stuff (well, at least to me). I keep some pretty interesting things that have travelled all over the world with me. VHS tapes of movies the kids used to watch when they were little, old 45s, an entire matchbook collect. Letters that people actually handwrote and sent through the mail. I am selective in my hording.
    PS: If this message appears twice – I apologize.

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  10. Let’s see. I don’t think of myself as a pack rat, but there are some things I just can’t get rid of. Like old handwritten letters that were actually put in an envelope with a stamp and mailed. I have old 45s, an entire box, that I can’t seem to part with. School artwork from my kids, tax files back from the 90s. Old VHS tapes the kids used to watch when they were kids. Books I can’t part with. A collection of matchbooks I have carted all over the world. Hmmm – maybe I am a bit of a pack rat – but I am selective in what I horde.

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    1. I got rid of the 8 track player, but I have declared the rest of my stuff to be rare treasures. Some years back I concluded that I was not a minimalist, and living in a “Tiny House” was not the right personal fit. I appreciate those that want to live with less, but for me, I like living in a museum where I can touch and feel the expanse of history.

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      1. Ha, no way could I be a minimalist either, Charlie. I’ve kept so many precious memories, but at least we didn’t take along those ridiculous 8-tracks. Hee, hee. Thanks for sharing what you’ve saved.

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    2. Ha. Thanks for sharing your “savings” with us, SD. I don’t have any 45’s left, but I’d have certainly kept those. Seems we’ve kept many similar things. We aren’t so alone. I have tons of record albums, and some were limited additions. I have so many old had written notes and letters I can’t count them. There must be 100’s.They go all the way back to junior high! I hope to share those on my blog eventually.

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