Just call me Tracy’s Mom, Jr.

“a relentless pruner” – I like this title. I am a relentless pruner too. I hate clutter, I hate stuff, and I often throw out things I end up regretting. So I guess in this respect you and I are complete opposites.

It’s the whole opposites attract thing. So far, I’m 2 for 2. I can’t stand clutter and am of the opinion that if it’s been in a closet/storage/garage for a year, I obviously don’t have a use for it. Out it goes. I seem to hook up with the ones that can’t stand to throw anything away. I mean really. Are we ever going to have a use for the entire pantry full of plastic grocery bags from Fred Meyers?

I’m just sayin…

Tumblemoose´s last blog post..If writing content is king

Tracy, we just put my aunt in an assisted living, after dumping boxes and boxes of old crap – canceled checks from the 70s, a voting stub from 1994, newspapers of no significance that she brought with her when she moved into the apartment 15 years ago. It was so bad, she couldn’t walk in her apartment. I would go to her apartment, throw out bags of crap, only to come back to more of it on the floor. Then I would go home, take a shower (bugs, shudder) and then throw out bagfuls of my own crap. Best incentive to throw stuff out that I’ve ever had.

Eat the damn candy. Save it for valentines day if you must.

I am totally with George on this one. My ex kept everything and, well, I don’t. I’m not a “relentless pruner” but I don’t like “stuff”. When I first moved to Philadelphia 15 years ago, I got rid of everything I owned except what fit in the car. I miss that freedom from belongings. Of course, kids really increase the amount of stuff that you have.

And, as usual, I can’t stop laughing over here.

Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..How to Style a Sticky Post in WordPress 2.7

To perpetuate the fantasy that this stuff will be worth something someday, my husband has a Dave Matthews promo CD from his college radio days that regularly sells on eBay for over $200. On the other hand, I’m fairly certain that the Dumpster we’re going to have to rent and the time off work it will take to clear out all of the other stuff we’ve accumulated over the past decade or two before we move will cost us more than $200 – so it appears that relentless pruning would have put us ahead.

Oh, it will be valuable some day. Give it four, five generations max and it’ll make your great great great great grandkids millionaires!

@Everyone who did not validate my feelings of holding-onto-ness, I am politely ignoring you and only reading about Pax’s husband’s $200 CD, although that’s the only two words of her post I am choosing to read. ;-p

This weekend I am going to gather up a bunch of stuff to freecycle, so now can I keep my promotional conversation hearts? I won’t be eating them anyway, because I do not like that sort of candy.

Oh! Part of what I will be freecycling is a few boxes of assorted crap the last owners left here!

We just filled a 5×10 storage unit with stuff to prepare our house for sale. Now, a lot of it is our bookshelves and books which are distracting to potential buyers who might be offended by some of our reading material, but I am astounded at the fact that I assumed our house would look really clean once we did this. I swear I look around and it’s like we didn’t even make a dent.

And I hoard. I hoard like the wind. Except that didn’t really make sense.

I can honestly say that I’m not too much of a hoarder; more that I like to make little collections of things.

I don’t even want to contemplate moving from this house. I will leave Mr. O and his “system” alone for a week and let him have at it. He prefers it that way. You should see him pack luggage! One day I’ll take a picture after he’s done packing a bag, it looks like something out a magazine! A fancy one, like Martha Stewart Living!

Hello. new commenter here!

I think you might do well to keep that in its box, you never know.

I prune a lot of stuff but I do have a few boxes of special things like this. Some things are just that – special.

Jannie Funster´s last blog post..3 & 1/2 days

Hi Tracy – You had me laughing about what all your mother saves. I’ve had a lot of relatives like that (I wonder if it comes from them living through the Depression), but when they died, most of it went to the dump.

Although it’s said one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, I really wonder why someone would want some of the stuff I’ve bought over the years. I’m learning how to declutter and let go. It’s gotten easier with practice.

Barbara Swafford´s last blog post..SEO – Are We Getting It All Wrong

Hi there! I’m new here, too, and I’m quite enjoying your blog! I had to let you know that I so “get it.” It’s a daily struggle for me – I want to keep stuff – all stuff – for “just in case” but I can’t.

But you never know when you might need it. Or if it might be a “Collector’s Item” someday. (Collector’s Item was always said with capital letters during my childhood.)

Then I remember an incident with my father several year ago. . . I was tidying the dining room table, and there was. . . something. So I said “what’s this?” And my father didn’t know.

“It looks like it’s broken. I’m going to throw it out.”
“Don’t throw it out. I might need it for something.”
“But what is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But it’s broken.”
“I can fix it.”
“But what’s it for?”
“I don’t know.”

Whenever I am tempted to “save” something because I “might need it” – or because it’s a Collector’s Item – I just remember that hours-long discussion with my father, and tell myself:

Must. Not. Become. My. Parents.

ToyLady´s last blog post..Monday Musings – 02.02.2009 Edition

@Barbara It really does get easier with practice, doesn’t it? All the same, I am keeping my promo box of candy! Perhaps in a year I will be sick of promo stuff but now I love it!

@ToyLady Hi! Thanks for commenting and I’m glad you enjoy my blog. Must.Not.Become.My.Parents is something I say a lot. Except not about my promo box of candy. It has a story, you see.

One thing I will do is donate more stuff when it’s still recent or current enough to be of value to somebody. I don’t want to be that lady trying to give away my copies of “How to Macarena” in 2025 to the Friends of the Library and getting in a fight with the nice library friends when they politely decline.

i was raised in a house like that too!! it took a LONG TIME before i let my kids take the tags off the beanie babies. i had to make sure that they weren’t worth anything first! and don’t even get me started on my stash of 2 dollar bills!!

1) The dude who wrote the book used to have his own show (for about 14 seconds). He did one on phobias. His phobia was “pulling the cotton out of medicine bottles.” I am serious. I was like, “Seriously, dude?!”

2) I think you’ve been saying He’s JUST not that INTO you. correctly. The box is wrong.

3) Perhaps you could steam the box open?

Jenni´s last blog post..Soft Food for the Toothless

Hi Melissa! It’s hard to get over our raising, isn’t it? My first instinct is to stash away anything that is the slightest bit unusual in case it’s valuable.

Hi Jenni! You know what, I think you are right about me being right about the enunciation. And you just added fuel to my “HE has a show and *I* don’t fire”. I don’t even want a show, it just bothers me I haven’t been asked to appear on one yet.

I thought about steaming the box open but am afraid of ruining it as my kettle is ruined and I’m sure to drop it in if I use a pot.

OOOOOH, I have a steam cleaner. Lightbulb moment!