Since I moved away from my folks in my late teens, I've thought of myself as a pack rat. Now for some things, that's VERY true. Without question, there are files and photos and whatnot that I've hung onto for FAR too long - no doubt. There is NO reason on this or any other planet that I can think of for me to have kept my I. Magnin charge card, as an example. Does "I. Magnin" not ring any bells for you? Well, I'm not surprised - they haven't existed as a store for more than a decade. And I'm sure I had a very good reason for keeping that one red boxing glove for all these years (even 'tho I've never come across the second one that matches it).
But clothing. When it comes to clothing, I've always thought I was pretty good about not being a clothing pack rat. I've always tried to keep enough of a variety of things that I didn't have to rotate from "Summer" to "Winter" wardrobes. (This is helped by two things: first - I'm always cold so I don't really do shorts and tiny little tops and what not and - second - this is California. We don't DO winter here.)
Turns out, I was horribly, horribly wrong. I've been keeping busy with a "purge project" as of late. Basically, I make myself open and go through at least two boxes a day from my garage. The first few days were pretty easy (and yes, I cut up and tossed my I. Magnin charge card) but then I started noticing that a LOT of the boxes were clothes. How many boxes am I talking about here? Well ignoring what I've thrown out, I've donated more than 20 paper grocery bags filled with jeans and scarfs and dress shirts and suits and slacks and dresses and sweaters and shorts and tee shirts.
Oh my word, so many tee shirts.
I asked my mom at dinner the other night what year she and dad had gone to New Mexico. "That was in the early 90s, I think," she responded. "I'd forgotten all about that trip. Why do ya' ask?" I felt my face turning red as I said casually "oh no reason," and tried hard not admit that not only had I never worn the shirt they'd brought back for me but that I'd just donated it to charity.
Yesterday, just to change things up a bit, I did my standard two boxes of clothing and finished with a "bonus" box that was labeled "office crap". While I made a mental note to employ a better labeling system, I opened it up. It took me quite a bit of time to go through it, but when I was done throwing out the pens and the erasers and the clip boards and the notepads and the business cards and the cute paperclips and the logo golf-related stuff and the cartoon strips, there - at the bottom - was a box of thank you cards. Thank you cards with funny stuff and serious stuff and cat photographs and pictures of flowers and ... well, I saved 'em. I'd thrown out literally EVERYTHING in this box that I've had with me for nine years so yes, I saved the thank you cards.
And I justified it by knowing that I've never even been to New Mexico and don't really need a tee shirt from there ... but I AM frequently thankful and can always use a few cards to help me say so.
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2 comments:
Work-related thank you cards are so nice to keep, they help us to remind ourselves how awesome we are when we're not feeling particularly good about our work lives at the moment. And by "we" and "our," I mean me. ;)
I have an "Office "Crap" box from my last job...still packed. When I moved into the next job I wasn't sure I wanted to unpack it. Wasn't sure I wanted to/
6 years later...I guess I should unpack it. I need the space at home that the box uses. And, my work office could use a few slinkies - suck a geek *wink*
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