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What are you holding on to?

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I have a confession to make: I am flirting dangerously with pack rat status. Seriously. My closets and shelves are bursting with things I no longer need, want, or use.

But the force of inertia is strong. Things that are there (in my closets/drawers/on shelves) tend to stay there. I wish the Newtonian law didn’t apply to me. But alas, it does.

So I thought it only fitting that I come clean, literally, as we wrap up this month of spring cleaning.

Here are three things I have been holding on to that I really do need to let go.

Generic Glass Vases

My husband and I got a lot of absolutely beautiful vases as wedding gifts. It is one of my favorite things in life to fill them with flowers from our garden during the summer months and scatter them around the house like little treasures. But along the way, we’ve also collected our fair share of generic glass vases (20 to be exact). You know the ones I’m talking about, right? They come as part of a gifted flower arrangement that is delivered to your door. I always felt too guilty to get rid of them – as if it would nullify the gift of the bouquet sent. Time to call the church to see if they need a few extras. If not, Goodwill, here I come.

Castoffs

The plastic garbage bag you see here contains some of my mom’s clothes. I gathered these items from the rustic cabin she and my step father spent summers in weeks after she passed away last July. You must know that every item in this bag was carefully considered as part of a larger pile and “edited out” because it didn’t fit, wasn’t really my style, or didn’t have adequate sentimental value. Technically I should have taken it to the Goodwill months ago. Instead it has sat at the bottom of my closet, where I trip over it every day. It is time to let them go.

Old License Plate

My mom had this on her car in the early 1980s. I’ve had it in my possession for at least 10 years. Enough said.

I am guessing I’m not the only one out there holding on to things that, really, have no basis for remaining in my home. What are you holding on to that you should get rid of?

Posted by Sarah on Apr 25, 2011 print article e-mail to a friend

Anonymous

Some of my worst hoarding examples have been purged with redoing the home office! This is hilarious – we ALL can relate to the vases, license plates (I actually found one in our desk – it’s around here somewhere) and the bag of clothes that just seems to jump out to trip you! Funny!
Susie Kline

I’ve been tripping over things that should already be at goodwill. Because I’ve been too distracted to set up an appointment with the multitude of charities that come down my street weekly.

I’ve also got this great dream about selling the things on Ebay. Except now they all need a good dusting before that can happen…

Great article!
xo Susie
http://practicallyspent.blogspot.com Julie @ Practically Spent

I have such an intense desire to re-purpose things, and therein lies my downfall. You do not want to know the details! But I am making some major strides, and that involves being very selective at garage sales!
SarahButtonedUp

Julie – my husband has the same “New England” gene! It’s good in some respects, but awful when it comes to clutter! We’ve found that the best recipe for reducing his tendency to hold on because he could repurpose XYZ for something is to have a buddy (i.e. task-master me) walk through his “treasure trove” twice a year and cast the final “you’re either IN or you’re OUT” vote. I even put on my best Heidi Klume accent while I do it.
SarahButtonedUp

Susie – if you’re lucky enough to live in Boston or San Francisco, you can use Task Rabbit (www.TaskRabbit.com) to get those things to Goodwill. If not, well, fill in the blanks on this sentence and repeat it to yourself every day until day X. It really works (I did it myself last week and am one bag of clothes down)!

“On _(day X)_____, I will make an appointment with _(charity X)_____ to pick up the bags I have with items for Goodwill.”

OR

“At _(hour/min)____ on __(day)__, I will put at least 3 bags in my car and take them immediately to Goodwill.”

good luck!
http://profiles.google.com/erisraven Cynthia Hahn

I’m sorry, I can’t imagine ever getting rid of that particular license plate. It would have a place of honor on the wall of my garage, someplace like that. <3
Susie

I agree! I say keep the license plate, and I am big on getting rid of “stuff” My downfall is the paper stuff. I just can’t keep it under control.

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