Spare house for my crap

It has been decided. I need a spare house for all the crap I keep. That’s right, crap….unneeded, unnecessary items that I hold onto for sentimental value. Perhaps I don’t need a room, so much as I just need to part with some of these ridiculous, yet absolutely AWESOME ‘things’ in my life. I believe it was Thoreau who wrote, “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.” And even though it still boggles my mind that he says “Simplify” three times, I still feel that he has a point.

I am a collector of everything. From tickets that I get at movie theaters, to dolls, to lotion bottles, I hang onto everything. What’s up with that?

I am taking a class right now where we are discussing finances. As part of this financial discussion, we talked about not only having a well-balanced financial situation, but also having an adequate food storage…for those unknown emergencies, tornados, floods, hurricanes, economic crash, stores not being able to carry stuff because the farmers go on strike, not being able to withdraw cash for food, etc.

I was helping my friend Elyse move and while I helped her pack boxes, I found cans and cans of tomato cans, potato sacks, water, etc underneath her bed. At first I just laughed at the thought that maybe one day her bed would break and tomato stuff would spray all over the floor. I laughed pretty heavily to myself…by myself for at least 5 minutes as visions of tomato-red and soupy carpet penetrated my thoughts…imagine the clean-up…hah. LOL. Oh, I kill me. BUT, I realized how much I need to start my own little food storage, bomb shelter-type foods…just in case.

Now I am determined to start accumulating food storage just like I should have been doing since I moved out on my own. After doing a brief look-around in my tiny apartment, I realized that I really don’t have room for anything really. And do you know why…? It is because of MY CRAP, my things, my collection of a lifetime.

Allow me to elaborate on some of these items:

Ticket Stubs From All Events: I can actually remember who, what, where, when and how just by looking at the ticket. I love the memories I have when I look at these stubs.

Homecoming/Prom Knickknacks: Again, what is life without memories? Ah, how I remember well the dances with Kyle Seamans, Adam Kroger, Logan Healy, chick-friends, Donnie Huish, Dave Terry, Brian Gruhn, Tyler Pearce (wait did we go? ;). Wouldn’t want to trade in those memories…or pictures for that matter.

Dolls: I collect porcelain dolls, plastic dolls with the moving eyelids (a little creepy, I know), cabbage patch dolls, Precious Moments dolls and more. Don’t forget my first baby doll whose first name was George, but then I changed it to Randy (even though he was dressed in pink). Since my decor is somewhat more refined and mature, all my collectible dolls are in boxes that take up the guest room closet.

Bells: I collect a bell at every place I ever been to.

Key Chains: A fad since high school that I have just slowly started to get out of, but I still have so many cool one’s, including a vintage key chain from Chuckee Cheese that I got for my 5th birthday.

English Papers: Because I consider myself to be a writer, I like to keep all documents that have shown/illustrated my English progression. Whether or not I actually achieved ‘A’s’ on these papers is beside the point. I like to go through them (at least once a year because that is when I try to clean out my closets) and see what teachers have written to help me become a better writer. You can just read right through the justification of why I keep ALL my papers.

Old Notes: I keep all the old notes from all my buddies in high school. I even have print outs of old emails from friends. Seriously, if you would like to know what you said to me in high school, write me…I will transcribe it for you! Ah, the things we used to worry about in high school….kind of crazy looking back!

Business Cards: I just can’t throw business cards away. Seriously. I have to keep every single one. My philosophy is…’you never know.’

Little Boxes: I really just like saying the word, ‘cute.’ I also really like jewelry of which I have plenty. Having a mother who loves to make jewelry also doesn’t help my collection of that item, which I house in the small little boxes.

Coloring Books/Kids Books/Books in General: I feel like I should just get rid of the extra bed that I am hanging onto for my mother’s sake and just buy a whole bunch of bookcases. Who really needs all these books? I really thought that maybe if I have them that one day, my children will enjoy reading the things that I read. Granted, my mother was able to pass along ‘Goosebumps’ to Bryan, all the other books that we were into at a young age have since taken a back seat to the newer novels of the world. You know what though, I am just not ready to part with my Fear Street collection just yet! (Evil series…really).

Church Memorabilia: From all the handouts my leaders made me in the Young Women’s program at church, to the silly little quotes that I can find online anyway, I have a stack of church memorabilia sitting at home in a shoebox. I started putting them in a book and writing the memory next to it of when I received it and if I recall the emotions that I had. That has also slowed down and now I just have piles and piles. Although, my sister is now teaching Young Women’s and constantly refers to her handouts as ideas for her girls. But the programs from church I saved…they have to go.

Wedding Announcements: I, unlike the majority of my peers and my parents….NEVER throw out wedding announcements. Y’all pay good money for that stuff and I will honor that by saving them!

Pictures: Enough said.

Music: Enough said.

Movies: Including all my old VHS tapes that mom didn’t want anymore. Enough said.

So much more I am sure I can list, but will spare you the details. It is time to DECRAP my house. I almost said ‘my life,’ but let’s get real….