What I wanted to be when I grow up (and don't tell me I'm already grown ;-) )...
I would say:
A professional organizer.
Laugh if you want, but at least it is a step up from the answer I gave when I was in preschool...I don't believe I could have made it as a Blue Carebear. Yes, while other small tots were making their mothers proud by saying "I want to be a doctor/lawer/teacher when I grow up!" I was telling everyone I wanted to be a blue carebear. At least I didn't want to be a trash truck driver, no, those were my brothers dreams! ha! We were creative little kids, if nothing else.
Anyways, today...I would like to be a professional organizer. I wonder how much they make? hmmm.
I have jumped on the organizational train people! It's crazy.
I watched the show "Hoarders" last night. Oh. My. Gosh.
Those people, well, they just need to be hit by the organizational train! Yikes!
I realize that it is actually a mental disorder and when you get down to the root of the problem, it is actually sad.
Then, the more I started thinking about it...I think I have mini hoarder syndrome. Really, I think there is a little bit of that in a lot of us!
Why is it so hard to throw THINGS away? or donate them? or recycle them? Why do lots of us feel so attached to things?
You would think I grew up in the depression era. I find myself keeping the most random items. Empty jars, butter dishes, pringles cans, shoe boxes....I see a jar for buttons and beads, a dish for future left overs, a pencil holder, a box to stuff things in. I end up with more of these containers than I'll ever use. Sure, you could turn these items into useful/practical items...but if you haven't turned it into the item you saw it to be, toss it! I'm giving myself a week and if I don't use the item, it's trash!
One of the biggest problems for hoarders is the sentimental value they put on things.
I do it too! I am horrible when it comes to tossing something that "means" something to me, and the biggest problem...lots of things "mean" something to me.
Like, for instance, I can not for the life of me toss out the clothes I wore the day I got married (no it wasn't your typical white wedding gown-remember, I don't do things the way others do them, ha!). I have the white capri pants and hot pink polo shirt still taking up room in my closet. I. Can't. let. them. go.
I also have a headboard in my GARAGE (no, it is not attached to a bed and no we do not make our guests sleep in the garage). My grandfather made it. It wasn't even mine! It was my brothers. My problem? My grandfather signed it and it was one of the last items he made. I. Can't. Let. It. Go.
I will never wear those clothes again. I will never use that headboard.
Why do I keep these things?
After thinking about this question for a bit, I realized that, the longer I keep an item, the more attached to it I become. Like the headboard, if I had gotten rid of it years ago, I probably wouldn't even remember it existed.
My solution, I am tossing things out before I can even get attached to the thing. I started this when I began to organize my hobby closet. I threw away hand fulls of cards and letters that I had received over the years. I kept the ones that really meant something to me. I tossed the cards that were just signed or had a short message of no real value.
My precious mother, recognizing my mini hoarding dilemma, even wrote "throw this card away" on the back of this years valentines card from her. ha! Go mom!
What it all boils down to, is this one simple fact, all of the above mentioned things are just that! Things!!
When I'm long gone, some one will find these things and never see the "value" I saw in these things. These things have no purpose in my actual purpose in life. I would like to quote Carrie Underwood "This is my temporary home It's not where I belong Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going..."
I can't take these things with me to the place I'm going, why keep them here in my temporary home?
If there is some thing or things that you have/had a hard time parting with, tell me about it/them? I would like to know what things others find valuable.
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6 comments:
Over the years I have definitely cured myself of this problem, mostly due to lack of space. When Henry was coming, I got rid of TONS of CRAP from high school and college that I knew I'd never decorate with or use ever again. (I also did this before I got married, but to a lesser extent.) It felt so good to rid our house and garage of clutter. The way I do it is this: I tell myself that these beloved items served their purpose and were much-loved during their prime. It's not that I didn't appreciate them or that they weren't worth the money/time someone spent on them. It's just that their worth is now used up! Their prime is over!
Stephanie will tell you she has a touch of "hoarding syndrome" too!
P.S. Good luck getting men to do this. They hold on to things like nobody's business.
Ok, ask anyone that knows me well and they will tell you that I have the opposite problem, I throw away anything that I don't think serves a purpose or if I don't use it often. A friend of mine had me come clean out her closet. Now as far as throwing that headboard away, I think I would wait and see if maybe your or Chris' "future"child might use it. I do have a table your grandpa made for Steph's sewing machine that I can't seem to get rid of....because he made it. Nana is now using it to hold her mini refrigerator. Have fun!
Thank you Meredith for throwing me under the bus, please do NOT make me share your issues...ok, I feel better now! :)
About what is hard to throw away...anything Perrin has touched, used, or loved. When it comes time to get rid of his nursery decor and all his baby things I may have a melt down. For the time being, my excuse to hold on to them is for future children but after we have all the kids we want, I may have to think of another excuse!
Now Steph you have said that yourself.
Yeah, I was only saying what you told me. Sorry.
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