How on earth did I end up with so much stuff? When I moved in to my current apartment back in 2000, I didn’t have time to go through everything I wanted to toss out before I moved. Unfortunately, most of it was packed up in boxes then and moved along with me, stuck in the back of Jason’s closet and left to sit for two and a half years.
Until this weekend. This weekend, I cleaned. I cleaned, and cleaned some more. I ignored the computer, neglected my e-mail, didn’t read a single blog after noon on Saturday. (Thank you to Mike for all of his incredible help!) I cleaned. I still had to go through the boxes slowly though, as some had photos randomly stuck in the middle, or old paycheck stubs and bank statements. I have moved out over eight boxes worth of stuff so far, and kept one consolidated box. From some boxes I only kept a small stack of papers. Others, more. But everything was thoroughly purged and sent off to be recycled.
Old school papers from Jason’s days in Kindergarten were probably the hardest thing to throw away. I saved a few, but most of them are gone now. I can’t save everything he ever did – if I did, my house would be overflowing. The special things are worth holding on to for now.
The easist thing to throw out were the old papers I had printed. It seems that at one point in time back in 1998-1999 I was convinced that I had to print the entire Internet. I found articles from WebReview and other sites in the boxes, things that are still online today. Tips to do things like how to create websites in frames (*shiver*) and CSS tutorials that I never read because they made my eyes bleed. Amazing amounts of stuff, all off to the paper recycling bin now because I can find it all online if I need it. Funny how the Internet has changed things like that, isn’t it?
It’s incredible how much stuff we can end up with if we try to hold on to everything. It is very liberating when you let it go.
