When in doubt, throw it out

This article claims that 3 million Americans NEVER throw ANYTHING out, even old newspapers and yogurt cups, “in a twisted logic of perfectionism and fear” that has been experimentally observed on MRI scans of the brains of hoarders at Connecticut’s Hartford Hospital:
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On a video link, psychologist David Tolin held up their junk mail and asked whether to save it or run it through a document shredder. The hoarder’s brains showed activity spikes in one part of the brain.
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“Their brains screamed that they were making an error,” Dr. Tolin said. “So they put down the mail, and the clutter builds up.”
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I read the article to my mom on the phone last week, and we had a good laugh, visualizing my brain, lit up like a Christmas tree, screaming, “No, don’t you dare throw out that junk mail!” I remember my dad telling the story of the day he tried to throw away stuff in his mother’s house, which was overflowing. I believe she was one of the 3 million who never throw anything out. She kept trying to fish stuff back out of the trash can as fast as he could throw it in, so he started deliberately dropping breakable things, old dishes or glass jars, maybe, into the trash can so they would break, and my grandmother sobbed and pleaded, “No, stop, don’t throw it away.”
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Sigh. I’ve inherited my grandmother’s brain. I think I’ll throw away this clipping right now. I don’t want to end up like my grandmother.

This also goes into the broader “declutter my life” goal.
I’m not really done with this; I’m just beginning to apply this principle!!

I’m not sure how long I’ve had them.
The box is 25 years old – one of the very first things I bought for my very first home.
Can you believe it?
I’ve been trying to remember whether these leaves are from the original contents. Chances are they’re not.
But it doesn’t matter – since I’m in doubt, there’s no chance I’ll touch the stuff.

Into the trash it goes!
(But I’m keeping the box!)

Last night, while searching for some missing tax papers, the search morphed into an effort to find some empty boxes to sort the paperwork as I was searching through it. That led to the rediscovery of more wreaths, and remnants of wreaths. Old pine cones. Old ribbons. Falling-apart artificial flowers and berries. Lots of ancient dried eucalyptus, which still smelled good but looked pretty bad. And some miscellaneous other stuff.

I salvaged one wreath and hung it on the back door. The rest is waiting to go out with the trash tonight. And now I’ve got some empty boxes for paper-sorting.

Now if I can only find those missing papers. I know they’re here somewhere.

Notebooks, notes, printouts, assignments from her school/exam days, neatly organized in files (by me).
I still have this fear she may decide she doesn’t like film school and she wants to re-take exams instead.
Then again, she swears this isn’t gonna happen and all this belongs in the trash.
I still have my doubts, but I decided to let them go!

I was trying to make room in the basement, and I stumbled upon a box with some really OLD magazines about computers and the internet.

Who needs internet magazines that date back to 96???
Help for the millenium bug anyone?
Or perhaps installation instructions for a dialup internet connection?

You know your magazines are outdated… when they have an ad for the old AskJeeves site – lol!

Hahaha! I need to make a trip to the recycling bin…

...Which is my favorite variation of this.
It doesn’t matter how much stuff you throw out: If you keep getting new stuff in, it’s futile.

My dear friend in Rochester gave me a used Christmas wreath. She is a fellow pack-rat, and I think she found it at a garage sale, or maybe along the side of the road.

I thought the wreath had possibilities. It was in its box, and had some pine cones and a bow and a few sprigs of plastic holly leaves and berries on it that were in relatively good shape. It was a nice size for a front door. However, the fake evergreen needles had been spray-painted with fake snow, which was looking a little worse-for-wear. So, I bought a new can of fake snow, and planned to give it a spritz and freshen it up.

That was about eight years ago. It has sat in a box in the closet all this time. I’m not sure where the spray can of fake snow is (although I’m pretty sure it’s around here somewhere), but the fake snow on the wreath has turned completely brown, and looks horrible! (I’m Dreaming of a Brown Christmas? I think not.)

So, my doubts are ended. Out it goes to the curb tonight, to be picked up tomorrow morning!

^{of course I’ll probably have lingering doubts later this evening, with thoughts that this poor Charlie Brown (in more ways than one) Christmas wreath can be saved…}

A friend and I travelled through a driving rainstorm to take some old computer equipment to the city electronics recycling event today, only to find out that it had been cancelled because of the bad weather. :(

At least the stuff is halfway thrown out now. It’s out of the house and out in the garage now. That’s a little bit of progress. :)