What we keep?

I am not a saver of crap in large quantities. I never have been. I never will be.

I don't save used plastic silverware from restaurants. I do not save jelly, peanut butter, or mayonnaise jars. I do not save deli containers or butter dishes (granted I do have a few for sending goodies home with people who are known to not return my Tupperware). I do not save coffee cans, milk jugs, laundry detergent, ketchup, or juice bottles. Nor do I save the little baggies that the shoppers guide comes in. I do not save the plates from TV dinners or the dishes from fast food salads. I also do not keep twistie ties from loaves of bread, rubber bands or baggies from grocery store produce.

I do not spend hours darning socks or restringing sweat pants that are 25 years old.

I do not have closets full of clothing or baskets of shoes that don't fit me.

I don't have every cancelled check I have ever written, nor do I have receipts from every item I have ever purchased. I never saved my first paycheck, every tax return I ever filed or every bank statement ever received.

I do not save empty prescription pill bottles or left over prescriptions of any medication that ever entered the house.

I don't posses shoe boxes full of ink pens, drawers full of stationery, or pad upon pad of paper.

I do not keep stacks of every book I have ever read nor every letter I have received or stolen from my child(ren) or my spouse.

I don't have stacks of brand new bathroom or kitchen towels that I never use nor drawers and cupboards full of bar soap and shampoo that has separated from its original consistency.

I do not have a box of dates that has been in my fridge for at least 10 years nor 3 year-old boxes of mac & cheese. I do not store bags or boxes of food in my den neither.

I don't save piles of empty cardboard boxes on the premise that I'm going to move from my 5 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, house with a formal dining room, formal living room, family room and den where I pay over $500 a month to heat only 3 rooms...knowing full well that I have no intention of ever leaving.

Hi. My name is Gail. This statement is true in its entirety. I am the child of a super crap saver and the items listed above are really, honestly, and truly hoarded by my mother. I think of all of the things Edna saved of hers or for herself but, never saved for us kids. Some things hung around though she didn't save them for us. I think of all of this junk in her house and what we'll have to do with it once she's gone.

As a result, I don't save much. I always have my system going - Garage Sale, Goodwill, Give-Away, or Freecycle. I can't stand papers lying around. I'm constantly tossing or shredding. I don't give everything away, as Edna says. I do keep buttons and pins - like she used to. I keep a lot of sentimental things - things given to me, if they fit, if they have a place or I can make a place. I do have a junk drawer. I have kept my own goofy things too...a birth certificate to a Cabbage Patch Kid, an old corporate credit card with the Prince logo, and a dollar bill I won in a poker game. I sort through my goofy stuff time and again and see those odd little things. I go for the trash but, put them back in their hiding spots, not ready to part with them yet.

I've been converting Jeremy - who is a saver. His parents are savers, though different from Edna. They saved stuff for their kids. Stuff they thought the kids would want to keep. I'm glad they did. Jeremy's parents brought stuff over last night. I do enjoy going through Jeremy's high school memories with him. Clippings from football, cards from his Granny, pictures of him with an old girlfriend (I have only made him toss 1 picture of her!). I made him start sorting through the box after they went home. I always tell him, "I don't care what you keep but, I want you to know what you're keeping rather than keep everything just to keep it". I think that's a fair rule.

Like Jeremy's parents, I have saved for Jacob, only more than they saved for Jeremy - cards from the showers, drawings, birthday cards, cards that come for him in the mail, art from his therapy. I save everything for him (and I date them on the back) - my mom didn't do that for me. There is a storage tote in his closet that I put it all in as it comes. I think it should be up to him what he keeps. When he's old enough he can keep what he wants.

(After listing everything I don't save, I now see a huge opportunity for recycling here - and yes, I'm looking into it.)

***I found that we do have recycling in our area. We pay for it every year in our city taxes! Doh! Jeremy picked up the special little bags today, I printed out the instructions/guidelines, and we are now going to become recycling fools!