That Always Ends Up Drivel
I'm not a very sentimental person. I'm definitely not sentimental about things. My parents were ferocious packrats, and so now, they have a large house that is filled to the hilt with stuff that they will probably never use, but because they might one day need it, it's better to be safe and hang onto it. In some way, packrats like my parents keep stuff around as a means of remembering past events. It's kind of like a physical method of Loci for your past: keep an assortment of old things, each of which reminds you of something in your past. Of course, you can attach any memory to just about anything, no matter how trivial. You might even end up keeping something for the mere memory of when you bought it. Isn't that special?
If I have something around, and I haven't used it in six months, I get rid of it. Life's too short to spend lots of time accumulating stuff that ends up in the dark corners of where you're living, so you can pull it out once a year and reflect on days past. Some people I know even took some of their excess stuff and put it into a storage unit; I think that's a little silly.
And you don't have to hold on to every single book that you've ever read. Seriously. I keep a large number of computer books around long-term, to use as references, but any other books that don't serve me in my day job are another story altogether. I love Breakfast of Champions, but I've long since gotten rid of the first copy I've ever read. Over the course of the past ten years, I've acquired about six copies of that book to read, and instead of keeping it, I give it away to someone else after I'm done each time. What are you hanging on to all those books for?
Before moving out to California, I gave my parents a few boxes of stuff to hang onto, since we couldn't fit all of our stuff in the car for the drive from Michigan to California. Now, I can't remember what was in those boxes. That probably means that, when I return home next, it'll be safe to throw them out. I doubt that I'll miss what I can't recall.
If I have something around, and I haven't used it in six months, I get rid of it. Life's too short to spend lots of time accumulating stuff that ends up in the dark corners of where you're living, so you can pull it out once a year and reflect on days past. Some people I know even took some of their excess stuff and put it into a storage unit; I think that's a little silly.
And you don't have to hold on to every single book that you've ever read. Seriously. I keep a large number of computer books around long-term, to use as references, but any other books that don't serve me in my day job are another story altogether. I love Breakfast of Champions, but I've long since gotten rid of the first copy I've ever read. Over the course of the past ten years, I've acquired about six copies of that book to read, and instead of keeping it, I give it away to someone else after I'm done each time. What are you hanging on to all those books for?
Before moving out to California, I gave my parents a few boxes of stuff to hang onto, since we couldn't fit all of our stuff in the car for the drive from Michigan to California. Now, I can't remember what was in those boxes. That probably means that, when I return home next, it'll be safe to throw them out. I doubt that I'll miss what I can't recall.