Sunday, August 19, 2012

Step 1: Admit you Have a Problem

Since I'm all excited for my new Ikea nightstands and all that stands between me and them is a total of 40 bags of stuff getting removed from my house before September 28, I found myself extremely motivated this morning.  So much so that I lost track of time and ended up going in to work three hours later than I had planned.  Oh well.  

I've started by sorting.  I know it is no secret that i have so much STUFF.  I have no idea where it comes from.  Well, now that's a lie.  My whole life I have had a knack for accumulation. I'm one of those people who saves almost everything on the off chance that I "might" need it again some time. IT IS A PROBLEM. But no more.  If I don't have an immediate use or a legal responsibility to keep it, it's going away.  (Exceptions: books, winter clothes, shoes, extra bedding, cake pans, and holiday decorations)

Something I didn't expect to come of this challenge was all the funny, weird, and nostalgic things I would find as I sort through my life.  Luckily for you, I've decided to share the best of today's findings:

First is a desk calendar I used my last summer at CGT.  That was THREE years ago.  That means this calendar went with me to New  York after that summer, then moved to my Laurel apartment the following January, then came with me to The Farm at the end of 2010 and has been gathering dust in a tub on my bedroom floor ever since.  WUT?

In the spring of 2010 I had had enough of my long, unmanageable hair.  I convinced my sister to cut my hair for me as I'm terrified that if I go back to a hairdresser, he or she will ruin my hair like every one I've ever visited.  I am a rational person and I know that this is most likely not true, but my concerns are not unfounded.  Emily gets my hair and understands that the underneath layer is, in fact, straight. She also knows that the top layer is curled tighter than the rest of my hair, so you can't just layer it like normal hair.  That's how I ended up with haircuts like "The Diamond" (11th Grade), "The Shelf" (circa 2003), and "The Hot-Ass-Mess" (circa 2008).

Anyway. I had enough hair to donate to Locks for Love, now that they accept naturally curly hair.  So we braided it, chopped it off, and set it aside to be mailed in at a later date.  Apparently that later date has yet to arrive.  So this braid is the first item in the bag labeled "To be Mailed".

 I am a responsible adult.  I am not, however, a receipt keeper.  Something tells me, though, that I should keep this one in a safe place, just in case.  The good news is that the bottom of a bucket designed for apple-bobbing is a safe enough place that it hasn't been lost, and my car turns 4 next week.

I always go back and forth on whether or not I should save birthday/Christmas/special occasion cards.  It's not like I'm ever going to go back and read them again. But, how could I NOT keep this one?  It's from Wiam Haddad, a South African Greentopper who is the epitome of all things wonderful.  This one might even get framed for the library....

There are about a half dozen other bags started with sorting.  They include labels such as Recycle, Return to Rightful Owner, Put Away, Donate, Belongs at Work, Emily, and ?.  I hope that there are eventually several bags of trash, recycle, and donate.


By the time I left for work, I had one large bag completely full of trash.

Days to go: 39
Bags to go: 39

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