What things are you "holding on to" just because.

[Pickleballgolds]

When we moved about 15 years ago, I had an incredible library and admitted that there’s someone who would use/value everything more than I could as I neared retirement. I found that person and I‘m glad I did more than toss everything into a dumpster. There aren’t more than eight or
10 items I kept from a 43-year career.

 

[da man]

My sanity. Barely.

 

[SixToe]

Somewhat spurred on by this thread today I have had a bout of clearing my shelves in one part of my home office. Through the past 30 years I have kept every box for every piece of tech I bought (enough to buy a yacht or two), as well as the manuals. Most of those are in the recycling bin now. If I don't still have the device, why do I need the box and manual?

We have been in our home for 21 years. About 3-4 years ago in our attic (one of three small spots) I found three boxes of packing paper and a box of floor tiles for two of the bathrooms. A third box with them had more packing paper and a lampshade with “Phoenix” on the side. The four boxes of paper were the same.

We lived briefly in Phoenix in 2004, which means those came back with us to three houses until I found them.

Some days I want to get a roller dumpster in the driveway, open the upstairs windows and toss everything.

 

[John]

Moving always sucks, but at least it does force you to take a good look at what you're packing up and whether it's worth keeping. I did that after getting married in June and selling my house. I still have too much stuff (running shoes, t-shirts, hoodies, books), but at least I have less than I did six months ago. Hoping for another purge once football season is done and an occasional Saturday belongs to me again.

 

[No Phonies]

Some of you are going to be part of an intervention someday. There may even be a camera crew.

 

[I Should Coco]

Here's something I noticed recently: I still have a shoebox from a pair of shoes I wore in college. It has SS on the side of it, which stands for "secret stuff."

Yes, it's a box filled with letters, newspaper clips, photos and other stuff from the end of high school through my college years, when my wife and I were dating. A lot of it is letters and other stuff we sent each other our freshman year, when we went to different schools before both transferring to the University of Iowa.

My wife tossed whatever similar artifacts she had kept years and years ago. When we moved in September 2021, she saw I still had the secret stuff box and was like, "You really need to dump that. Do you want our kids to go through it someday?" Of course, looking through it all turned into a flood of memories and I ended up stuffing everything back in the box and keeping it.

The photos -- at least the decent ones -- will be saved, and I have already showed our now-adult children some of them. By "decent" I mean in focus and worth keeping -- you forget how bad cameras used to be. There weren't any dirty photos taken, but some of the letters? Yeah, probably should dump 'em.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Here's something I noticed recently: I still have a shoebox from a pair of shoes I wore in college. It has SS on the side of it, which stands for "secret stuff."

Yes, it's a box filled with letters, newspaper clips, photos and other stuff from the end of high school through my college years, when my wife and I were dating. A lot of it is letters and other stuff we sent each other our freshman year, when we went to different schools before both transferring to the University of Iowa.

My wife tossed whatever similar artifacts she had kept years and years ago. When we moved in September 2021, she saw I still had the secret stuff box and was like, "You really need to dump that. Do you want our kids to go through it someday?" Of course, looking through it all turned into a flood of memories and I ended up stuffing everything back in the box and keeping it.

The photos -- at least the decent ones -- will be saved, and I have already showed our now-adult children some of them. By "decent" I mean in focus and worth keeping -- you forget how bad cameras used to be. There weren't any dirty photos taken, but some of the letters? Yeah, probably should dump 'em.

My wife and I started going out in 1994, just before the Internet boom and before our college offered email addresses for students (or anyone, for that matter). This of course was also when it cost a small fortune to make long-distance calls. So during our first semester break, which lasted five or six weeks, we wrote letters to each other. I found some of them while cleaning a few years ago (one of the many abbreviated attempts I've made to clean up) and they were really sweet and nice. And we'd just started going out and were worried about our parents finding the letters, so there was no Penthouse Forum **** going on there! :D Feels like a million years ago. II set them aside in a separate box. Now I just have to find it!

 

[MisterCreosote]

I moved quite a bit before I had kids. Like, every year or two. And while I made a point to have as few belongings as possible, I also had some boxes that I just moved from place to place without ever unpacking.

Fast-forward to a few years ago, when I found an old winter coat in one of those boxes. I tried it on, and then noticed something was in the pocket. It was a stack of deposit slips from CoreStates Bank.

For those who are unaware, CoreStates Bank was a Philly staple (and the first sponsor of the Sixers’ and Flyers’ arena) that CEASED TO EXIST IN THE MID-90s. That jacket somehow followed me around in a box for 25 years without ever being noticed.

 

[UNCGrad]

We have been in our home for 21 years. About 3-4 years ago in our attic (one of three small spots) I found three boxes of packing paper and a box of floor tiles for two of the bathrooms. A third box with them had more packing paper and a lampshade with “Phoenix” on the side. The four boxes of paper were the same.

We lived briefly in Phoenix in 2004, which means those came back with us to three houses until I found them.

Some days I want to get a roller dumpster in the driveway, open the upstairs windows and toss everything.

Before our move about 16 months ago, we actually did this - rented a large construction site-style dumpster and had it parked in the driveway.

It made for clearing the attics and garage and everything else soooooooo much easier.

Rented it for a week and the truck came that seventh day and hauled it away. Made for culling 20 years of stuff that much easier. It was a good idea and a great way to handle it.

 

[Songbird]

Inability but sadly not just because.