Packrats R Us

Packrats-collectors of miscellaneous useless objects, aka my family.

Out of sight, out of mind; right?

Letters, cards, bills, report cards, progress reports, school assignments, birth certificates, flyers, advertisements, social security cards, pictures, programs, you name it and we've got it stashed away somewhere. The stash site over the last several years has been what used to be our den. Now it is our storage-for-the-crap-we-don't-know-what-to-do-with room. I am talking about boxes upon boxes upon boxes of stuff some of which is important (like tax documents), some of which is sentimental (such as an envelope containing the evidence of my baby sister's first haircut), but most of which is just plain old junk.

I have spent at least 10 hours over the past two days sorting through all of these boxes. And I am still not done yet! I managed to fill up both of our large rubbish cans along with the large recycling bin. And this is all just the first sweep. Since the boxes represent a conglomeration of seven people's stuff, I felt I needed to give them a final chance to salvage some of the items. So I sorted these items into individual boxes for each person and am going to have them go through them. I still haven't tackled the closet or desks and I need my dad to get rid of the remains of past computers, but at least its a start.

The worst part? For the past four years I have been going to school/living in Hawaii. Since flying was my only option of getting to and fro (not so into being on a boat for that long) my luggage was limited to two suitcases and two carryons. Believe you me, I got very good at packing a bag.

Yet even with these restrictions, my stuff expanded expontentially. By the time graduation rolled around, I sent one full suitcase home with my family, completely stuffed two more, shipped 2 boxes home, and dumped the contents of at least one more. I left one suitcase in Hawaii while I ventured off to Taiwan and by the time I returned for it a mere two months later I had to do yet another round of purging. Is there a storage-for-the-crap-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with room in my future?