Hoarder Confessions

Cleaning out the bedroom closet is never a fun prospect.  This time I'm taking it in short bursts of about 2 or 3 hours each weekend.  I've finally found the floor and the back wall.  Along the way I've come across several dust-covered items we've been hoarding for a number of years for NO GOOD REASON.

Here, in no particular order, are my top closet finds which are now firmly placed in the trash or the give-away box:

1. Tote Bags - I found about 50 tote bags from various places we have worked, clubs we've been in and vacations we've taken.  I donated them but, honestly, if I don't want a tote bag from the M.T. Packaging Company, why would a stranger pick that up in the thrift store and say, "it's just the thing I've been looking for!"
2. Empty Shoe Boxes - Around 30 empty shoe boxes, some small enough for the little-tiny shoes worn by a 5-year-old.  My kiddos are in their late teens now.  What on earth was I saving them for?  Shoe box dioramas? 
3. Worn out handbags - There were only 10 of these.  I guess I thought I would decide to use them again someday, despite the frayed straps. Donated, but again, who's going to want them?
4. An old broken guitar - The Honey-Bunch collects guitars.  This one, however, was a broken garage-sale find from over 20 years ago.  He originally intended to have his Pete Townshend moment by smashing it on stage back when he was in a band.  Another missed opportunity. (sigh)
5. Stuffed animals from the 1980s - Some have been donated.  Others I'm thinking about selling on E-Bay, if there's a market for Opus and Garfield.  
6. A Cat Calendar dated 1991 - I just could not part with those cute little kitties... until now.  
7. Old Shoes - too many to count, some without mates, many crumbling from old age.  One pair was at least 50 years old.  It had belonged to Honey-Bunch's father back in the 1960s.  Was I saving them for a shoe bonfire?  I remember reading that burning shoes was a good way to get rid of ghosts. 
8. Coat Hangers - We have not heeded the words of Faye Dunaway as Mommie Dearest, "No wire hangers ever!"  Instead, we have been hoarding the world's supply of wire hangers.  Some I put in a box to donate.  Some I will return to the dry cleaners.  

I think I better stop now before somebody stages an intervention.  I'm getting better.  I've let go of a lot of baggage this week, literally.  I only saved about 10 tote bags.  You never know, I might need them someday.