I'm a recovering saver*. I blame it on my sentimental nature. Chances are, if you sent me a letter in my 27 years of life, it's stuffed in a box somewhere next to ticket stubs and rose petals and other trinkets that I just couldn't bear to part with because they hold some sort of meaning to me.
I say I'm a recovering saver because I'm slowly learning to let go of things. I think that's what sharing a 690 square foot condo with my XL husband and XS dog has taught me: If you haven't seen it or used it in a year, toss it. Now, I'm not quite ready to part with everything sentimental and fully know and accept that I never will be, but I am getting better with ridding my home of useless clutter.
This weekend, while cleaning out the closet in my old bedroom at my parent's house, I came across several of those such sentimental boxes from my youth. Oh lord, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I found! And because I have no shame, I'm listing some of the more interesting things here:
- The Simpsons trading cards circa 1990 (I have been watching the Simpsons since they were on the Tracey Ullman show. I am definitely going to see if these are worth anything on Ebay.)
- Lock of my hair from age 10 (Umm, eww. But interesting to note that my hair is the exact same shade it was 17 years ago!)
- Old jazz shoes from 8th grade (As if I would ever wear those ugly things again!)
- Massive collection of keychains weighing in at about 3 pounds (Including about 15 scopes ranging from age 10 to 17; non-Ocean City, MD beach-goers will probably have no idea what these things are, but trust me, they are awesome)
- My very first reed from when I played the alto sax in middle school (As in the very reed I used to suck on to get it nice and malleable before I played. Bleh!)
- Limited Edition Air Force Barbie (Brand new in the box, with the AAFES price tag still attached.)
- Neon green New Kids on the Block velcro wallet (and also, a sheet of NKOTB stickers to boot!)
- Piece of the Berlin Wall (We moved to Germany a few months before the wall fell and it's hard to believe this happened in our generation. I will definitely be keeping it.)
- Baggie full of used spikes from my high school racing spikes (I used to save the ones from big meets, so who knows, these could be my state championship ones!)
- Box of salt blocks from the salt mines in Salzburg (If salt can go bad, I think these did!)
Help me to feel a little less crazy here...what strange things have you saved over the years?
*I refuse to call myself a pack rat!
