Have you heard the term mini-hoarder? Tell the truth. Are you saving some things that you are absolutely certain you will never use? I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.
Here’s a few suggestions to get you started before I share. Do you still own cassette tapes but not the cassette player? Or how about a rotary phone in your house that has no RJ11 wiring? Speaking of phones, why are you still keeping phonebooks for cities where you used to live? In the same category as cassettes, those VHS movie tapes are useless without a VCR player. Do you have a drawer or a file cabinet that contains user manuals for appliances you no longer own?
Don’t want to embarrass you, but a treadmill that’s only used as a coatrack is certified hoarding behavior. Rowing machine? Same deal.
Mismatched glassware anyone? By the way, old jelly jars are not drink-worthy.
Even digital equipment can be hoarded. Who has an old iPod or laptop that is still catching dust somewhere? I found a Nano recently and it took a few minutes to remember what it was called or how I used it. At the old workplace, we kept a Mac Plus to remind us of our humble entry into all things computery (a word I’m going to coin somehow). It was considered an homage rather than hoarding.
Photographic slides. Need I say more. Almost all of us have slides and not even simple viewers to view them, never mind slide projectors (Fun for the whole family! Watching slides of bygone times).
Time for the reveal. What am I unable to part with, despite the fact that it is clearly time? High on the list is a bowling shirt from a thrift store that’s at least 50 years ago. It says Rochester Heat Treatment Corp on the back, with a big flame. The front is embroidered with the name Jake (Jay/Jake…maybe that explains it). Just cannot put it in the give-away pile. Still have typed drafts of stories I wrote in high school that were going to be submitted to the New Yorker Magazine. Ha! Their loss. I have an ID bracelet that has my initials on it and vaguely recall that it was a popular thing that every boy had to have in high school.
Believe when I tell you I’m an avid thrower-outer, but some things just defy hoarder logic. Let’s all pledge to chip away at the pile of superfluous stuff we own. You go first.
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His most recent mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.
