When my husband and I were dating he said our song was "Saving all my love for you" by Yes. I should have gotten a clue then.
My husband is a Pack Rat. Not like the hoarder on that episode of Bones that caused the ceiling to cave in. Ewww. No he is not quite that bad. But he does have a problem with getting rid of things. His mentality is that someday he may need that orange pair of parachute pants that he has not been able to fit into since 1992, and lets face it, they had ceased being popular prior to 1992.
Since the weather has turned cooler getting the house back into some semblance of neatness becomes a priority with me. In fact you could say my Nazi cleaning ways become a bone of contention, much the same way his "saving" tendencies do. That being said, this past weekend was the weekend we had set aside to muck out the junk clean and straighten up his office.
Going into it, I was advised not to throw anything away unless he approved of it ahead of time. Oh yeah, that was gonna happen. Let me give you an example. He had six, count them six, old cell phone head sets. You know the ones of which I speak. They look like headsets but with a single ear bud. And they don't work by bluetooth (gasp) they actually have to be plugged into the phone.
He has not used a headset like that in five years. But we can't throw them out. No sir. He also still has old stereo equipment he can't part with either stacked up in the closet. An old record player, but no records. An old cassette player and no cassettes. Are you seeing the theme here. We can't get rid of these things because hey, you never know.
But after it was all said and done and we had filled an entire garbage can with shred from all the old files he no longer needed, and the cell phone headsets, and the few other things I was able to get him to part with, no he kept the stereo equipment, baby steps, people. Baby steps. After, he came clean and admitted that it had felt really good to spend time in there knowing his office was organized and cleaned.
I really am a good influence. Heil Kelly! Now strike the Hitler pose. Well I couldn't get him to do it either! So what brings your inner Nazi out of hiding?
He has not used a headset like that in five years. But we can't throw them out. No sir. He also still has old stereo equipment he can't part with either stacked up in the closet. An old record player, but no records. An old cassette player and no cassettes. Are you seeing the theme here. We can't get rid of these things because hey, you never know.
But after it was all said and done and we had filled an entire garbage can with shred from all the old files he no longer needed, and the cell phone headsets, and the few other things I was able to get him to part with, no he kept the stereo equipment, baby steps, people. Baby steps. After, he came clean and admitted that it had felt really good to spend time in there knowing his office was organized and cleaned.
OMG-GO YOU! Who needs 6 headsets??!!! My husband's whole family is the same way. I'd just start throwing it all out.
ReplyDeletei tend to be more similar to your hubby than you re: cleaning. i can purge occassionaly but more often than not, i think, i *might* need that later...
ReplyDeletebut what gets me going are the dishes. i can't stand doing dishes, so i have to get them cleaned up and out of my sight before the food crusts on them and doing the dishes becomes an even worse feat. it's illogical (considering i hate all other forms of cleaning), but yes, dishes. gotta get 'em done lickety split.
however, if they could sing and dance like the ones in beauty and the beast, i might let them sit around for awhile longer.
What you have to do is move. Nothing like the prospect of packing something up to make you realize you don't like it THAT much.
ReplyDeleteSadly, TG and I are both savers. You never know when the eighties will return. It's best to be prepared, right?
ReplyDeleteI'll take the record and cassette players. I have those with no devices.
ReplyDeletePack rat. Yes, that's me. But my stuff is organized into bins. Big huge bins. Out of the way. That way, I know it's there, but no one can see it.
I am not a pack rat and neither (thankfully) is my hubby. However he leaves empty cereal boxes, wrappers, chip bags and apple cores on the counter top RIGHT ABOVE THE GARBAGE CAN!!! Drives me batty. However one week when he was gone on business I found an empty bread bag on the counter. Apparently he has rubbed off on me!
ReplyDeletehi miss kelly! wow you did pretty good on getting stuff tossed out. did you ever see that hoarders show on the tv? yikes those people got so much stuff you couldnt hardly walk in the house. i dont save so much stuff but i got some toys maybe now im gonna give away cause im to old for them.
ReplyDelete...hugs from lenny