One man's trash...

The other day, in my retirement, I decided to dedicate the day to cleaning out all the extra junk in my apartment, and achieve goal #98-Throw out as much stuff as I can.  It seems that every time I move I think I'm done unpacking and then find ~5 more boxes of things I forgot I had, and obviously didn't need.  And then I say "someday I'm going to get rid of a lot of this stuff" so I finally did.  But it turns out that maybe I'm not cut out for such a thing. My sister, Sarah and I have both confided that the show Hoarders horrifies us, both because it's gross and because we are a little terrified that it will be us someday.  My dad has the hoarder gene.  And he passed it to us.  I have a pretty strong hatred of clutter, though too, so here's hoping I'll be able to stave it off long enough that I never make it on the show.

So I went through every drawer, every closet, every cabinet and I got rid of everything I knew I could do without.  It came out to be about 6 big trash bags.  So theoretically everything that is still in my house is something I've decided I really should keep and will most likely use in the future.  See below and you be the judge.  But please understand I've already judged myself.  

I now present to you a few of the things I decided to keep:

This little number is from the height of both my tomboy stage and my copy-everything-Sarah-did phase (she has/had one in red).  It honestly feels a little vulnerable sharing this because of how embarrassing it is.  But I still love this shirt enough that I feel like it will "come back" someday (severely questionable that it was ever in) and I'll be able to wear it again.  But also I'll just wear it at home whenever I want and still enjoy it.  It is a size XS and not tiny which almost definitely says even J. Crew considered this piece 'mens' even in the flannel-shirts-are-feminine 90s. 

This painting came from one of those do a painting drink a glass of wine experiences.  It was a really fun night, but with this outcome one might wonder why on earth it's still in my home?  Fair.  I think I think I'll repurpose the canvas, but who knows.  Maybe this little beauty will be with us for a while, it made it through one round of scrutiny.  White Elephant anyone?  (Did I mention I was a studio art major?  And I totally scoffed when my dad thought that might not be the most appropriate major for me?)

This is a bag of buttons that I've been saving for a while.  Buttons and extra thread it looks like.  The answer to the question in your head is no.  No I've never once needed one.

This next one is something I've never stopped thinking was awesome.  But what do you EVER use a switchblade comb for?  If you have an answer I'd really love to hear it because I've been hanging onto this since I bought it in Washington DC on a 10th grade trip just waiting for that answer.  And I hang on to it still...

Last, but obviously not least is this sweatshirt that Kristen Rieke found for me at a thrift store in California a few years ago.  I love it.  And yet, I don't think I'll ever be cool enough to pull this off in any situation.  But it sits in my closet as if some day I might find the perfect use for it.

So, again, I'm going to chalk this up as a goal achieved, but let's all agree that I won't feel overly pleased with myself.  BUT to end on a celebratory note.  I did get rid of all this:

And my two friends at Goodwill couldn't have been nicer when they accepted all my gems.  If they only knew what they'd missed out on...