not spring cleaning but

[harborshore]

DEAR GOD WHY DID I KEEP ALL THE THINGS. *sorts papers ruthlessly*


[Poll #1638385]

And tell me about the last option in comments, pls.

Comments

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

i keep everything for years and years until the purge mood comes over me, and then everything's a fair game. but i always keep: old postcards and birthday cards, old notebooks/diaries, books until i can give them away for free or something, sentimental value things like gifts or keepsakes. everything related to studying (unless it's e-copies) dies in purges :)

[impertinence.livejournal.com]

I hoard movie tickets! It works though, because I don't go to many movies.

[dancinbutterfly.livejournal.com]

Old currently useless hard drives. I have this theory that one day there will be a way to extract that data. So I hoard /o\

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

I have been doing a lot of decluttering over the months, or else I would have checked a few more of those boxes. And of the things I did check, the only one where I actually have more than just a couple of items is pictures. Well, and I do have a small stack of postcards, but not too many.

Oh, I guess I should have checked the last one too, because another thing I've kept is letters -- a few from my grandma (who passed away several years ago), my mom, and a close friend I had in high school.

[almostblue.livejournal.com]

I tend to keep small, flat things--like pictures and postcards and notes and letters--because I am a packrat by nature and otherwise I'll keep everything. So I limit myself to paper objects with sentimental value, which means I have a few shoeboxes for each year of my adolescence (middle school, high school, college) stuffed in my closet that my mom isn't allowed to touch.

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

My second family--my tiny little group of friends from high school, we were the lit magazine staff and we were all total word geeks--played word games constantly. Story-by-line, he-said-she-said, word and question...and I've kept at least two dozen pieces of paper with our stupid games scrawled across them, when the game turned out particularly well. They're probably only funny to us, but they're funny, and anyway...I like to remember the time in our lives when we lived in each other's pockets.

[desfinado.livejournal.com]

Just last week I flew across the country to ship out everything I've been carting since I graduated high school, and holy god I am a pack rat. I managed to whittle it all down to ten massive boxes, and filled five big recycling bins with things. For a long time I never wanted to toss out notes or course readers from my undergrad/masters because what if I do a PhD and need to use that stuff??? But last week I looked at one of those books of notes and I actually DO NOT AGREE with how I analyzed things when I was 18. LOL, surprise! So maybe using those notes is actually not so great a thing.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

One thing that's probably relevant to former grad students in the sciences but few else: every journal article I've ever printed EVER. I've got BOXES of articles, many of which I've never read. /o\

I feel very strongly about keeping everything I write, even if it's bad. I still have copies of the very first stories I wrote back when I was seven years old.

[nahemaraxe.livejournal.com]

Everything ever. Argh. We purged the house back in September because we needed space for the baby, but I made a serious D: face at all those clothes we ended up donating. I have no real problem in throwing out stuff I bought for myself if I have to, I just hate it when it comes to get rid of what other people bought me. I go all 'butbutbutbut, they took the time to get me something! Emotional value!'

[sullen-hearts.livejournal.com]

I keep alllll bits of paper, but interestingly, not birthday cards. Well, I have them from when I turned 18 and 21, and I have all our wedding cards, but that's it. Um.

[tonguesintrees.livejournal.com]

But to be fair, I saved college exams and papers and notes in case I decided to go to grad school or teach high school English. I thought they might potentially come in handy!

[erraticonstilts.livejournal.com]

i save movie and concert tickets! i've got a place on my wall for the concert tickets, but the movie ones i keep in a box. i've got some from around ten years ago, it's pretty neat!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

The things I find the hardest to let go of belong to the kidlet. Pictures he drew when he was a toddler, old nursery t-shirts, I have it all.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Ahahaa, me too. Actually, pretty much precisely what you're saying here down to what I keep too.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I get that, I save theatre tickets and concert tickets--I like remembering the experience, which is hard without something physical to tie it to.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I'm sure some day some very geeky and awesome person will figure this out and save your data. *nods*

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Decluttering is both good for the soul and a little tough on you, at the same time. I keep getting into piles and running into memories that I'm not prepared for, ugh.

And I keep letters, pretty much all the ones I want to reread.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is a good rule--I largely do the same, especially with postcards, they're really the best way ever to bring your room/style/memories with you to a new place without ending up with difficult bulky things to ship. Oh, but then I own a million books, so I do anyway (even though I definitely don't bring them all).

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Neat! That's a good way of remembering something that otherwise is easy to forget (even if you don't want to).

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I keep so much stuff. I still have Mac disks from the late 80s with bad writing entombed on it. I'm getting better about the old clothes thing [slightly]. But the rest? It's a bit dense. I've been trying to talk myself into going through the college files and purging that stuff.

Oh, and I should add art projects in general - I have a plaster head from my first college sculpture class that's been lugged across three states and through seven...no eight different moves.

I AM a blackbird *stands protectively over shinies*

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

♥! That's pretty awesome, and something I would totally hang on to too.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Dear god, tell me about it. I've kept ALL OF THE NOTES before and now I finally managed to throw out some things.