An email from Cheryl inspired me to tackle our games. There are only a few games that I have the patience to sit down with. Even as a kid, I didn’t love board games. Mark likes to play, though and the kids also play with each other, so they are worth keeping around.

We don’t have an overload of games but we do have some that aren’t played as often as others. For this chore, I didn’t deal with the various card games we have that I consider more learning or math games. This wasn’t an overly burdensome task since the games are stored in a living room cabinet that isn’t ideally suited for much else. I do purge them pretty consistently but they can get toppled and messy in there. I don’t get how they manage to get all askew-we’re talking all rectangular and 2 basic sizes, but somehow they get all sideways and slanted.

Today I purged all the puzzles that the kids have outgrown. Mostly wooden puzzles. I also got rid of a felt board and just a few games. It was only a small box but better at the junk store than in my cabinets.

#1. I had one of those internal debates again and was going to poll some homeschoolers for help but before I got that far, I decided that it was fine to pitch old math books. The homeschool police probably aren’t going to be knocking on my door to make sure my 5th grader completed his 3rd grade book or my 6th grader really actually learned addition way back when. I also concluded that the kids have no interest in browsing through these materials. Maybe most people ALWAYS chuck the old math books after their paperwork is turned in at the end of the year, but I had some insecurities about that. I’ll have to do some investigating regarding whether high school transcripts might require samples of higher level math or something. But I think I can safely purge used elementary math books.

#2. At first I was throwing these into a big bag, you know for the  challenge, but that was HEAVY with everything else that was in there. Then I remembered that I was taking a load of junk mail, newpapers and magazines to our church’s fundraising recycle bin. I wasn’t sure if they accepted school or office paper so I checked the website of the company that provides the bins. DING DING DING. I loved not putting more recyclables in the landfill.

One more thing, I’ve been shredding like nobody’s business around here. I can’t believe how long I’ve allowed totally USELESS paper to take up real estate in our house. Crazy. When a thing has been sitting in a bottom file drawer for more than 10 years and neither of us has looked at it in that amount of time, we’re not going to miss it.

I am so so sorry that I’m junking you up. I really didn’t mean for this to happen. I honestly thought I’d want all of this stuff for ever and ever, amen. I hope you enjoy the video tapes of me playing basketball, be nice and don’t make fun of the terry cloth headband, I needed it at the time. If you’re super smart, you could probably commit identity theft. I shredded nearly everything that had our names or SS#’s but if you dig enough, you might get lucky.

I promise NOT to put any old paint in you. I properly dispose of that stuff during our county’s hazardous household waste collection. I also promise NOT to buy too much stuff from now on that will make its way to your borders. Thanks for your help. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

Truly,
A Recovering Consumer

Did you catch the dilemma at the end of my last post? What, you didn’t read my last post? I’ll refresh you…I would decide what to do with a stack of VHS tapes from a few of my college basketball games. First let me say, that I don’t own a VCR anymore and no, I don’t want to buy one for $30. When our last one broke a few years ago, I joyfully purged our collection of VHS tapes with no regret.

While I was shredding this pile of financial stuff in the basement (I’m not under indictment, but the post about the filing cabinet made me notice the huge pile of bank statements and old checks on top of it) I was thinking about what to do with the tapes.

Another thing you should know is that I’ve had these tapes for more than 5 years and haven’t watched a minute of them. I attended an alumni luncheon and my coach was decluttering her office. I thought my kids would want to see me play and we’d have hours of entertainment viewing them. “Pop some corn kids, it’s W&J vs. Hiram tonight!” Surprisingly, the kids aren’t clamoring to watch them.

I was imagining some conversations like, “Who wants to watch an old basketball game?” (crickets  chirping in the background) or

“Hey guys, I just spent the better part of this year transferring my old basketball games onto DVD so if you want to stay up to watch TV, you have to watch me playing basketball.”or

“Hey mom, what are you watching?” “Just one of my old basketball games” “Cool, can I watch?” “Sure”………….”Do you do anything in this game, I mean besides just run around, like do you score any points?” or

“Gee mom, you weren’t that good.” or “Gee mom, do you sit on the bench for the whole game?” or “What were you guys wearing?” (I played when the uniforms were still tight and polyester).

Needless to say, I pretty much decided that my children would have a full childhood even if they never watched one of my games. But then I was thinking, maybe I should just keep one and they can decide for themselves if they want to keep it and they could show it to THEIR children some day, Well, then that started a whole ‘nother conversation in my head….

“Hey kids, want to see Grandma playing basketball in college?” “Eww, NO!”

In all seriousness, I’m really not that hard on myself. I had to ask myself whether I’d give anything to watch a video of my dad playing one of his games in high school or college. He has some great stories about nail-biting games at a time when the whole city cared about who won. But the answer was “not really”. I have an image in my mind of him dribbling down the court and scoring. Though I have no doubt that watching him on video would meet or exceed that fantasy, what I’d give anything for is to BE at one of his games-but that can’t happen. (I’m hoping that heaven will have something like that in store for me).

The truth is, I’ve played my games. I had a great time but I’ve decided to make room in my cabinets for the present and the future. I have terrific memories of playing and being on the team and holding on to a pile of unwatched videos isn’t preserving those memories for me, so, I’ve decided to let them go.

We have a steel 4-drawer filing cabinet in our basement. It is nice to have, but I’m realizing that it’s also a nice place to hold onto the past. As part of the 40 bags in 40 days challenge, I’ve been looking at my spaces with different glasses.

In addition to our tax files, appliance warranty things,  7 years’ worth of returned checks and bank statements (do I really need these), and some personal things like resume samples and other job-search forms, I have been keeping almost 2 drawers full of old case files. Some from my days as a federal clerk, some from cases that I worked on that include lots of my legal writing. Other files contain forms and resources for employment law-related issues since that was my area of practice.

I haven’t worked full-time for 13 years but I was keeping these files “just in case”. Just in case of what? Aside from a few writing samples, no prospective employer is interested in the nitty-gritty of any of those cases. Part of my reason for keeping them is that they reflect professional successes so I guess, it was emotional attachment, too. But I am years past needing validation from my days in the working world. I really don’t care about that anymore.

To be honest, my brain doesn’t really even process the legal language anymore. Anyone who might hire me in the future-quit reading now-but I don’t remember ANYTHING! As a former federal clerk, I knew the federal rules pretty thoroughly, I don’t even recognize them anymore. 12(b)(6)? Huh? I have to attend continuing education classes in order to keep my license active. I only do it as insurance in case Mark loses his job or something worse. I bumped into a classmate who is also staying home but keeping up with requirements and we were both talking about how we’d be in trouble if we had to work again. She asked whether I could write anything in blue book form (a legal writing standard for briefs), my response was I forgot there was a blue book form. My point is, I didn’t need 2 drawers full of files which basically remind me every time I look at them that I don’t remember anything.

Aside from a couple of writing samples, the files are GONE!

Next up-and I might need your help with this….a stack of VHS tapes from my college basketball games. Even the most relentless purgers among you have to admit, that that’s a tricky one.

You’ll never guess what happened. I’m pretty sure my digital video camera broke today. I opened the tape compartment to put in a new one so I could video my neighbor shooting off giant icicles with a BB gun-no we don’t live in West Virginia-and the compartment won’t close. To be honest, I made this purchase about 6 years ago when my youngest son was just over a year old and I became panic-stricken that I would miss his first steps. He had some developmental issues. I was tempted to launch into action. Call sony, trouble shoot, find out how to fix it, how much it will cost and how long it will take. But then, I remembered…..I’m trying to simplify, right?

The truth is, I never take the video camera to major events because I want to experience them and enjoy them in real time. I have mostly used the camera to tape everyday happenings that I don’t want to forget-certainly not everyday. I’ve had the camera for almost 6 years, but I’ve probably only taped about 6 hours of video. I find the process of uploading and editing and creating DVD’s too tedious.

I’m asking myself, is this little appliance worth all the energy? Maybe I should just cut my losses-in terms of time and energy. Both mine and Hannah’s point-and-shoot cameras take video if I’m ever in a bind and we are going to be forced to re-evaluate our cell phone plan in April. I’m pretty sure you can’t even get a phone without video. So, folks, I’m letting go.

Wasteful, maybe, in terms of monetary investment. But in terms of time and energy, I’m thinking my decision is most cost-efficient.

Thank you sony.