Pack rats unite

My previous post on losing wedding rings got me thinking about why we choose to acquire and collect things that hold personal and sentimental value. It becomes even more interesting as one goes from a single to a married individual because you not only come into a relationship with your own set of valuable things, but you now have to combine that with your spouse’s. Once people live together as husband and wife, I find it extremely puzzling and amusing as to how things seem to accumulate at a faster rate. When Spring comes around, the glamorous task of cleaning up transforms into a playful battle between “junk” vs. “memento” where pack rat and cleaner are adversaries in a duo to fix up the basement or attic before summer hits. Once summer arrives, the basement or attic is either clean or a stockpile of things waiting to be donated to a charity, found at a garage sale, or sold at an online auction. Even worse is seeing these things being hastily put into large black plastic bags – nameless and doomed from the beginning. Unless a compromise is reached, the loser (for the lack of a better term) must sit back and watch his or her favorite summer issue of Rolling Stone's magazine most likely recycled at their neighborhood library.

There's help, recycle or donate:

To recyle: go here

To donate: go here