Vicki, my husband is the pack rat in this family and wants to save every broken piece of garbage that we "might" need in the future.

Case in point: we installed our new water heater today. We bought new intake valves and whatever those crinkly pipe thingies are. He wants to save the 30-year-old parts.

HELLOOOOOO!!

I told him that if he wants to keep them, it has to be somewhere in the garage that I will NEVER see. I told him also that if I ever find those parts in the garage, I'll toss them ASAP and he will never hear the end of it.

So then he asked me if I thought anyone wanted our old water heater.

The one that leaks? Oh, sure. They're lining up now as I type this.

Meredith, dare not tell Hubbo that water heaters can be recycled into great BBQ grills...
speaking of recycled,one of your awards was for recycled bottles? Could you explain?

chick

Vicki, Mom was like that. She saved everything. You can't imagine the job we had when they sold the house where they raised five kids.

Chatty's suggestions are good. Here's another suggestion whilel going through "stuff".

Pile 1- Can't live without
Pile 2- Salvation Army
Pile 3- TRASH!

My hubby's a pack-rat too, stemming from being extremely poor throughout childhood. I long ago made peace with his insatiable need to have two fully-loaded pantries (we have enough tins and dry food here to feed ourselves for six months if anything ever goes wrong). But I only just discovered this past week that ALL of the clothing that I thought "we" had given to the Salvation Army over the past few years is still in bags hidden in various cubby holes in our basement!!! Some of the stuff had belonged to my Dad who's been gone for six years now. And all of Mom's clothing was still there, even though I know I had packaged most of it up to give away. Apparently he's keeping it all to take to Cuba someday.

After re-sorting through every one of those bags, and keeping only the stuff I know for certain will even suit the climate and people in Cuba, I ended up with 8 garbage bags full of stuff for the Salvation Army (and then personally phoned them to arrange pick-up next week!)

The funny thing is that while going through those bags of clothing that were supposed to be given away years ago, I found a few things that I had always regretted throwing away, so pulled them out and kept them. But I didn't tell hubby that. LOL.

Vicki, I am afraid if I volunteer, I will just drag your unwanted stuff to my house

My bio Dad's nickname was "packrat", he even had a stamp made with it on there. In our initial hello, this is your daughter phone call, he asked "Do you collect anything?' I said "I am a packrat."
The apple doesn't fall far...ha ha.

I work at the Salvation Army...I need to bring them a box a day. I should be cleaned out by the year 2010. Then I can to start bringing back some of what I brought home...seesh!

Can you believe, I left Canada seven years ago with only 2 suitcases!

chick

I just have to laugh at myself. While posting my message earlier, it reminded me that the Thrift Store was having a Blowout Sale today, with 50% off everything in the store. So I rushed right over and bought $40 (but only payed $20!) worth of clothing, all for our Cuba friends. Most of it was children's clothing, so with the sale it only cost 50 cents for each piece. So I was able to get a lot of good stuff for that $20.

But where to store it all! My giant suitcase is already filled with girls' dresses, toddler outfits, boys' shorts and Spiderman t-shirts...(the goal is to bring one dress or outfit for each child in "our family" there next February)...and we don't leave until February!

Your suggestions sound good. One of the reasons I want to go through my things and sort/throw out, is because I don't want to leave it to my children or grandchildren to do after I die. It's my mess I should clean it up. :-) And, I want my dining room back. Right now it's filled to the brim with aromatherapy and craft related items.

Vicki,

My parents cleaned house, and set stuff in a great big pile, and gave us the option to take any of it. I was VERY blessed to take some of their "junk" off their hands - as some of it had memories attached to it.

just a thought.

danita

I second Danita's sentiments...some of my most cherished belongings came out of Mom's "junk" drawers. They're extra special treasures now that she's gone. By the time my nieces get them from MY "junk" drawers, they'll be family heirlooms.

I think we already have a bbq. I'm not really sure, though, as no one has ever used it. Either way, I won't mention ANYTHING that can be done with a used water heater, or you-know-who will want to save it.

The recycled categories at the County Fair: you take an everyday object that you might throw out as it has no intrinsic value, and you decorate it or make something useful. Last year's #1 winner (not mine) was a cereal box made into a purse.