1. I save everything. I have class notes from middle school, high school,
and college. I have the rough drafts for every speech I've given, and for
every term paper, research paper, and book report *ever*.

2. The last time I cleaned out my purse, I found receipts that were 3 years
old (the ones that you have to save for Lifetime Warranty's I believe are
exempt from the packrat rule), gum that was so old I barely recognized the
wrappers because the package had changed design 4 times since I had bought
the gum, 3 tubes of lipstick that I hadn't worn in about 5 years, and an
assortment of hair ties that when I tried to use them they were so brittle,
they broke when I went to just put them around my hair once. I have my
college ID (from 1995), my original savings account ATM card (the account
has been closed for nearly 10 years), a library card that hasn't been used
in 11 years, $3.48 in Canadian money (I haven't been to Canada in nearly 10
years), and every fishing license that I've ever purchased (that makes 11
of the buggers)

3. The first time I moved, I moved out of my parents house. Everything I
owned fit in the back of my long bed dodge Dakota. The last time we moved
(8 years later), we moved 7500 pounds of stuff in a 52' moving van. This
is not including what the movers *wouldn't* move and had to go in the car
and truck. We took 5 additional loads in the pick up truck. I still have
boxes that are packed and we moved 9 months ago.
Since the last move we have sold/gotten rid of/threw away/gave away the
following:
Housewares: 3 toasters, 2 blenders, 3 complete sets of glass drinking
glasses, 2 sets of dishes, various pots, pans and Tupperware, 2 coffee
pots, and roughly 20 coffee cups, 3 out of 5 turkey basters, 3 can openers,
2 sets of silverware, 3 comforters, 8 blankets, and about 12 complete
bathroom towel sets, 2 shower curtains, 3 bath mat sets, 30 old
toothbrushes (DH let me keep 5 of them for cleaning), two "wal mart bag"
size bags of empty prescription pill bottles, 6 unused bottles of perfume,
5 table cloths, 4 boxes of toys that DS had out grown or didn't play with
anymore or that he had broken, enough books to keep the most avid reader
busy for several months, about 3000 pens, pencils, and markers that were
either worn down to the nub or had run out of ink, 3 boxes of candles, most
of them unused (I didn't like the smell or the smell had worn off), 9 sets
of drapes, and 12 window pull shades.
Clothes: 9 large TV boxes full. This included clothes that DS had
outgrown and that I knew I wouldn't put DD in cause they were too boyish,
clothes that I've owned since I was 12, clothes that were given to me that
were too hideous to wear (IMO), socks that were either brand new and I
wouldn't wear them because they weren't the "right" ones (I'm really super
picky about socks) or that had been worn and were very ugly and didn't
match anything that I own, shoes that were in perfect condition that I've
had since I was 12 (I haven't grown since then, ok, maybe I grew out but I
didn't grow taller), 6 winter coats, and 10 jackets. DH didn't have any
clothes to contribute because he doesn't have a lot of "civvies" (he
doesn't hang on to clothes the way that I do, and doesn't understand "fat
pants" and "skinny pants")
Miscellaneous: 4 complete fish tanks (had gravel, filter, ornaments,
hood, and light), three sets of golf clubs (I kept my favorite set, it was
the only set that fit me), 4 pair of golf shoes (none of them fit me in the
first place, and I don't wear golf shoes, I'll wear tennies), 2 bicycles, 9
lawn chairs, close to 100 flower pots, 2 boxes of canning jars/pickle
jars/mayo jars/spaghetti sauce jars that I had previously been keeping fish
in, 10 flat sided fish bowls, 15 rose bowls (also had kept fish in them),
various end tables that I didn't use anymore, 8 Christmas stockings (the
fuzzy red ones with the white top...the generic ones), all the ornaments I
bought at yard sales just so my tree would have more than 5 ornaments on it
come Christmas time, 9 bags of tree tinsel (Still haven't figgered out why
I bought it in the first place), 3 sets of pumpkin carving tools, a spool
of telephone wire (according to the label on the spool it had a 1/2 mile of
wire on it), various lengths of regular house wire (I scavenged them from
when they were adding on to a business I worked for, and haven't used any
of it), 4 coolers, 3 thermoses (we kept two of the 5 we had), 3 garden
hoses, 4 lawn sprinklers, two rakes, 3 shovels, two broken weed eaters, 5
sets of Christmas lights that didn't work, 3 (gallon size) Ziploc bags full
of bulbs to replace the burned out ones on the Christmas lights, 2 of the 3
sets of belts for my truck, 9 pictures for your living room wall (omg they
were horrible), close to 100 wall posters I had been saving since I was a
kid, unused folders from middle and high school, 3 trapper keepers from
elementary school, an assortment of silk plants that I either hadn't used
in many years, or had too many of (I kept my favorite ones), most of my
"rock collection" that I started when I was a kid (I kept my favorite ones,
and made sure to save one rock from each state I've been in), two Ziploc
bags of Florida white sand, one ziplock bag of Oklahoma red dirt (from my
second trip to Oklahoma cause I wanted to save it from my first trip {note
the soil in Kansas is black. very black. I had never seen dirt in any
other color]), two printers, various unknown computer cables, 22 telephone
wires (that went from the wall to the phone), two broken cordless phones, 3
broken answering machines, a busted up beyond repair laptop computer, 12
phone books that are out of date, and an assortment of plastic storage bins
that all this cr*p had been kept in.
Crafts: (Yes, I parted with some of my crafts. DH pointed out ever so
nicely that I don't use most of it because its ugly, or I got bored with
that particular craft) 3 TV boxes full of yarn (I kept the yarn that is a
WIP and I'm currently working on 6 afghans), pipe cleaners, 10 pounds of
dried up craft paint, 48 paint brushes (that got replaced by new and better
ones), a $40 el-cheapo sewing machine that hadn't worked since the third
time I used it (I guess I had been keeping it for spare parts even though I
had been given a really nice SM 6 months after I bought the cheap one),
cheapy craft beads (I kept the good glass and crystal ones), sequins, fake
pearls that I bought to replace the missing/broken ones from my 1st wedding
dress, glue on plastic gem thingies that I had bought en masse for a
Halloween costume and only used 3 of them, 10 more pounds of fabric paint
that had dried up (I was into making home made shirts for a while), 5 dried
up ink pads that I couldn't find the right re-inker for, 2 1/2 pairs of
fancy edging scissors (the two that I got rid of didn't work right and tore
the paper, the 1/2 was part of a pair that had broken and I was waiting for
the other half to show up so I could fix it), and a trash bag full of
fabric scraps that were too small to be useful (they were mostly under an
inch in size). Various spools of thread in colors that I can't remember why
I bought them, bobbins that didn't fit my SM, and all of my plastic canvas
needle work stuff.

Now keep in mind that a lot of what I got rid of I have duplicates of. I
got turned away by the post thrift shop because I showed up with 6 trucks
packed full of stuff and they didn't have room for it. I got a nasty gram
from the trash company that services our area because I was throwing away
"too much stuff" and that was *after* most of the neighborhood went
scavenging through my pile (very common around here...if you want to get
rid of something just put it by the curb and someone will stop and ask if
they can have it). I still have more stuff than I have room for, we have a
u-store-it unit off post that is filled to near overflowing. My closet is
still so full that DH has to use DD's closet for his stuff. If I hang one
more coat in the closet, the bar will fall down. One dresser for each of
us is still not enough for my socks and t-shirts. I still have 2 wardrobe
boxes from the movers filled with craft stuff. I have 3 recipe boxes full
of recipes and the cookbooks have overflowed from the bakers rack to the
bookshelf in the living room, and I still don't like to cook unless I can
throw it in the microwave or go through a drive thru. DH is still trying
to get me to go through more boxes and re-evaluate the situation to see if
there is anything I can part with. I don't want to do that as of yet...it
was traumatic enough gettin rid of the stuff I already listed. I haven't
mentioned my tape and cd collection....it is a rather sore spot with me
right now, as is my stuffed animal collection and hat collection.


So. Can I be Queen of Packrats now???

Karlee in Kansas, ever so hopeful that she will now have a crown

~~
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't
matter and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss