Time to "fess up"

For most of my adult life, I've had a secret.  One that plagues my husband and makes our home a little crazy at times.  Being a meanderer who often ponders things too much doesn't help.  It's sort of a sickness that I've been both secretly proud of and also ashamed of at some points in my life.  I'm sure that things would be a lot easier and simpler if I could overcome this obsession and just admit it...say it out loud...come clean...let go...easier said than done.  Much easier said than done.  And in some ways, I can see the practicality of both sides of the issue.  If put to the test, I could argue my point quite effectively...at least in my own eyes.  But maybe if I write it down, I'll be able to either get past the feelings of guilt I'm having right now, or appease my mind enough to convince myself that I'm really being quite helpful, thrifty, green.  Maybe.

Here goes...I...am a packrat...there, I've said it.  When it comes time to throw some things away, I can usually see another use for them and dream up a plan to use them in the future.  My intensions are good, you see, but my "future" may be years away and it should become obvious how that could begin to be a problem.  Now I'm not like the folks who only have paths through their homes or anything like that and I don't have empty baked bean cans lying around or stacks of unused paper napkins that I've saved from restaurants but my attic and garage are loaded with good intentions.  Things I can use to "build" other things.  Future projects that need other components before they can be completed, things I just don't have time for right now and things I'll probably never get around to reusing.  That was painful to admit.

Of course you've heard the green motto, "Reduce, reuse, recycle."  And that's where some of my justification comes from.  Why throw away perfectly good things if you could use them to make something else that is quite useful and cost saving?   Why load up the land fills with things that will still be in the same shape when I'm dead and gone when I could reuse them to make things that I need?  It makes perfect sense...to me.  Now my husband is the type of guy who throws every thing away with the idea that if we need one again, we'll go buy one.  That is completely against my philosophy as a green mama. 

So I guess the compromise will have to be that I organize my stash into a more compact hoard and eliminate things that I've had on hand for years and have never used.  The only problem with that is...and I've had this happen before...within a month, I'll need the things I threw away and I'll be kicking myself!  Maybe what I need is a book that will guide my wandering mind with new ideas about reusing things so I don't have to throw them away.  That idea makes me smile and it's something I can live with.

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest.  I feel as if my burden is a bit lighter now.  So...I'll wait for the next rainy day and dig into the black hole to unearth my saved treasures and hope that I don't see the reasons for saving all of them quite as clearly as I did originally.  'Cuz that could be a disaster!