Jackie Wells-Fauth
I spend too much time trolling the internet, but once in a while, I run across something that gives me pause. And I feel I should take a few moments to respond to the particular article I read this morning on Facebook.
The article is entitled “30 Things You Don’t Actually Need (But Still Keep anyway.)” Now, as a borderline hoarder, an article like this attracted my attention. I was prepared to indignantly reject all of them, but to my dismay, several of them hit home.
Number 1 item that you don’t need but have kept anyway, is totally bogus. “The box your phone came in.” Not guilty. Half the time, I can’t find my phone itself; how in the world could I keep track of the box?
Number 2 – “Candles you’ll never use.” Spoken like people who have never had a power outage. If you did, you would be grateful, sitting there in the dark in July, trying to read by the Scents of Christmas candle.
Number 3 – “Chargers for devices you don’t own.” Guilty, because I don’t know the ones that I do still need from the ones I don’t need any more and they are tangled together in the drawer like illicit lovers who don’t tell each other’s secrets.
Number 4 – “Crusty nail polish from three summers ago” …does petrified nail polish from 20 years ago apply here? Asking for a friend.
Number 5 – “That stack of ‘just in case’ paper bags.” Okay, mine are plastic, not paper and it’s not so much a stack as an explosion in the making.
Number 6 – “Clothes you don’t love but feel guilty tossing”. Come on, who doesn’t have hangers full of poor choice purchases in the back of the closet? We are all guilty of this one.
Number 7 – “The one earring is missing its mate.” Not earrings (I am too cowardly to pierce my ears) but socks and every plastic container and lid that have gone into my cupboards.
Number 8 – “Takeaway menus (we use apps now)”. Sure we do!
Number 9 – “A random key that opens nothing”. One key??? How about a boxful?
Number 10 – “The fancy mug you’re scared to use.” Okay, if I use the Star Trek mug too much, it won’t do the transporter thingy when it’s hot, anymore!
Number 11 – “The mystery cable you’ve had for years”. That’s right, I have one and I’m going to find out where it came from if I have to get Jessica Fletcher, Columbo and that guy from Midsomer Murders to do it! It’s probably a murder weapon from some cold case!
Number 12 – “Freebies you didn’t ask for.” But those are the best ones!
Number 13 – “Manuals for electric appliances you don’t own anymore.” Well obviously, because that one drawer in the kitchen needs to be overstuffed with something!
Number 14 – Gift bags you plan to re-use but never do. But they are great for holding other gift bags you’re never going to use!
Number 15 – Souvenir key rings from places you’re never going to remember. None for me—Refrigerator magnets; there’s my guilty pleasure. People entering my kitchen must guess what color the refrigerator actually is under all those magnets!
Number 16 – Stickers you’ve never peeled. Please, I have a four-and-a-half-year-old grandson; all my stickers are peeled and on the wall, as God intended!
Looking at this list (and there are many more) I can see I may be a little overstocked at my house. I suppose I should start cleaning things out or maybe I could apply to the television show Hoarders and let them do it for me!
dropsinthewell 