· 6 waterproof hanging file folder bins
· 5 small “apple green” boxes with music and other paper/storage items
· 5 white and black boxes with old calendars/journals/other stuff (2 large, 3 small)
· 9 medium sized charcoal-colored boxes with Christmas items and other stored things
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| Topsfield, MA |
They all sure looked good in that former basement, fitting perfectly between the shelves.
And now, they take up a lot of space in a basement-less place. The weight challenge started as a physical invitation for me to feel relieved when sharing items with other people, such as photo frames last week. Now the weight feels more emotional. I am not going to weigh a bag of letters that I wrote to my Mom, which she kept for decades, and then I kept when cleaning out her apartment. After looking through them, I realized that I cannot keep 25 storage boxes of history for the rest of my life. I was going to scan the letters I sent to my Mom years ago, before setting them lovingly in the trash compactor, but admitted that I would probably never read scores of scanned letters again. It was good to see sketches of former gardens that I made for her, and reports of vacations to exotic destinations.
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| Topsfield, MA |
I’ve also begun going through a box with old journals. I am not asking myself to toss them all right away, but I found a few that it’s ok to part with, such as reports from summer camp in junior high. They brought a smile to my face, and although it’s sad to part with parts of myself, as represented in those journals, I’d like to free up some floor space that is filled with boxes because the closets are full.
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| Gloucester, MA |
I’m still glad to have the charity donation bag with items to weigh, and am finding more uncomfortable shoes in said closet, no matter how good they look! For those of you who have kept history, do you have a ritual for letting them go?
20 lbs donated this week, not including bags of letters unweighed but let go of.
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