I
tend to save things for a bit before throwing them away.
Not
everything. But I always have this ringing in the back of my thoughts
at certain moments, nudging me toward the idea that if I toss
it out, I’m going to need it.
Ever
received a package delivered to your home, and, once you open
it and remove the contents it occurs to you that the box is the
perfect size for about a million different needs? So, instead
of breaking it down and recycling it, you move it to someplace
safe and wait for the day you need a box that size.
It’s
kind of like that.
What
bothers me is when I save something and I know better.
The
other day Terry and I ordered a pizza. Got some breadsticks as
well. As I was packing up the leftovers, I knew that we’d never
be having the breadsticks again. Knew it. Positive. Knew it. But
I packed them up and put them into the fridge. Three mornings
later, they were still there. Untouched.
Yeah,
sure, that’s not too bad. Just some breadsticks. And as long as
I wasn’t taking up needed space in the fridge, it wasn’t a crushing
thing for my life. Heck, on morning number four, break them out,
tear them up, and take a walk to the back of the yard. Little
walk… good for you. Pieces of bread for the birds… good for them.
But
I’m wondering if the attitude isn’t a sign of a bigger problem.
Not
reality television, season 7, episode 14, big time level problems.
My house isn’t a maze of piles of trash that I’m navigating with
no idea what might appear around the next corner (especially since
I can’t see more than four feet ahead of me along a twenty-inch
wide path).
More
of a disorganized problem.
About
three months ago, I was cleaning up a corner of the garage. The
winter was a bit crazy considering everything going on, and I
had a few times when I needed something quickly but didn’t have
time to put it all away. Think ratchet set and crescent wrench
placed to the side after replacing a shear pin on the snowblower
needing to be put away kind of mess. That covers it.
Cleaning
and putting stuff away became slightly more, and I started moving
a couple of things around. After clearing off just one workbench,
I found I had four rolls of duct tape. They were all within a
space of about eight feet by three feet, and yes, one of them
was purchased when I needed some, was sure I had some, but couldn’t
find any.
Now
take that level of quality organization and toss in those perfect
boxes. There… that’s the problem I’m wondering about.
It
never used to be this way.
At
least not this bad.
But
when you have a shear pin that needs replacing, and the thermometer
inside the garage is registering low single-digits (while outside
is negative numbers), and you’ve already returned from eleven-hours
that day at work with dinner to make and a long day tomorrow,
I think you can be forgiven after clearing the driveway for not
moving around to different corners of the garage to put everything
away when thoughts of defrosting your face seem like a more pressing
priority.
Sorry.
Saving things as opposed to throwing them away. Back to it.
I
guess what you could say is that I’m caught in an area where I
know why I’m keeping something and it kind of makes sense, but
I really feel like once or twice a month I should listen to one
of the voices in my head saying “you’re not going to need that,
ever” and just toss it.
But
darn it, I might need it, and then where will I be? (The other
voices make sense. The other voices win.)
It’s
times like this that I think about developing an app for the whole
process. Something for your phone, where you could scan an item.
Any item. The app will quickly calculate what the item is and
then tell you where you could buy a replacement and how much it
costs.
Fourteen-inch
scrap from a two-by-four where it would cost about two dollars
to buy an eight-foot length at any store nearby that carries lumber?
Chuck it, burn it, get rid of it. Last of the Chinese mustard
power, available in no stores within fifty miles, virtually nothing
showing up on the internet except one option where a small bottle
is twenty-five dollars plus shipping? Find room and put that back
in the cupboard.
An
app like that could change my life. Yes, yes, I’m going to be
environmentally friendly and try to reduce my impact on the world.
But I’d definitely never worry again about throwing something
away because I needed it. Except maybe the phone it was on. You
never know if those apps will still be available down the road.