I have a knick-knack problem

[mangaroo]

My holiday week has been characterized by small bursts of cleaning surrounded by huge pockets of lazing about. I've finally disposed of the old PC after ripping out the drive, which is destined for physical destruction. I vowed to be ruthless in cleaning out my college texts, which occupy 4 shelves in my living room. I...failed. I had no problem

Comments

[collarnojutsu]

HAHA! This sounds a lot like what I was doing last fall. Congrats on the PC! (My old Mac still owns me...) Also, I think reveling in the nostalgic joy of knick-knacks and then packing them back up to unearth and revel in again sometime in the future is exactly what you are supposed to do. :D

I can completely empathize with you over the textbooks. I found it funny at the time that I struggled so much with the poetry, as though it was a part of my literary identity, but in reality I wasn't ever a particular fan - a couple of key periods/poets excluded. I just took a bunch of classes because I found them easy? (lol) In the end I managed to part with half of them, (the worst of the line-teeterers were decided for me when a neighbor expressed interest in them - whew!), but I can't remember the fate of my plays. Don't ask me to go crawling around in the boxes in my closet to check though! I couldn't bring myself to get rid of any of the Norton anthologies, either. Or the women writer readers for that matter, even though I can't recall

[mangaroo]

Also, I think reveling in the nostalgic joy of knick-knacks and then packing them back up to unearth and revel in again sometime in the future is exactly what you are supposed to do.

I have to agree. Although if I knew any 13-year-old girls, I might pass on 4 or 5 of the figurines, 'cause I think just one is enough for me to remember the 80s.

I wish you continued good luck with your various de-cluttering battles!

The war has only just begun. I have a freestanding book thing in my bedroom that I wanted to get rid of by New Year's (Happy New Year!), but there's really nowhere for the books on it to go. I have forbidden myself from boxing books in the closet. I need the closet space for other stuff...like clothes and floor fans. Every hour or so, I walk into the bedroom, look around, and walk back out. (It's all very emotionally unbalanced. Look at books in bedroom, feel weepy, walk into living room, see space where PC used to be, joy!)

[sara_tanaquil]

Why would one NOT keep all one's poetry? (And I love Milton!)

I have a box like yours in my attic (which I believe is labeled "LR Knick-knacks"). I haven't opened it since I moved in in 2001. It would be fun to root through it when I get back to CT. I can't remember anything that's in it except some rather bedraggled souvenirs of my trip to Prague in 1988. Still, yay for hoarded treasures.

Congratulations on the decluttering achievements!

[mangaroo]

Areopagitica, yay! Lycidas and Comus, not so much. (And if you're wondering why there's a big blank where my opinion of PL should be...it's a like/hate relationship.)

LR? I envy you your attic. And other people their basements. I could just use a good closet.

[sara_tanaquil]

LR - Living Room

I liked Lycidas a lot, once. I haven't reread it in a long time. And I do love Paradise Lost.

[wednesday_10_00]

I envy you your attic. And other people their basements.

Honestly, they are just another excuse for hanging onto a bunch of crap that you don't need and will never use.

That being said, if you really need a closet, have you ever considered renting storage space?