Collection development in action.

[hannah]

Tip of the hat to pwcorgigirl for finding this article: How hoarding shows cured my hoarding. With my parents' upcoming move, I'm finally at a "now or never" situation with exhuming my room's collections and items, and as much as I still have the "don't wanna" gut feeling going, I need to stand up and bear down on what I've got stashed around me.

Some of the things I've got still have strong emotional connotations, but a lot of them just have the memory of being an object I'd take out of a drawer to look at. I know they've lost the original meaning, and I can't afford to keep those anymore. I need to be able to say, "East of Eden isn't going to go out of print, so if I want a copy later I can just go out and buy one" and recognize the cost of keeping this copy around is greater in the long run than just getting another one. I don't relish the prospect, but I think if I keep that mentality I should be able to get rid of a lot of things. Maybe even put up another garage sale post.

Does anyone know of any spring cleaning type communities? Having that sort of atmosphere around would be helpful. Alternatively, is anyone else interested in doing a lot of exhuming right now? Even in a small circle, or just a duo, that knowledge of working in tandem is helpful towards keeping momentum going.

And because someday the Internet will collapse in on itself under the weight of all the cat pictures, have a cat relaxing in a sink.

Comments

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Something I did when the boy was little and producing a lot of artwork in primary school was to assemble a collection of it on the kitchen floor and take a photograph. That was a lot easier to save and store than boxes and boxes of glitter-encrusted paper. :)

We're planning to have a family yard sale early in June, so I'll be continuing to dejunk for that. This time I'm going to be smart and price the stuff as I cull.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I was coming here to suggest the same thing. : ) I did that with a well-loved concert shirt that was too tattered to even be worn as a nightshirt any more. Now seeing the pictures (front and back of the shirt) remind me of all the awesomeness associated with the shirt.

I think maybe if I had more of a tactile memory, then saving a little piece of the cloth would have helped, but the pictures were good enough for me.

[euclase.livejournal.com]

i am always in exhuming mode and always cleaning things out, and it's a bit chronic with me, actually, being the opposite of a pack rat. so i would be happy to throw some encouragement/advice/cheerleading your way. :)

*hugs*