Organization Tuesday: Unearthing Artifacts from the Past
Posted by
Becky |
View all posts by Becky
5 Comments » | Published in
Get Organized | 5 Comments
Last week, buried in an upstairs closet, I found what were once tied for first place in the My Favorite Sunglasses Contest circa 1985 (the other pair was the purple slatted ones, like Kanye wore last year, and the runner-up was a splatter-painted pair of black and white Tom Cruise Risky Business wayfarers. These archives also included some state trooper Ray Bans from 1992.):
Oddly enough, the very same day, I unearthed this Polaroid from 1986, the last day of eighth grade. The theme was Hawaii day and apparently this is what I came up with:
From a fashion point of view, clearly I had never heard the fashion advice of “taking one thing off” before heading out the door at this point in my life. It was the big big eighties!
De-cluttering is a TRIP! But hmmm, I haven’t been able to toss either one of these items yet. I suppose in an uncluttered world, I would have the memory of the glasses because I’d scanned this picture, so I could get rid of the original and the glasses, right? But what if someone dares me to wear them all day in exchange for $100?
Another de-cluttering perk – I found 80 Euros, enough batteries to last me until the year 2100, cards from relatives who passed away a decade ago, three extra keys to my house and $75 in change. De-cluttering can be a really good thing when economic times are tough.
How are your organizing efforts going? Are you unearthing anything valuable? Anything that makes you laugh? Anything that makes you say “I cannot believe this crap has been taking up space in this drawer for this many years?”?
Loading...
May 18th, 2010 at 9:15 am (#)
Being a techy kind of guy, my de-cluttering usually turns up tons of connectors, wires, cables, remote controls for things I’ve long forgotten about, and power adapters for various things that are likely long gone.
I’d say keep those glasses, especially since you’ve got that photo. Maybe you could stage a recreation and take a new one. Hey maybe you’ve even got a polaroid camera in all your clutter?
May 18th, 2010 at 8:23 pm (#)
Oh my gosh, the mystery wires I’ve come across are just nuts. Some iPod chargers with firewire or something, all kinds of things from long gone VCRs…no idea what they are for so I am kind of paralyzed when it comes to throwing them out – it feels wrong, or like they are the only wires in the world that will make some appliance that I don’t know I have work!
I think I need to keep the shades too. They are kind of awesome!
May 19th, 2010 at 10:21 am (#)
TOTALLY RADICAL! Ha ha! And are those really feather earrings, too?
You know, you really ought to frame the photo and the glasses in a shadowbox, or something. Maybe a frame like this: http://amzn.to/czANX6
May 19th, 2010 at 12:49 pm (#)
It was actually these gauzy weird blue flowers with beads in the middle!
May 19th, 2010 at 3:50 pm (#)
I hear you on the random cords and plug-ins and stuff. Especially helpful are the completely random Japanese names on some of them, so you have zero clue what they might belong to.
Hmmm…
My thought is, put them in a box with a date a year from now. They are all together then and out of the way. If you haven’t opened the box in a year (or six months or whatever) chuck them. You can always buy one later if you desperately need to. A year also covers any possible holiday-related things. This reminds me why I’m trying to get in the habit of labeling cords – makes unplugging things less of a mystery, too. (oops, I guess that was for the TV I was watching, rather than my computer. oh).
As for what I’m unearthing, nothing especially valuable. Mostly a lot of old and random papers and coupons I clipped, oh, in 2007. Also some things I’ve moved 5 times and have never used. Since I’m just about to move again, it’s a joy getting rid of these things.