Unnecessary Stuff Cluttering Up My Life

Patty here…

I have too many things--things I don’t need and often don’t even want--but once they’re in my possession, that’s where they seem to stay.

Here are a few examples I found in a bureau drawer.



I can’t remember when or why I bought that combination lock. I only know I haven’t used it in at least 15 years. At least I had the presence of mind to write down the combination.

I once dated a guy who brought me something red each time he took me out on a date. Inside that red heart is a candle. The wooden box also contains a red heart. I thought he had potential until he gave me a red dishtowel. Gong!

Those sunglasses are so vintage they’re probably back in style.

The round item with the embroidered flowers is a sachet my grandmother gave me in a birthday card. The scent is long gone but I still keep it. Guess where it was made. Nope. Switzerland.

And why do I keep a holder for a cell phone I don’t have anymore?

I bought this hors d’oervres kit from Martha Stewart’s catalog back in the day. I wrote about it in my second book Cover Your Assets, because Tucker has one, too. You can tell by the dust on the cover and the packing paper that neither one of us ever used it.



I have oodles of kitchen gadgets. I’m not even sure what some of these things are or why I bought them. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Some items I use occasionally, like the cherry pitter and the shrimp deveiner. The green thingie takes the papery layer off a clove of garlic. I use it at least once a year, but I'm not sure that justifies keeping it.



For those of you who have one of these...



...do you actually use it enough to justify the space it takes up in your kitchen?

Then there’s the unnecessary stuff hanging in my closet, and the scrapbooking supplies I no longer have time to use, and the books I’ve read and will never read again, and my college essays that are so brilliant I can’t bear to part with them, and the 40 million gift-with-purchase lipsticks that I will never wear because name one person who looks good in any shade of magenta.

And those unnecessary tools in the garage and the garden shed? Don’t even get me started.

So, do you have any unnecessary stuff in your life that you can’t seem to part with?

Happy Sunday and Monday, too!