My daughter and her husband were living with my husband's dad until he died last spring. We spent last week moving them out of the house and cleaning out some of the last things left from his parents. These are some of the fun things my husband found in the basement:
Canned water - just add water! Wait. No. It's water in a can dated 1961. Old water.
A 50lb block of really ancient powdered milk.
A 1961 72-hour kit-in-a-can. Hubby is planning to open it soon. I'm afraid. Very afraid.
Does old soap go bad? It's pre-1960.
Wire left over from an old phone patch-board. Just random bits of wire with brass connectors. A whole box full.
Things that look like pipe bombs, but they aren't. They're seismometers. Honest.
Meatloaf mix from 1986!
More tools than you can shake a stick at. Or even several sticks.
A wagon jack. Not a car jack. A wagon. As in a wooden wagon. For when the wheels go bad.
A manhole cover.
As we clean out their house, it's making me realize how much crap I've got squirreled away in my house. What we choose to hang onto reveals who we are. I've got a weakness for kitchen stuff. And fabric. And cheap yarn. And toys. I can't seem to part with a lot of the toys still cluttering up my basement. My kids have long since moved on to other toys and pursuits. But my grandson is just starting to discover all the wonderful toys we own.
We held a yard sale last weekend and got rid of a lot of stuff. Most of it went to our local thrift store, but we sold some. I still have a lot of clutter to reduce and remove. But overall, my house is feeling more empty and better organized than it has in a long time.
What about you? What would your stuff say about you if it could talk?
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Keep it clean, keep it nice.