A Keeper Married to a Keeper

There are people in this world who keep things and there are people that throw things away.  As luck would have it, hubby and I are both keepers.  We should have realized that this could become a problem when, with our first home, we kept welcoming kindly donations until we had five couches.  Since we only had four rooms we already had a challenge.  The challenge is that "keepers" can't say no and have a great reluctance to give anything up.  (We actually managed to keep three of the couches.)

Although medical science has not proved me correct, I maintain that it is a genetic predisposition that makes a keeper. It's a gene we inherit.  We can't help ourselves.  Some people can ruthlessly clean out a cabinet or closet and throw away anything they aren't actually using, all without a twinge.  A keeper will make five piles, 1) keep-I'm using this right now,2) keep-I might use it someday, 3) keep-I can probably make something else out of it, 4) keep-the kids might use it and 5) throw it out.  I guarantee the fifth pile won't have a thing in it. 

I have blamed it on the generation of depression era parents that raised us.  They didn't live in a disposable society and made everything last and last.  Some of that is true.  I can't break hubby of wanting to save all his office shirts that are beginning to wear out for farm shirts.  Then he wears one farm shirt at a time until it falls to pieces.  At this rate he won't run out of farm shirts until he is 146 years old. That problem I blame on his parents, who were frugal and keepers. However, my parents were a mixed marriage of a keeper and a thrower.  My dad was a grand "keeper" but my mom was a ruthless "thrower".  I obviously inherited the keeper gene.

Another problem of keepers is that they like "things".  They tend to enjoy having various objects and collecting more.  Add to that a strong Swiss trend toward thriftiness and you have the beginnings of our dilemma.

As elderly relatives died off, we were often offered choice tidbits from their belongings.  Sometimes there were treasures and sometimes surprises. Treasures, like the Jackson Press from Aunt Gertrude or surprises like the "unique" collection of nutcrackers from Uncle Jack.  All are tucked neatly away for future use.  Then you have the fact that part of hubby's job involves holding estate and/or farm auctions.  There have been too many opportunities to get a bargain or just make an "opening" bid that remained yours.  Of these some were treasurers, like the lovely crocheted bedspread stuffed down in a box of old linens that I impulsively bid on.  Some surprises, like the opening bid hubby made on a collection of farm "stuff" that never got a second bid.  The stuff contained over 700 feet of garden hoses.  We watered everywhere on the farm for years with those hoses.

The problem is that the surprises and treasures are beginning to run us off the farm.  Every nook and cranny is filled with our finds.  The basement, closets, attic, out-buildings, barns, and now even the garage are beginning to look like an advertisement for the show "American Pickers".  Our daughter looked at me the other day with a plea in her voice, "Please, Please!  Do something about all of this before ......... "  I could see she was wondering what would happen when we  discovered  that you really "can't take it with you". Then she and her brother will be left to deal with all the treasures and surprises.

It should be interesting---he inherited the  "keeper" gene, she got the "thrower" gene from her grandmother!