I'm A Hoarder

 There I said it!

Before you imagine me living in a house full of boxes, plastic bins and bags piled floor to ceiling, with just narrow passages to walk through, I'm not that bad, but I do seem to keep a lot of things.

What I kept seems to fall into three categories.

First are things that hold memories or sentimental value. That includes my journals; I've kept a journal since I was sixteen years old! That's a lot of notebooks! 

Then there are the photos, maybe thousands of them. When my kids were little, I would use one roll of film every month. Some I would send to my parents, but I kept a lot. 

Then I have boxes of keepsakes. I found a box of stuff from when I was in secondary school, my teen years. I was looking at it the other day; I was looking for something else and came across it. I wondered why I had brought it to Japan!

Then there are the things that I might use again. Things that are in too good condition to throw out, but I can't use at the moment. 

Those are mostly clothes. I've been every size from a UK size 14 to a UK size 28; I'm now about a UK size 20 to 22!

The smaller clothes are from about 30 years ago; will I ever want to wear what was in fashion then? I don't know what to do with them; the recyle shops don't take the kind of clothes I have; they are looking for more expensive, branded items. There are no charity shops in Japan either. Just sending them to the landfill seems so wasteful. 

The last category is things that I spent a lot of money on, plus we don't know how to dispose of them. Things like old computers, TVs and other electronics. I want to find a way to salvage the parts, but it seems that isn't done. The city trash place doesn't take them; I think we have to pay to get rid of them.

My hoarding isn't overwhelming at the moment, except for my journals and photos; most things are in the storage place, out of sight, out of mind!

What triggered this post was some advice from a dear friend. I'm always moaning about this house and how much I hate living here. She suggested finding something small to tackle: each day, clear out one drawer or one shelf, one bush in the garden.

I thought that was a good idea; it's the advice I gave another friend when she was moving back to her home country. I should listen to my own advice.

Today I took a drawer from the bathroom; these drawers were in the living room in the other house. Since we moved here, I haven't even looked in them. I was surprised at the amount of just trash that was in there- empty packs and boxes- but I did come across some things that made me ask, "Why do I still have this?"

From the drawer

The pipe is for something, but I have no idea what. The bank books belong to Hisao; why am I keeping them?

But it's the Christmas napkins that made me smile and sigh! I bought these when I used to make Christmas cookies for the students; that was over 10 years ago, but I still have the napkins, just in case!

I am lucky that my kids are ruthless at throwing things out; maybe the next holiday I can ask them to help tackle some of the boxes in the storage place.

Quick update on David and Hannah.

David has food poisoning. At least that is what the doctor thinks, but it doesn't make sense, as we all ate the same things. The doctor said that if the symptoms don't go away, then David should go back for blood tests to see if it's a virus. David is a lot better; no more fever or body pains, but he still has stomachache. He's eating a bit and drinking, which helps. I really hope he gets better soon!

Hannah managed to see the epilepsy specialist on Wednesday. He said that what she is describing does sound like another type of seizure. She has an appointment next month to have an MRI and other tests. She seems a lot calmer; I think knowing that it's something real helps her. She has started a new part-time job today; I hope that goes well.