How Nostalgic Are You?

So, seeing as recently I got married and all, moving out of the parental home was kind of necessary, unless we wanted to sleep on the sofas like Homer and Marge. But in the process of moving my stuff from my parent’s house to my own, you inevitably come across stuff that you haven’t used or even seen in years. During the move, I found tonnes of old stuff that I used to love, and therein lies the dilemma – do you keep this stuff you used to hold dear, or do you throw it out as it’s essentially taking up valuable space?

I know which side I fall down on.

I’ll pretty much want to keep anything, no matter how small or trivial. I’m a horder. So, the stuff I did throw out during the packing stage, I deliberated over. For ages. Now, six months on, I can’t remember any of the things I spent such a long time debating over whether or not I wanted to keep, but at the time it was as serious as life or death. Mostly it was just toys, but the decision to dump some (not all, mind) was a tough one. Yes, I realise I’m 26 and shouldn’t care, but I do. I’m sure some of you do too.

Obviously I kept some stuff. I have old VHS tapes, Playstation games and Lego, despite not having a VCR, not having a Playstation, and not having the desire to play with Lego(*). These things weren’t thrown out because they have one of the following two things; One, I spent money on them, and I’ll be damned if it goes to some charity shop considering the cash spent on them back in the day and Two, they have immense, immeasurable sentimental value. So despite the fact that I’ll likely never use them again, I’ll not throw them out because, well, they’re mine. And I love them. It feels right that they’re still in my possession, like I owe them my allegiance.

* such a lie by the way. It’s more that I only have a small collection and if I started building stuff I would probably end up buying loads more, and the Lego obsession would start again. I only ever built spaceships though.

So, I’m just wondering how many people are the same as myself. Do you keep things even though you know you’ll never use them again? Stuff that’ll sit in your roofspace not because you need to keep it, but because you just want to know that you still have it?

It gets me to thinking as well though if it’s a man thing. Cause my dad’s the same, he keeps stuff forever, (although some of his stuff would probably be worth money someday, mine literally is just junk) including things of mine, like schoolbooks and the like. I can understand that I guess, but it comes down to the same principle; they hold sentimental value, so things like my first primary school homework diary is probably sitting somewhere in the roofspace of my parents house. It’s not doing anything, but it’s still there along with piles of other school books. My mum would have them all thrown out, and I understand that too. It’s from more of a practical standpoint, that they’re taking up space, and whenever there’s a spring clean of the house, the topic always comes up. Mum asks me if I want to keep the old schoolbooks, dad says that we’re not throwing them out, and the decision rests with me. I normally try to avoid answering, looking all nonchalant and pretending I don’t care that they’re thrown out, even though I would, but all the while knowing that they never will. Dad wouldn’t let them get dumped.

So, I guess I am pretty sentimental and nostalgic when it comes to these things. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, but if you hear on the news about some bloke who went daft, knocked down his house and rebuilt it with Lego, I hope to God it’s not me.

Cheers
JC

[little footnote: I did a Google Image Search for that first picture and typed in "massive toy collection." It brought up images that were pretty NSFW, and I was in work. If I get a warning, I'll be most unhappy.]