So as I have mentioned, I am currently between roommates. My roommate moved out in November, and my new roommate is moving in sometime in late-July. While I'm a little sad to be giving up my solo life, I'm glad that someone else will be around, and glad to have the help with the rent for sure.
When my last roommate moved in, it was pretty quick, and I sort of cleared space for her at a rapid clip. That meant that a lot of things that I should have sorted through just got tossed into bins and boxes and squirreled away. What I should have done was go through things and decide what I did and didn't need to keep. When I moved into this apartment, I had just finished law school (and the bar exam). I had a lot of things (supplies, clothing) that were geared more toward a graduate student's life than toward my new life.
When said roommate moved out, I sort of unpacked all the boxes and put things back into the extra room. Sure, I went through some things, but hey, I had the space, so why bother going through everything with a fine toothed comb? But now that I have to clean out the room again, I've decided to start looking at what I have. I'm doing it in small chunks, a shelf here, a drawer there. It's much easier than saying "Everything in this closet must be reviewed today."
I've discovered that I still have a lot of school supplies. Binders, notebooks, paper, binder clips, pens, highlighters, post-it notes, etc. Lots and lots of school supplies. And yet I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Do I plan to go back to school anytime soon? Nope. But I can't just throw it out. It still has value! I do okay getting rid of books because I can swap them or donate them. But I can't just trash something that still has use. It feels so wasteful! Now that doesn't mean that I'm saving trash or any of the other stereotypical things that hoarders tend to keep, but I'm struggling to throw out things that still can be used.
Clearly, I should do something about this, see if I know anyone who might be able to use this stuff. I have a friend starting grad school in the fall. Maybe she could use a box of highlighters.