Cleaning quandry

[jan_andrea]

As part of the Clean Basement Initiative (CBI), we're trying to pare down stuff that hasn't been used in some time, or won't be used in the future. Mostly I have no problem with this. My class notes from college are taking up a good 2 shelves which could be used for, you know, useful stuff, and in theory, I am happy to recycle them. But in practice... I just opened up a couple of random notebooks (Evolution, Ecology -- stuff for my major) and read through them a bit... and I don't know if I can do it! I can get rid of the Education stuff no problem -- that was mostly woo-woo garbage anyway -- but the biology notes... I know I can get the majority of it through Google should I want to know how photoreceptors have changed through time, not to mention that it's been 10+ years since I took these notes, so a not-insignificant amount of the information is out of date. Yet, those notebooks represent so many hours of my life -- they're pretty much all I have left of my college education. Since I haven't really used my bio degree at all, most of that knowledge is long gone from my memory.

So there's my quandry -- I can chuck the stuff from the Gen Eds and education courses, but I'm so torn about the Bio stuff. I took good notes, darn it! I was a good student... at least for classes later than 10am. (Had a tendancy to nod off in earlier classes, alas.) I don't know. Should I toss them, nostalgia be damned, or just pare down to the "essentials" and chuck the rest?

Comments

[ounceofreason.livejournal.com]

Keep 'em. Clearly that's what you want to do, so do it. It's your basement, and you don't need an excuse. Just keep them and feel good about it.

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the thing -- I want to keep them, and I don't. They're starting to mildew; I'm unlikely to look at them again in any serious manner; and it would be nice to have the space.

It really just comes down to my indecision. I need to chuck them from a rational perspective, but I don't strictly want to from an emotional stance.

[indigobeej.livejournal.com]

I held on to my Library School notebooks for decades. Once in a long while, I needed to look something up in them. Same with all of my Russian stuff, which I put so much effort and work into. A couple of years ago, I threw them all out, along with all of my old high school yearbooks. I don't miss them at all. So you might save a couple decades of moving them around if you toss them now. I did, however, save some of my essays and termpapers. For my children to look at when I die. ;^}
(I am at the point in my life that if I think I don't need it and that you guys will just toss it when you are forced to clean out your parents junk, then I try to toss it now.)

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- that's great advice :)

Also, we don't really use the bread machine very often. Do you want a second for your place?

Also up for grabs: deep fryer, small slow cooker, electric skillet (the square kind, w/lid), faux-stone fountain. More to come, I'm sure. Sibs, nearby Friends, even far-away friends are welcome to these things if they don't mind paying postage. All are in good shape since they don't get used very often.