Drabble by Kevin Fagan for November 03, 2019

hello, hoarders anonymous? I’ve got a new patient for you.

This is exactly what happens every time I try to declutter. Unfortunately, there’s only one person involved in that version of the conversation.

I think the rule is, If you haven’t used something in a year’s time, then get rid of it. Don’t save it for a garage sale, pitch it or donate it.

So Close…and so true to life.

It looks like Honeybunch is one of those sentimental saps.

Garage sales never happen for me, I cart it all in my car foe a few weeks then finally to a thrift store. I have a lot to get rid of still.

My wife used to have a walk-in closet. It is now a look-in closet.

You and me, Ralph.

Come ON, people: We all KNOW the rule is that as soon as you get rid of it, you need it. . .except maybe those size six shirts/dresses you wore when you were 14. . .WAIT! I can probably upcycle them or redesign them or use them in quilts. . .

should have been quicker on the draw, Ralph!

My main clutter problem is all of the paperwork associated with medical and vet care. Tools? I’ve got tools my father’s father owned, they aren’t going anywhere.

we had a garage sale in June for my sister-in-law who moved to a nursing home. we cleared $1,500 and the biggest sale was $30. everything else was much less.

How did my wife get into this cartoon?

When my mother in law went to the nursing home, I filled two dumpsters before I gave up and let the rest go with the house. I think her daughter will be a three dumpster move out. They were big dumpsters too.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Panel 1…I’d like to de-clutter Ralph, too! d;o)

My Wife ! I need to say no more. :-)

Whatever I want to get rid of my husband says not to as it might be needed – and I am talking about MY stuff not his or joint stuff. So I collect and then take stuff with me on the one day a month I go out alone to my embroidery meeting and take it for donation after the meeting.

I used to go to the Salvation Army – this actually predates his quitting his job, so I go once a month or so to same. One day I was bringing a fax machine to donate to the SA – I got there and they were closed – not for the day, permanently. So I went to the Big Brother/Sisters Savers to donate it to them. They had closed permanently also. (It worked fine, but our printer was an all in one and we no longer needed it.) I ended up convincing husband to take it to work as he ran a not for profit agency.

I then started taking stuff to Goodwill. I had not been going to same as it was not in any of the directions I normally went on errands. A couple of years later – they closed permanently also.

I then found that Goodwill had actually just relocated and have been going to their new location for several years – I was going monthly with 3 or 4 bags of my stuff to get rid of it. October 2018 husband hurt his back and I did not get to Goodwill with my bag that month and he was still not better when I would have gone in November. So in December I had a number of bags for them. Guess what? They shut down also.

I have not been able to find anyplace else to donate my stuff to without driving an hour to the next county or going to a Salvation Army location that is in an area that is not safe to go to, especially alone.

So I stopped going through stuff to get rid of as I don’t want to just throw it, much of it is gifts I have received and never used – which is why I hate to get gifts.

The bad thing is that it was all Ralph’s stuff to begin with…

She’s literally insane.