When I separated from my husband several years ago and moved out, he told me I could have "everything but the furniture." It just so happened that "everything" included boxes upon boxes of stuff (read - junk) that we had been moving from house to house during the time we were married. Most of the boxes had been packed and never opened. It took me the better part of three months, but I unpacked all of the boxes and found things that should have been thrown away long ago. Over the course of those three months I threw away 20 bags of junk. I, like many other people out there, for one reason or another, have things that I just can't bear to throw away. I have talked with others, and come up with a list of the top ten things we just can't bear to toss. I still, however, have not come up with a cause for this affliction.

1. Sentimental Items

I still have several boxes of sentimental items from my kids (I did throw away all of the stuff from the ex...). I have hospital bands, locks of hair, lost teeth, and possibly a dried umbilical cord. Many other people that I spoke with have similar items. Hospital gowns, baby shoes and clothes, you name it. There are also several boxes of the kid's papers and art projects from school. They are nestled safely in the top of the closet so that I can look back at them when I am missing those days. I also have stuff that my new husband gave me. I have cards and dried flowers from when we were dating. When I was emptying the boxes and tossing stuff, I found cards from my ex from years ago, movie stubs, and other trinkets from the good ol' days.

2. Old Clothes

Another thing that people have a hard time parting with is clothing. I still have things that I wore when I was in high school (and it's been 13 years!) and before. This little habit came in handy for me not long ago. I lost a great deal of weight a few years back and kept a couple of pairs of pants from before. I have since gained some weight back (see the above new marriage) and pulled the larger pants out of the closet. I will be saving the skinny pants, though, as I plan on getting back into shape very soon.

I, like many other people, also keep baby clothes. I can't bring myself to part with some of the outfits that my kids wore. I have the outfits that they wore in all of the pictures on the walls. I was going to make shadow boxes with the clothes and pictures, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Part of me is also afraid to get rid of the clothes because I might need them in the future, should another little one come along.

3. Books and Magazines

With stores like Half Price Books and Cash4Books.net that allow you to sell or trade in your books, this one is becoming a little less common, however many of us still have old books and magazines hanging around. I have a hard time parting with magazines, especially if they have good recipes in them. I also like the idea of being able to use them for crafts with the kids. I keep the books so that I have something to read just in case. In case of what, I'm not sure, but just in case.

4. Leftovers

The fridge at work is the prime example of this. Instead of just leaving the leftover food at the restaurant or throwing it out, we take the containers to the fridge and often forget them. Several weeks later, when some poor soul has to clean the fridge, our leftovers have turned into science experiments. Green fur and foul smells are a dead giveaway that there is a leftover keeper in our midst. I'm sure that we all have good intentions. We say that we will keep them and eat them later to save money or to prevent them from going to waste. Then our attention is diverted and the fridge becomes a science lab. Did you know that 6 week old steak grows 3 different colors of mold and tomatoes turn to liquid after a couple of months?

Along these same lines, I have seen more collections of restaurant condiments than I ever expected. Ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper hot sauce and hot mustard have their own bag in my pantry. They are also filling drawers in workplaces across the country. People save them, "just in case" or leave them sitting on the breakroom tables in the office. These poor, innocent packets are then sentenced to life in a drawer or cabinet.

5. Receipts

My husband is a great man, but you can always tell where he's been because of the piles of receipts laying around. I really can't say much because mine pile up in my checkbook. People keep them for different reasons. Some keep them for tax purposes - itemizing for work expenses or audit protection. Some keep them just in case they need to return something or for warranty purposes. Me... Well, I keep them because I'm lazy. I'm getting better, though... there aren't any in my wallet at the moment. I wish I could say the same for him.

6. Gift bags/Gift Wrap

I've found out in my research for this article that I'm not the only person that keeps gift bags and gift wrap. Not the new stuff, either. I'm talking about used gift bags. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't keep them if they're all trashed or shabby-looking. I keep them if they are nice and in good condition. I've got so many of them in my rubbermaid wrapping paper container that there's not room for the paper. I've even been known to keep the tissue paper if it's in good shape. Yes... I must admit. I've also been known to carefully unwrap a present here or there and keep the wrapping paper. Now I know that I am not alone.

7. Medication

One of the local news channels in my area did a special report not long ago. They were discussing expired medications. One of the people they interviewed had medications in her cabinet that expired 4 years before the air date. Some were prescription and some were over-the-counter. We've all been guilty of this one. We buy some ointment or cold medicine and use it once or twice and it sits in the drawer for a couple of years. It gets buried under other stuff and we forget about it. Using these expired products can cause problems. The active ingredients in medications can change as they age and change the effect of the medication. That being said, be sure to check the expiration dates on your medication and properly dispose of medication that is expired.

8. Beauty Products

Those of us that are of the female persuasion tend to have a similar problem with beauty products. We have bags, drawers and boxes full of makeup, lotion, perfume and cleansers. We buy an eyeshadow that doesn't compliment our complexion, or a nail polish to go with an outfit that we only wear once. Then we slip it into a drawer and forget about it. This is especially true for those of us that don't wear makeup often. Aside from the box of makeup in my cabinet, I have bottles and bottles of shampoo, facial cleanser and lotion. Some promised to get rid of cellulite or keep my hair from being frizzy. They didnt' work, so I stuck them in the cabinet. As with medication, the chemicals in these products can change after the expiration date. Bacteria can grow in makeup that can cause infections and other problems. The length of time that makeup can be used differs by type. It is best to throw out beauty products that are no longer used.

9. Craft Items

Lots of people like to be crafty. Fabric, yarn, buttons, crayons, glue, scissors - all the "necessary" items pile up around the house. I have an entire closet dedicated to craft supplies, and even then they spill over into my bedroom closet and the kid's rooms. Heck, I even keep stuff that's not really intended for crafts, just in case I might be able to use it for something. I have a coffee can full of bottle caps that I intend to use to make a table one day. I've had this can for a good three years, if not more. One of these days, I will face the fact that the table will probably never come to be and throw them out. Until then, they will sit in the closet with the rest of the carefully collected art supplies. 

10. Papers

Bills, school papers, newspaper clippings, heck... even the whole newspaper. People keep these things for any number of reasons. I have a pile of bills in my home, partially to keep track of account numbers, and partially because I am too lazy to shred them. As mentioned earlier, the boxes of my kid's school work are there not only for sentimental value, but also just in case the teacher graded them wrong. My husband has a box of newspaper clippings from things that have happened in his lifetime. I'm not really sure what his reasoning is. And I have walked into several homes in my career that were lined with stacks of newspapers. It's possible that people aren't sure how to dispose of them, or perhaps they are planning to use them for fireplace kindling.

We may never know why some people choose to keep things. Sentiment, thriftiness, creativity or just plain laziness are all possiblities. As much as we would like to know the thought processes behind it all, the mind of a packrat is complex and we may never solve the mystery.