Isn’t it amazing how once you become a mom, you become the “accumulator”? I remember laughing at my mom through the years and all of the things she kept from my childhood. 
Decorations from every holiday, barbie dolls, pictures, an AMERICAN GIRL DOLL (exciting, right?)… all things that used to mean something to me at some point or another. Now that I am a mom myself, she has slowly been purging her house of all of that stuff and delivering it to me. Kind of like recycling, right? I must admit that I haven’t kept it all, or even most of it, but having the chance to look back through it all brings back some awesome memories.
She’s not the only mom that does that either. My mother in law has delivered a few boxes of my husband’s stuff (please note I didn’t say crap) as well and it’s always amusing to see our son put on his old football helmet, or look at a team picture of dad in his uniform and run around the house pretending to be him.
Now that I’m the mom, I definitely hold on to everything. A few amazing pieces of preschool artwork here, some holiday decorations there, I’m saving it all for that day that I can give it back to them. My husband thinks I’m nuts, but I think it’s just one of those mutations you go through when you’re pregnant. Wider hips from pregnancy? Check. Desire to save every piece of memorabilia from your kid’s childhood. Double Check.
Something else I tend to hold onto? Electronics. God help me we have a gazillion computers, Ipods, old sound systems and speakers crammed into our garage, waiting for the day when I decide to do something with them. Up until recently I was positive that the only way to get rid of them was to give them to Goodwill (a good idea if they are still working) or leave them anonymously in a pile on someone’s doorstep. Ding Dong Dispose-of-your-computer?
Luckily for me and my poor neighbors, Best Buy has a FREE recycling program!
No matter how old it is (8 track player??) Best Buy will take it away and recycle it. In fact, they take so much e-crap, that they recycle 387 pounds each minute that their stores are open. All you have to do is bring it to them and they will whisk away those old memories that you don’t want to keep anymore. The BetaMax you SWORE was the wave of the future? GONE. That VHS that you bought soon after the BetaMax died? GONE. Heck, even that laptop that died 3 years ago but you held onto assuming that one day you MIGHT get whatever pictures you had on there, off??
What? I totally thought I could fix it…
And once you’ve recycled all of your old electronics and purged those old and nasty appliances, you can go out and BUY NEW ONES! Ones that are much more energy efficient, and shiny, and new, and along with old Christmas decorations and painted handprints, you can start accumulating again.
Just blame the mom gene.
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FYI. The reviewer (that’s me) has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free…
So, you know, I can go accumulate some more stuff.
