Throw Away Generation

Throw Away Generation

We’ve all heard about us being the throw away generation. Nothing, we buy is made to be fixed; when it goes bad we throw it away, and go buy another one, whether it is a television, refrigerator, newspaper, or just a pair of jeans. We keep nothing; this is how our age group is conceived by the older generation. To tell you the truth, I believe this statement is very true, but I for one know why I am a throw away person.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to help clean out the homes of four older people. My grandmother’s home was nice and neat. She had kept things throughout the years, which was important to my grandfather and her. She kept knick-knacks, books, pictures, and furniture that had fit her small home.

The next house I helped clean was a dear friend of my in-laws. I had never seen such a mess.  Boxes and boxes of newspapers, magazines, and old food that had been kept long after the expiration date had passed, all of which had to be thrown out. The place hadn’t looked like it had been dusted or cleaned for over five years.

When my aunt took ill, I went to work cleaning her house, it was much the same you couldn’t find her living room rug. There was a pathway from her chair, to the front door, the bathroom, and the kitchen. I cleaned this house with her eying every move I made; this was probably the hardest job I’ve ever had. She needed that newspaper, or this magazine had an article that she wanted to cut out. What happened to the television that was bought the day they moved into the house? I tried to explain the television had quit, so I threw it out. She wanted to know why I had thrown it out. I should have kept it, just like she had done the last two televisions that had quit. It went on and on for over a year and a half, I had to show her the cans and the expiration dates on each one then open them up so she could see or smell that the product was bad. I’m sorry, but food even the food you preserve yourself does not last more then twenty years.

A couple of months ago my dear mother passed, and I am in the process of cleaning yet again another house that is full, whether you call them a packrat, or a hoarder it makes no difference. There is always someone who has to clean up the mess. My mother’s house is much like my aunt’s home; only she is no longer there to tell me I can’t throw this or that away. I saw my aunt yesterday, for her birthday, and explained why I couldn’t stay. She told me she bet my conscious was bothering me, because of all the things I was throwing away. My mother had saved it for a reason. I said my conscious was fine. My mom had a nice three-bedroom home, you could only get into two of the bedrooms and even then there was just a small pathway. Her large living room had been substituting as an office, because she couldn’t get into the bedroom she had turned into an office after her children had left home.

Don’t get me wrong; I am all for saving special knick-knacks that you received from your parents as a child. I believe in saving special items that were given to you over the years, but lets get serious, even the IRS does not need business papers from fifty years ago. Newspapers are a wonderful thing, but believe me you do not need to keep nine plastic tote boxes full of newspapers. Nor do you need to keep every Christmas, birthday and remembrance card given to you over your lifetime. If you can’t find your fourteen rolls of scotch tape that does not mean to go out and buy more, that means you need to clean your house and find them.

I now know why we are a throw away generation. I love my family dearly, especially my mom and aunt, they were always there for me, along with my father and sister. I have learned though, through cleaning up after others. If you haven’t worn, ate, or touched in within a five-year period chances are you never will. Get rid of the junk; keep what is really important, that way when your children have to go through your things they won’t have to search for the buried treasure. They will know what was truly treasured by you and you will enjoy the treasures you actually have.

This is an example of what I’m talking about as a child my mother had a tea set that was given to her by her parents. It is a beautiful set that she has on the top self of her china hutch as children every Saturday was cleaning day, and very carefully we would take the tea set down and have a cup of tea with our mother. Then we would carefully wash each piece and put them up. They are loaded with dust now, you can no longer see the beautiful print on them, but that is a secondary problem because you can no longer even see the set because of slips of papers, and other items that she had pilled in around them. She could no longer see them for all the other stuff. The cabinet has stayed shut with tons of junk placed in front of it. What joy did she have by seeing them in her golden years? I hope she remembered the Saturdays we spent cleaning them and having our own tea party at least.

I hope after all this I have learned to keep my treasures and throw the trash away.