Friday, January 08, 2010

Because I'm a Grown-Up and I Can Do What I Want...That's Why!

After Christmas, Brian and I decided to treat ourselves to a little getaway weekend at the hotel where we had our wedding reception. It's only a short drive away, and it's located near a ton of great restaurants and shopping, as well as two movie theaters. We certainly took advantage of those amenities and had a great time!

As there were mega after-Christmas sales going on, I was delighted to buy a cute down vest--something that I've long wanted, but never really needed. One of the features of my vest is that it has a detachable zip-on/zip-off hood, which I immediately zipped off and never thought of again. That is, I never gave it a second thought until today, when I began to do a bit of tidying and had to find a new home for the unzipped hood. (It had been sitting in a heap on my floor.)

That's when things got a little dicey, and I realized that the pain of finding a place to store it simply wasn't worth it, as I don't like hoods, and I knew I'd never zip it on. Ever.

So I threw it away. I threw an unused, perfectly good hood away.

I don't know why, but that seemed so wrong to me. Shouldn't I save it just in case? At the very least, there must be some craft I can create with it. Maybe a homeless person somewhere needs a hood... I confess that I even called my sister at home and on her cell phone to ask her if it was okay to do that. As it turned out, she didn't answer either call, and I had too much self respect to leave her a voice message asking her permission to throw away a clothing item that I bought with my own money and knew that I would never wear anyway.

That's when the voice inside told me that I needed to put on my big girl panties and throw the hood away. I would not get in trouble. No one would judge me, and even if they did, I would survive.

So there. I did it. All on my own. Because I'm a grown-up and I can do what I want!

10 comments:

lex said...

good for you! as a regular giver-to-goodwill/thower-away of things, i think that's great. i am all about decluttering - there's just something so cathartic in getting rid of things you can finally admit you don't need!

Jill said...

If it makes you feel better, I would have said to chunk it. : ) You're cute.

mom said...

sounds like good Flylady philosphy usage to me!

Tracy said...

Alexis - I just did a MAJOR closet cleanout, and (sadly) had to admit that there was quite a bit that I don't need anymore because it doesn't fit. YIKES!

Jill and Mom - Glad to know you're both on "team pitch it"! :) Love you both!

The Lefflers said...

I would have felt guilty too but I'm all about chunking things these days. Less really is more!

J said...

I've heard it's mighty cold there, so I might have said keep it. But if you have some other hat or way to keep your ears warm, TOSS IT. Glad you did.

Also glad you guys had some fun out in the real world. I'm a big believer in getting in as much of that as you can before you have your babies. Of course, with your mom and sister so close by, you'll have plenty of people to watch the babies. But still, it won't be the same. And sometimes, most times, you won't even WANT to go out. That's the strangest part of all.

Jennifer Disney said...

I loved that. I laughed out load and then had to read it to my roomie! Thanks for the giggle. We are SO much alike!

Laura said...

Like Alexis, I regularly throw things out and give them away. I would have done the same thing. I can't stand clutter, and getting rid of things I won't use is one of the best feelings EVER to me.

On the other hand, my husband never throws ANYTHING away. If there MIGHT be a useage for it - or heck, even if there never will be - he still will not get rid of it. He has dug things out of the garbage can that I've thrown away. Yep, we're that opposite on the subject. It's pretty funny - we try to bend in each other's direction - but it's difficult on this matter ! ;)

Cherry said...

Ok I admit, I would have kept it. In some drawer or on some shelf to have it fall down all the time and just tossed back up there for that time when I MIGHT want it.

I grew up in a house of "Just in Case" and I HATED IT! I try hard to break the cycle but its really hard.. especially when both Eric and I are the same way.

Just today though we took at least 15 paper shopping bags full of clothes to Goodwill and I'm still disgusted by the amount of clothing I have which I only wear about 35% of.

Toss it! Toss it far far away!

Aliaschick said...

You still have clothing piles! Ahh the memories, I love it! I would have had a hard time throwing it away too, so I'm with ya on that.