I finally sold a lot of 12 New York magazines on eBay. It feels like an accomplishment even if it's not helping me cut the clutter as much as I would like. The buyer requested that I put two pieces of cardboard between each magazine. What?!? I don't keep a surplus of cardboard around, but I will do my best. However, I think my best may only be one piece in between the magazines. Still, this gives me ample opportunity to rid myself of whatever stray cardboard I have hanging around. Like an old Priority Mail envelope from March 29, 2000 sent Screenplace.com in Fillmore, CA. (Was this the Homicide I bought from eBay?)

The heat finally came on yesterday, which meant it was time to pull out a heavier coat. It's always like taking a trip to the recent past. I reached into my pocket and found a post-office receipt from April 22 (we did have a very cold spring) for $2.28 for a package that I sent to Birmingham, Alabama, exactly six months ago.

Receipts That Won't Go Away

What makes letting go of clutter so hard is that it's connected to memories. By extension, getting rid of it means throwing out my past, and while one shouldn't live in the past, that doesn't mean it should be forgotten.

Take, for example, the "Notice and Demand for Payment of Tax Due" that I received from New York State in 1997 when I was living at 47 Croton in Tarrytown--for $2.15! I'd completely forgotten--I think that was the year I bought a "Taxes for Dummies" book and did them myself--and I didn't contest the findings. (The stub that I returned with payment is missing from the last page.)

What I love is that the state sent five pages to collect $2.15. Including stationery, postage and printing costs, how much was spent to collect such a measly amount?

Even more recent receipts hold memories, like the one for Kotex tampons from the Tampa International Airport dated June 28 at 7:01am. Nothing like being surprised with your period when you're on vacation.

Then there are the ones that are wonderfully serendipitous. I found a receipt from the Fort Hamilton post office dated 1/28/10 for a couple of packages--one shipped to Fort Wayne, Indiana, the other to Glendale, Arizona--the same day that I noticed I also had one for 1/28/12, for a Media Mail package to Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Duty Days

Until tonight, I never threw away my jury summons from 12/20/2001. If I recall correctly I got it postponed until February, because it was so close to Christmas. I've had this so long that I've already been called back to jury duty!

And the best part is, it's from when I lived in my old apartment, so not only have I not thrown it out in 10 years, I've actually picked it up and moved with it.

Times Gone By

I should throw out the pages of this old New York Times Book Review from 1990!

But I can't do it without noting that I wrote down, in red ink, three sets of numbers above a full-age ad for the Folio Society offering their seven-volume Jane Austen set:

031302955/83114424/1087

I have no idea what they mean but I thought they might be noting.

Atop another page I've written "Nov. 23, 3:12, 610-434-3661." Another mystery. A voice-mail message? I didn't get anything when I googled the number.

It's interesting, though, that the hardest things to throw away tend to be the things I've kept the longest, even if they're rather useless. For example, there are pages from an April 1992 issue of Parade that I still have because they're attached to an article about bartering. Not sure if I wanted to do an article on it or try to do some bartering of my own to save money. (In those pre-eBay days I was trying to think of something I could do to save money.)

Attached to it is part of an article in which young people were asked their thoughts on gays and lesbians. Nice to see how progressive most of them were...reading it now I'm not surprised at how much better things have gotten in the 20 years since.

When I Was a Joiner...

The first time I heard the word e-mail was 1991, when I was a journalism student at NYU covering a story. Shortly after I graduated I joined networking groups like the International Radio & Television Society because at that time my career goals were in broadcast journalism. How times have changed! I'm quite knowledgeable about e-mail these days and any organizations that I belong to contact me through that address.

One downside to the old way was it was yet another way for me to accumulate clutter--some of which I still have. But it's definitely time to throw out the yellow mailings from the Under-30's division, or at least use the blank side for printer paper. I'm not sure I ever attended any of the events: There were happy hours, analyses of news coverage during sweeps, career exploration nights and a seminar from a gender-dynamics expert named Jayne Tear who "examines how traditional male/female learning patterns play a direct role in success or failure in the workplace." In 2011 that sounds positively quaint.

There's also a 1992 renewal invoice that I guess I didn't take advantage of because I still have it. Membership would have increased from $30 to $45, since I was no longer a student, quite a steep jump in those days for an unemployed new college grad with a lot of student loans.

I need to make room for someone in my life, and right now my messy apartment does not seem to suggest someone who's ready to do that. One of my clutter issues involves coupons. If there's even a remote chance that I might be able to use it, I'll keep it until it expires. So the easiest way for me to get rid of coupons is just to let them pile up and toss them out when they expire.

That's what I'm doing tonight, tossing aside a Benjamin Moore paint coupon that expired in 2007 (when I moved into this apartment!), Hertz car rental coupons (same year), a receipt from the Cosi by NYU from 11/20/09 (was I teaching that night?), a receipt from Chicken Barn from 1/6/10 18:38 (must have been seeing a show that night), and a receipt from the Dunkin' Donuts on Smith Street from that same day 3:19 in the afternoon for a latte (oh, yeah, I was still working at RT then!).

More to come, I promise...