Piler vs Pack Rat

My husband and I have been unpacking, storing, tossing, and setting aside. While this obviously isn't our first move, it's the first place we've moved where a Yard Sale is in our future and our last move until our *fingers crossed* final move. Or at least out last move before our first move across the country *fingers still crossed*.

Within this move, we've come to a few startling conclusions.

First, it gets on my husband's nerves that I'm a pack rat.

Second, it gets on my nerves that my husband is a piler.

Third, it gets on both of our nerves that we're not sure if we're both pack rats and pilers, or if one label is specific to each one of us.

So, what's the difference?

Here are some examples.

I have at least ten empty jewelry boxes. You know, the kind that the jewelry actually comes in when it's presented to you. Maybe not ten. That might be an exaggeration. But I had the one from my engagement ring, my opal ring, my sapphire ring, a pair of earrings, a necklace, the Murano glass my parents/sisters brought me from Italy, a Tiffany's box....

These boxes, to me, all represent memories. The thing is, I have an actual jewelry box that the jewelry was transferred to. The other boxes were just taking up space in my top dresser drawer. So... I suppose that's a little pack-rattish.

My husband makes piles. There was a pile in our room of his Marine Corps uniforms that had yet to be folded and put away. A pile of his clean clothes he hadn't put in his closet. There was a pile of books that he didn't know where they went. There was a pile of receipts on the desk that he was "going to file"... so he said a month ago even before we moved.

There is a pile of things that still need to be hung. There is a pile of things that were on the desk and he's clearly deemed they don't belong there. There's a pile of Michael's toys that we have yet to put away. There's a pile of documents that need to be sorted through. There's a pile of my things that he's moved from where I've had them dispersed to somewhere that he thinks is more convenient. Piles. He's a piled.

Now, here's the fine line.

I have a pile of things: my One Year Bible, my journal, my prayer journal, and my planner. However, these are all a part of my morning... or afternoon... we'll say daily routine. I visit each of these things at some point during the day, which is why they are all together. I have a pile of books that I want to read. These books are not put away on a book shelf, but are in a pile because there isn't room for them on the book shelf. I have a mess of a pile that is my scrapbook stuff. But... my piles have a purpose to me. Clark's piles just seem to be a mess.

Clark saves things. He has a letter from a previous employer in a bag of letters and documents he hasn't decided if he's going to keep or toss. He has some clothes he refuses to get rid of that he's had since sometime before high school, but they still fit (even though they have multiple holes and stains), so he's keeping them. He has boxes of things that he hasn't used yet but may use someday, or things that he used in the past but may use again (not likely). He HAD (he finally got rid of them) a pair of hiking boots that he had, I'm pretty sure, since 8th grade that he finally got rid of due tot he fact that they'd been falling apart for at least three or four years and it was clear that they weren't going to do the job anymore. So, his stuff is more reasonably sentimental to him and therefore not pack-rattish.

(By the way, I do realize that I have made up the words "piler" and "rattish" for this blog.)

Today we found a way to compromise.

Clark finally got rid of most of his piles, and I went through and tossed some of the empty jewelry boxes and other things that I was holding on to. There are still piles, and I'm sure I still have some things that Clark thinks I should get rid of (like the bedding to my dorm room bed... since we don't have a little girl or a twin bed).

The point is we're working on it.

We're doing our best to put our house together as our house.

The thing is, whether you're a pack rat or a piler... every now and then you have to go through what's yours and put it away, toss it, sell it, or store it. It's a part of life, after all. And I don't just mean around the house.

Do you have something you need to put away, toss, sell, or store? I'm all ears!