I Save Nothing

I’m not quite Marie Kondo, but even she admitted that it’s harder to live Spartan when you have kids. Still, when I clean out under the beds, I earn the title “Mean Mommy,” and I wear it proudly. You have one under-the-bed box, I tell my kids, and if it’s full, well, throw something out to fit the next thing in.

But then I heard what these women were saving. Sheva brachos outfits, tchotchkes from friends, tiny little baby clothes that are long out of style…. That’s what they talking about? That’s not stuff you save in a fit of sentimentality! That’s all the stuff I have crammed into the back of my closets.

If I have it, there’s a reason, and not just because it still gives me joy. My obscenely expensive sheva brachos outfit? It was obscenely expensive! And though I’m no longer the same shape, I weigh what I did when I got married, so surely I’ll be able to wear it again one day.

Old letters from friends? My very first Family First article was about how I threw out my great-grandmother’s birthday cards. I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. Call me anything you want but stupid.