I'm back with a story!
Southern Montag Brothers Inc wooden inlay decorative box
photo via VintageToGoEasy
An Etsy buyer was so happy to have this box to fill with greeting cards. I can just imagine it full of last year's winter holiday cards and now with New Year's cards. How fun!
Which reminds me....I had saved all my greeting cards, letters, birthday cards and souvenir postcards, from childhood to beyond college. I had also saved many letters and daily notes from students from my teaching career and during one of my purges I threw them all out.
I do regret throwing out that box and it was a godzillian times larger than the Montag box! That year I threw out almost everything! I had decided to keep 12 things. I was soon to retire from teaching and was moving to a new home and thought the purge would help me start a new life.
It did! I started a whole new life hoarding again! My new collection of furniture began with Japanese tansus, but that's another story!
Southern Montag Brothers Inc box: SOLD OUT
photo via VintageToGoEasy
Interestingly enough I did use it in the classroom to store emergency pencils, in case we were vandalized which happened almost every weekend and especially over a holiday weekend. I kept all classroom essentials locked up in a filing cabinet with a second lock and long chain going through all the handles.
The interesting part is I just found out that the Southern Montag Brothers company are known for selling paper and school supplies! Their logo was a Blue Horse. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's the same company who made the box. Anyone out there know for sure? I do recognize their logo.
photo via google
Saying Goodbye: I have quite the box collection and slowly but surely am letting them go one by one. It's getting easier and less painless, but to relieve stress, however I still find myself buying stuff I really don't need or just want for some reason. It does seem to take the edge off holiday anxiety or even works as a little pick me up.
I can say I did much better this year with holiday stress related retail therapy than I did last year!
Southern Montag Brothers Inc box: SOLD OUT
photo via VintageToGoEasy
Here is a mini inlay tansu box with drawers, here
What I Learned:
1. As a recovering hoarder, purging does not work for me! Before hoarding became a household word I would purge about every 10 years and later end up with more than I had purged. It took me awhile to see this pattern emerge. The hardest part is finding alternatives to stress and hoarding which I also call, easy retail therapy.
2. Just the other day, someone emailed me and said the book by Marie Kondo helped them. Many people have recommended the book by Marie Kondo, "The Life Changing Magic to Tidying Up." So much so, I've almost bought it on line several times, but as a recovering hoarder, decided I should at least flip through the book or get it from the library before I add something else to my hoard of books.
A while back, I found it at a book store and did flip through it but it did not call out my name or keep my interest for more than five minutes, so I put it back. I don't remember why, but since other people keep telling me about it, next time I'll try again.
3. There are many things I've purged and now regret it. As a matter of fact, there are more things I've missed from purging than I do from letting things go on my Etsy shops. I'll have to ponder the "why" on that one another time.
4. Below is a mini inlay tansu box which is a very tiny version of the tansus I now own from my purge 10 years ago when I kept only 12 things. Imagine I have a tansu large enough to be a stairway that could lead to a small loft area. It's like a huge storage stairway cupboard with cabinets and drawers. My other tansus are smaller. My favorite being a kimono tansu.
Mini wooden inlay tansu, available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Thank you Etsy buyer from VintageToGoEasy
for taking the time to email and share your story and I am so happy to hear you love it as much as I do. Your story brought me to mine and knowing what doesn't work for me brings me hope that I will one day find what will work for me!
Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab I could ever imagine!
Thank you all readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things with your visits!
More classroom boxes from my teaching days, available here
photo via JunkDrawerAndMore
I
am adding new items weekly to each shop until I have 800 of my dehoard
listed that will be 200 items listed at each shop! However, I still
need to focus on my health, so I'm adding slowly, but surely.
Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 193 items, The Destiny of Things- 187 items, VintageToGoEasy - 197 items and now JunkDrawerAndMore - 199 items!
Maybe you'll find something to adopt and share your story too! Thanks for looking!
Boxes I've been crafting as part of my alternatives to hoarding, available here
photo via The Destiny of Things
Related Stories:
5. The First Sign That I Was a Hoarder! My Ever Expanding List of Collections! Where I first realized that I do collect boxes and will even buy something just because I like the box!
Merry Belated Winter Holiday Cheer and Happy New Year!
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