Where Did This Stuff Come From?

   I am on my quest to bring more order to our home. I decided to start with the living room closet. I've had my eye on that closet for several years. It's one of those spaces that we keep putting things in it without really thinking about it.
  The first thing I did was to take everything out of it. Everything. I started on the top shelf. There were candles. There were votive cups and tealight holders. There was a large glass piece that you put a tealight in and use it to keep a pot of tea warm. I remembered this piece. My Dad brought it for me when he went on a trip to Germany with my uncle.
  There were two candles that  looked like jars of fruit. There was another one that had some sort of scented oil and wax flowers in it. I found an oil candle and several unused pillar candles.
   There were two tart burners. A tart burner is a contraption in two parts. The top part is a shallow dish. You put tarts, or squares of scented candle wax, in this dish. You set in on the base which has a small light bulb. The heat from the bulb melts the wax and makes your house smell nice. I must have used them as there was hardened wax in the dish of each of them.
  I found my incense and two incense holders. I also found three candle snuffers. One of them I know C purchased earlier in the year at an estate sale.
  I found a set of Fashion Plates. They were a new set. Fashion Plates are a set of plastic plates with various raised images on them. There are heads, tops, and bottoms. You put these plates in a frame, put a piece of paper over the plates and rub a special black crayon over them. Then you have a black and white image of an outfit that you can colour. It was one of my favourite toys as a kid and I probably still have my original set and another set of plates with updated outfits on them. I have no idea when I bought the set in my closet.
  There were also four board games, two cribbage boards, two sets of playing cards,one set of Old Maid cards and a Pictionary game. I think the board games were given to us as a wedding present. The problem is that C and I do not play board games. I found a large box of crayons, four cans of Play Dough and some toy cars. Two of the cans of Play Dough were dried out. I had no idea how we acquired them. Perhaps a grandchild had left them here.
   I couldn't believe all the stuff that was in this closet. I didn't think it was large enough to hold all the things that were in it. Nevertheless, there it was spread literally all over the living room floor. Where did this stuff come from? How many times did I move all those things in this closet? What the heck inspired me to purchase some of this stuff?
  Obviously we needed to get rid of some of these things. The tart burners were the first to go. Obviously they hadn't been used in over a year. I'm sure this was because I feared one of the cats would knock it over and spill melted wax all over the place. The board games would go too. One of them had never been used and was still wrapped. We'd keep the cribbage game and playing cards. I kept the Fashion Plates. We looked at all the candles. The unused pillar candles would go to Goodwill along with other items. I hoped Goodwill would take them. They were too good to throw away. Any candles that were used would go back into the closet. I would burn these up.
  It took all afternoon. When I was done there was three large piles, one of things to go to Goodwill, one of things that would be thrown away and another that would go to the storage room in the basement.  What was left was neatly arranged . Candles on the top shelf. Games and other things on the second shelf. Cleaning supplies on the bottom shelf along with kleenex, toilet papers and paper towels.
  One thing that closet did was make me more determined to get rid of stuff. I remembered helping a friend move a few years back. I remembered how much stuff she and her husband had. I couldn't believe that they had so much. I'm almost as bad as she was. I am now determined to get rid of things we don't need and can't use. I'm also determined to use those consumable items that I have up before buying more. I'm not going to buy any more candles, lotion, body spray or yarn until my current stashes of these items are close to depleted. (Except for when I run out of undyed cotton for baby washcloths.)
  Next project---sock drawer.....