I May Need A 12-Step Program

I'm trying really hard to keep my New Year's resolution of being more organized so last night I worked on my closet. I've always kept my closet organized with respect to skirts here, pants there, jackets over here, dresses over there, shoes in appropriate racks and/or bags, etc. I even have things in color order because I think it's easier to locate the desired item...plus it just looks nice. But what I'm not organized about is keeping only items I actually wear. So last night, I exercised the inner-pack rat and got to work. Here are some of the items I came across...
1) my high school jeans - these were the jeans that I loved in high school. They're a size 4. I am not. I have not been a size 4 since sophomore year and yet, the jeans are still in my closet.
2) Strappy heals I wore to my junior year (college) spring formal. They're lavender and have sequins and I wore them with a lavender slip dress. Hey, it was hot in 1997.
3) My freshman year (high school) homecoming dress. It's black and off the shoulders and so tiny I hardly believed I once fit into it. (Actually, this was found in the guest room closet.)
4) My track warm-up pants which I'm pretty sure I was supposed to give back at the end of my senior year.
5) A multi-colored, embrodery-thread belt. I loved this thing and wore it all the time with jeans and a white t-shirt. Holly Babb used to wear one all the time and I thought she was so cool.
6) And last but not least, my baseball Keds. I bought them in 1993 for Opening Day. They're white leather with red stitching and although it's 12 years *gasp* later, I still think they're darling.
You'll note that I said that the list above were things I found, not got rid of. That's because I need help. I found a reason to keep everything. I threw out sweaters that were pilled up, shoes that I thought were cute when I bought them and now are not so cute, pants that have seen better days and a reversable leather belt that seemed really practical at the time. But I stacked up those other things and put them in a Rubbermaid container. I'm determined to try again tonight to get rid of these things as tomorrow is trash day.

This all started when I was cleaning out the storage room in my basement. I found a ton of old letters and newspaper clippings in a big box and couldn't bring myself to get rid of any of them. There were letters from my ex, Matt which were hilarious to read and once again affirmed that breaking up with him was a fantastic idea but I still kept them. There were postcards from Becki while in Australia, letters from Beth talking about trips out East to visit Dan, cards from Karen in OK talking about sorority stuff and "racking" with random boys and cartoons from Amber. There was a birthday card from my dad...from my 15th birthday. There were notes that Brandon Landis and I exchanged in Chemistry class. There were graded papers on WWII, The Great Gatsby (or GatsPy, if you're Becki) and Biology tests I'm certain I passed because I sat next to Beth.

I can't get rid of any of it. My mom said it's great that I keep all of these things because they'll be wonderful additions when they open my Presidential Library. Her sarcasm can be quite cruel sometimes.