Well, there's compulsiveness and then there's the stuff like Jeri has, "treasures to be" which I am really grateful some ancestor of mine never threw out. I have gotten better about getting rid of stuff that isn't in that category and my main criteria for keeping stuff now is, will my kids treasure this when I am gone or does it go to a museum? The second is, will I want to use this, display it, or share it now or later on? If yes to either of those, it's a keeper. My mom used to walk into my house and tell me I ought to sell tickets, it was like going to a museum...lots of clutter, but almost all of it interesting "stuff." **BG** And, despite the appearance, I know the approximate location of darn near everything!

Mark, in Catherine Ponder's books, she advocates creating a vacumm for what we want to bring into our lives, i.e. a woman who wanted new clothing so that she could get a good job, gave away most of what she had, expecting new clothes to fill up the space. Through various channels of seeming serendipity she wound up with new, very nice clothing. Even getting a divorce can create that vacumm...making space for someone new in our life, when we are ready.:-)

katlaughing