Winter cleaning

I'm a bit of a purger. Not so much as some people, but I really really hate to have stuff we aren't using. There's something about having clutter that makes me kind of itchy. I just like things to be simple-ish, and having a bunch of stuff we don't need doesn't qualify as simple to me.

After B's recent surgery we found ourselves in the throes of holiday madness, but in all of this we had about a week of time at home just for B (and us) to recover. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to purge ourselves of things we didn't need and get a head start on spring cleaning.

E and I tackled a cabinet in our playroom that was stuffed to the gills with extraneous electronics. Seriously. Lots and lots of electronics that haven't been hooked up in years. After pulling everything out, we found that we had the following: one Wii, one Xbox360, TWO Nintendos (the original), one Sega Genesis, three sets of headphones, two wires that we didn't know what they went to, a set of speakers, a VCR, a ridiculous number of CDs we no longer listen to, an ungodly number of DVDs we don't watch, and a small subset of VHS tapes (many duplicated on DVD).

After purging all of the VHS tapes, the Sega, the wire, the speakers, a good number of the DVDs, we were left with a dilemma. Should we keep ANY of this stuff?

We agreed the Wii and the Xbox360 could stay. Those are relatively modern technology that we'd LIKE to play, if only we had time, hooked them up, and decided to use our free time for that. The Nintendos and VCR, however, proved to be a point of contention.

Me: Let's donate the VCR and Nintendos to charity.

E: You can't BUY a Nintendo anymore!

Me: Sure you can - on eBay.

E: Looks at me as if I'm crazy. But we've already got it here now!

Me: Do we really need TWO 8-bit gaming systems that aren't hooked up?

E: What if one breaks and I want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?

Me: Do you want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?

E: I MIGHT! Fine, what if I get all the Nintendo stuff into this box and put it in the closet for safekeeping? I think the boys might like it when they get bigger.

Me: Realizing he's got me with the boys argument. Okeydoke. We can at least donate the VCR.

E: What if we want to watch a VHS tape?

Me: We don't OWN VHS tapes anymore - we're donating them all. If we wanted to watch any of those movies we could stream them on Netflix. I don't even know where to get a VHS tape anymore.

E: What if my dad gives us a set of old home movies on VHS and we want to watch them?

Me: Your dad has old VHS home movies?

E: He MIGHT!

Me: Seriously, we need to just get rid of this thing.

E: Fine. Pouts.

I look away to sort other miscellaneous junk.

E: I'm going to put this box in the closet. Grabs VHR and throws it on the box and scurries away to the storage closet.

Me: *Sigh*

E: You'll thank me later!