In my own family we cover all three personality types. My sister T definitely falls into the first category, she purges on a regular basis, and when items are gone, they are not missed. My other sister L tends to be in the second category. She keeps a small amount of items for sentimental reasons, but then will periodically purge. I wish I was in the first category, would proudly claim the second, but would have to admit that I sometimes find myself hanging on to stuff "just in case." It's probably a 70/30 split between the two categories. I am pretty good about getting rid of stuff, but sometimes have to do a big purge. I have seen what happens when you live in the third category, as both of my biological parents do, and it's a scary place to be! My mom is more a sentimental saver while my dad is just cheap.
Both my mom and dad's houses are jam packed with stuff, and I don't want my house to be like that. Unfortunately, my husband tends to be a bit of a saver, too. On the other hand, while he claims to be observant (he is a scientist, you know... :) ), he doesn't seem to notice when I get rid of stuff periodically. Sometimes he does notice, but usually he doesn't complain because I think he's glad I just did it myself instead of hassling him to help me.
When I was visiting my mom last year sometime, I ended up sleeping in her "sewing room" on the futon. On the desk in that room was lots of junk, as is to be expected, but there was also something else... Somehow, a note that Mom left for a babysitter when we were little has survived unscathed through several moves and many years. It appears to be a note that she left for someone who was watching us for the whole weekend. I am three and a half years older than L, and in the note it appears she is walking and talking, and was recently potty trained. Mom couldn't remember when the note was written, but we're guessing I was 4.5-5, which would make T 3-3.5 and L 1-1.5. Unfortunately Mom also doesn't remember who our babysitter was. If she had to guess, she thinks it was probably her mom, my Grandma Jene, but she's not sure. We're guessing it was if not the first time, one of the first times we were left with someone for any length of time. The notes are VERY thorough, and a great snapshot of what we were like when we were little!! It's also a neat look at my mom when she was younger...we always knew my sisters and I inherited our "gift of gab" from Mom and not Dad, but apparently Mom was a writer, too!
Here's a picture of us at close to the ages we probably were when Mom wrote the note.
Here's the LENGTHY and DETAILED note!
More cute pictures of me and my sisters:
Me and T. Apparently I climbed into her crib one day when she was getting up from a nap. 
I'm wearing the same outfit here, but T is in something else...did I make a habit of climbing into her crib?? Who knows...
Don't we look thrilled to be posing for this picture?? Look closely at the pictures on the mantel behind us...Mom liked to get a lot of mileage out of our outfits!
We're a little younger here, but it's one of few pictures of us with my mom's mom, Grandma Jene. I loved my "Green Grandma"!! (My favorite color was green, and anything that was special to me I called "Green"...my green blankie, my Green Grandma...)
While this is probably one of my all-time favorite pictures of me and my sisters, it's got to be one of the craziest! Who poses their children in the bathtub with flowers?? Random. But that's my mom!
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