How I became a pack rat

  I am just their junior. My mom and dad are the original pack rats. It was from them that I learned not to throw away anything.

  If I have boxes like odds and ends that might seem like junk to someone, blame it on them. If I take time to pick up one little hairpin, one little button, or a piece of rubber band that I could have otherwise just easily kicked away with the dust, it is an offshoot of a habit I cannot shake off. 

  Growing up, I remember how my dad's big desk looks like. There were piles of office papers which he turned into note pads and scratch papers. Every time I want to draw, he'll give me at least two pieces of his scratch papers instead of giving me a new bond paper. He doesn't like throwing things away because he believed that someday, someone will have a use for it. As with my mom, I remember once I was in dire need of just one safety pin and I can't find a piece from my sewing kit. So I went to my mom's room and, true to form, she has packets of sewing kits that she had saved from all those hotel rooms she stayed during her travels. She even has disposable shower caps!

  I've been a pack rat ever since I got married. I love to keep a scrap of foam and bubble wrap, dozens of tiny bottles that ones contained the essence of chicken, old toothbrushes, plastic containers, a lonely Christmas ornament, tacky plastic ribbons, a string of beads that had come undone, pretty greeting cards that were as ancient as our cook back then, old magazines, socks with missing pairs and old towels, and many more. My husband kept on asking me why I still keep all those junks. I would always answer him: we'll need and use it someday.

  Well, you're probably curious. How else were the pieces of junk I mentioned above put into good use? Foam, for jewelry like earrings. Bubble wrap, to protect delicate items that need to be shipped. Old toothbrushes for cleaning the tiles in the bathroom. Socks that are missing a pair and old face towels, I give it to the house girls to use as basahan.

   I used to like everything to match. Not anymore. Instead of buying uniform multi-purpose containers for a myriad things I need to keep handy, I look no further than home. I make use of what I have lying around the house. Sometimes it's square plastic container which used to contain cookies and pastries from bakeshops( now holds erasers, pencils, and other school supplies for my kids), pretty tins of Chinese tea, mooncake, and chocolates( they are home to craft tools, pens and markers). They do not go with everything else on my supplies' cabinet but they serve their purpose and they have a lot of character.

   There is a difference between keeping things just because you're attached to them and keeping them because you believe that you or someone you know will have a use for them, perhaps not immediately but surely in the near future. I'm a staunch advocate of the latter. This is my second nature already.

    Now when my kids need this or that, chances are I will have them in one of the many labeled boxes I keep on my cabinet. I don't have to go to a nearby bookstore or send out my husband to just buy what they needed for school. This is but one of the many things that they did not go out of their way to teach me but I have picked up the practice. To this day my parents unconsciously coaches me, in both little and big ways, the value of prudence and forethought. Thanks to my beloved mom and dad!