This weekend I got a tub of old goodies out of the garage and set my sights on the dozens of floppy disks I found inside. Yes, floppy disks. For you millennials reading who have no clue what I’m talking about, floppy disks are 3 and a half inch square disks that hold 1.2 meg of data. They were used in the 90’s and preceded the CD (compact disk). For those of you in Generation Z who might be reading and wondering what a CD is… just Google it.

After pulling out my (seldom) handy external floppy disk drive, there were a few great “finds.” One was a paper my daughter had written in 2002, and the other a the book I started in 1996… 21 years ago. Wow! How had I forgotten all about it? And why hadn’t I finished it? My sister, Donna, edited it and gave me additional suggestions for improvement. Those two files made the cut, the rest didn’t.

Who knew I’d find those two gems when uncovering the box of junk in the garage. I felt a sense of accomplishment. Who knows, maybe this book might actually end up getting finished.

What are some old treasures you have laying around? I have phonograph records (in 3 sizes), reel to reel tapes, floppy disks, cassette tapes, mini disks, beta tapes, VCR tapes, CD’s, flash drives, floppy drives, etc… not to further date myself.

What criteria do you use in deciding what to save and what to discard? Leave a comment. Let me know your thoughts! Your creative strategy could help liberate those of us who “save” thinking our kids will appreciate all we leave behind. In reality, how many commercial sized dumpsters are rented to haul away one’s “fine treasures” when they are gone, leaving their kids too overwhelmed to sift through them?