Stuff, stuff everywhere, and not a drop to...

So one of the constants in my life recently is an overabundance of not-quite-useful objects that I just can't bring myself to get rid of for whatever reason. I remember the day when I moved to Hawaii without even one piece of furniture to my name, and everything fit into two suitcases, or when I moved to Oregon and everything fit into two sedans. These days, I'm lucky if I can squeeze everything into a medium-sized moving truck. My one-bedroom apartment is bursting at the seams. Where did all this stuff come from? And why can't I get rid of it?

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a gear junkie, a book-lover, and a pack-rat, and those don't always go well together in terms of making space. I also have only one closet in my entire apartment, which means my clothes and shoes are stored together with my christmas tree, climbing gear, camping and backpacking gear, snowboarding and snowshoeing gear, craft supplies, sewing supplies, tools, extra bathroom and desk supplies, biking gear, old mementos, musical instruments, random sports equipment, ice skates (!), and other assorted accoutrements of daily living.

It can be noted at this point that I often have more than one of any given thing - two tents, two internal frame backpacks, three pairs of snowboarding boots, myriad backpacks, and far too many shoes to actually wear. If I was actually setting out to acquire all of this stuff, I would never buy so much of it, but alas, it has somehow made its way into my home, and pack-rat that I am, it's difficult to dislodge it. I mean, what if someday I wanted to go ice skating? I would kick myself for getting rid of those ice skates that I haven't used in 8 years.

So where am I going with all of this? I'm trying to create incentive to actually sort through and get rid of stuff, in as earth-friendly a way as possible. It's silly to throw away perfectly good, useful items, but it's also silly to keep them around to clutter up my house when someone else could be getting some use out of them. But I really need to get some motivation and some tips in how to actually sort and organize so much random stuff. Sigh. And I need to convince the people in my life to stop buying me random things, especially if they happen to be purple.