Keeping tabs

1/3/10 Two plastic medicine cabinet shelf pegs, trashed

I had much more ambitious plans for today, but by the end of the day, I was too beat to devote energy to downsizing.

This last day of vacation was a busy one. Got up at 7:30 AM, did school work until noon, shoveled snow for an hour, then painted the entryway until 7 PM.

With more school work scheduled after dinner, my original downsize idea had to be temporarily scratched. (I will get to it. Hint: it has to do with the sink.)

As I was about to jump into the shower before dinner, I opened the medicine cabinet and noticed a little baggie with two plastic pegs in it. Several years ago I installed a new medicine cabinet and these little tabs are what hold up the glass shelves. The cabinet came with two extra tabs, which seemed a bit strange, since you need four tabs to hold up a shelf. If they were doing to add in extras, why not throw in four, so I might be tempted to buy another shelf?

Regardless, as it was, I had two, worthless little pieces of plastic.

I, of course, held onto those two additional tabs like my life depended upon it. In retrospect, it seems foolish to keep them. I mean, once you've installed the shelves and determined that you've got enough tabs, what's the point of holding onto the extra ones? I can't even imagine the scenario where suddenly one of the tabs breaks. The shelf could shatter, sure; but the tabs? Highly unlikely.

And yet they sat in the medicine cabinet in their cute little Ziploc for years. Nestled between the toothpaste and the Tylenol, they were, for all intents and purposes, as much a permanent part of the bathroom as the tabs that actually hold up the shelf.

Until I tossed them into the trash. Nothing is sacred in this house. Nothing!

For the record, I feel no guilt about this being my smallest downsize ever, since those little tabs are the perfect example of the kind of thing that clutters up my life for no good reason.

Besides, remember the day I got rid of 1,000 pounds of bricks? If you lump this downsize in with that one, on average I got rid of 500 pounds, 1/2 ounces of stuff today. Not too shabby.