I come from a long line of keepers.  I tell myself that it’s not my fault.  It’s how I was raised.

See, the rules of ‘stuff’ in my childhood home were: if it’s useful – you keep it, if it could be useful – you keep it, if it would be useful if you could figure out how to fix it – you keep it, if it isn’t fixable but you might be able to use it for spare parts – you keep it.  Also, if it is valuable – you keep it, if it might be valuable someday – you keep it, if it was a gift (even if you don’t like or use it) – you keep it, if it is a book – you keep it.  And of course, when in doubt – you better keep it.

I say this not to judge, but as a matter of fact, I decided a long time ago that all this keeping wasn’t for me.  I just don’t like being surrounded by stuff.  I find it a bit overwhelming.  However, despite this inward resolution, every now and then I have a hard time escaping my genetic heritage.

Take music for example.  I’m a piano teacher.  I need music books to teach.  People know this and not infrequently I receive bags/boxes/stacks of music that is no longer wanted for various reasons.  For many years I just kept it all in an attempt to build up my teaching library.  However, this past summer when I was organizing my piano studio and realized that I had too much music to fit in my large 4 drawer file cabinet, I decided it was time to do some sorting.  My rules were, to get into the keep pile the music must either be written by a well-known composer, or it must be visually appealing.  (I don’t mind making students play from a battered copy of Chopin’s Nocturnes, but no eight year old is going to want to play some no-name composer’s piece when it’s shrouded in a cover straight out of the 1940s.)

Using this sorting method I was able to get rid of a large box of music and fit the remaining books back into the file cabinet with room to spare:

I was feeling good about everything, everything except that one book that was in the give away pile.  It was a book of character pieces (musical vignettes) by a composer that I’d never heard of, with no visual appeal that any child would perceive:

And even though I hated myself for thinking it, I heard a voice in my head say, “That book is kinda cool and antiquey looking.  If someday you ever wanted to do a craft project using old music, that is exactly what you would need.  What’s the harm in keeping just one little book?”  So, after a brief internal debate, I grabbed the book and (feeling like I’d made a deal with the devil) I shoved it into the back of the bottom drawer and quickly closed it before I could change my mind again.

After that, I forgot about the book… that is until Pottery Barn entered the picture (because every good story involves Pottery Barn, right?)

Take a look at what they came up with for Christmas 2010:

Paper Music Star Vase Filler, $12 (and already sold out online).

Turns out a guiltily kept music book plus handy online instructions (thanks for sending me the link, Mom!) equals Pottery Barn-esque holiday decor, for FREE!  Gotta love it (and the stars turned out great):

Now, I suppose I will hear a big ‘I told you so!’ from all of my dear family and that’s fine, I can admit it, every now and then, it’s good to be a keeper!