I was indoctrinated into this philosophy by my mother as a teenager. My mother didn’t keep them in case there was something wrong, she kept them because, “when we move, it will be easier to box them up.” It took my parents 20 years to fully move from my childhood home in New York to their retirement home in Florida. I’m glad I was out of the house by then.

I can still remember when the absurdity of this hit me and when I went through my home 10+ years ago and threw out all the boxes I had accumulated for a move that still hasn’t come. I actually had boxes for things I didn’t have anymore, that’ll really make you feel like and idiot. Took me weeks to move it all through the recycling.

Anyway, I keep empty “purchase” boxes next to the recycling and they sit there for only two weeks and then they go out.