Stuff…
Sometimes valuable, sometimes not
Tends to Multiply Over the Years
Undoubtedly disposable
For whatever reason though
Find one’s self hoarding it!
YOU’VE GOT IT, I’VE GOT IT. STUFF…
Over the years, and decades we seem to watch it multiply before our very eyes. I know I personally have the best of intentions NOT to accumulate more of it…and yet there it is in our closets, storage cupboards, garage(s), outbuildings…It seems wherever we have square footage, we can find a treasure to park there. Well, I use “we” figuratively speaking. Jeff is the ultimate “If I don’t use it, I don’t need it “ kind of guy. In the area of “STUFF” we are definitely opposites.
In July of this year, I offloaded 37 boxes and bags from the house! I packed up pickup loads and hauled it off. I know me—if it wasn’t gone I’d be out there dragging “special stuff” back in my home piece by piece again! So, I acknowledge I have a love affair with “stuff.” Everything has a memory, a reason why it’s OK for me to hang on to it.
Having sorted through my mother’s estate—her lifetime accumulation of treasures (well treasures to her)-- I now know where I get this “compulsion for stuff.” That woman loved stuff…it understandably came from her young married days when my dad and mom often said “They didn’t have two cents to rub together.” When she got to where she COULD pick small things up just because she liked them, not just necessities, she DID. Mostly collectibles, old dishes (for which she had a very good eye, I might add, and she had SEVEN sets of china we unearthed), towels, and bedding…that woman had storage tubs of towels! The estate sale is this weekend. God Help Us Offload it and then have the will power to immediately gift the rest to Goodwill lest we see the sentimental value of holding on to Mom’s “Stuff!”
Having sorted through my mother’s estate—her lifetime accumulation of treasures (well treasures to her)-- I now know where I get this “compulsion for stuff.” That woman loved stuff…it understandably came from her young married days when my dad and mom often said “They didn’t have two cents to rub together.” When she got to where she COULD pick small things up just because she liked them, not just necessities, she DID. Mostly collectibles, old dishes (for which she had a very good eye, I might add, and she had SEVEN sets of china we unearthed), towels, and bedding…that woman had storage tubs of towels! The estate sale is this weekend. God Help Us Offload it and then have the will power to immediately gift the rest to Goodwill lest we see the sentimental value of holding on to Mom’s “Stuff!”
Well, mom and her stuff has inspired me…to simplify and declutter my life. I’m shifting into a gear that my hubby wishes I would have found some time ago. I’m in a de-stuffing phase. I’ve just begun the journey into this foreign, frightening world. I am such a memory collector, family pictures/homework/coloring pages/school work/family Anything and Everything collector I find certain “OFF LIMIT” areas of my life already being tagged as De-stuffing Free Zones. Can’t touch this, or this, or this….
I’m reminded that my motorcoaching friends live an unfettered life, most of them free from stuff. If it doesn’t fit and have a use, it doesn’t travel with them… The kids got it, they disposed of it, and they’re off enjoying their unfettered life. They seem quite content with their de-cluttered, de-stuffed lives.
They inspire me to give it a whirl. We’ll see how I fare!
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