I had a 2800 + square foot house while raising my children. It was stuffed to the brim--their stuff, my stuff, hubby's stuff---LOTS OF STUFF! AND I go through the stuff at least once a year and purge--but still stuff-stuff-and more stuff!
Since that time I have lived in various smaller size houses including the current 800 square feet apartment. Each of them ended up filled with stuff.
All of that stuff in the original house (plus a garage, attic, and storage shed), I can honestly say I do not miss. With each size house or apartment (2800 sq ft, 1800 sq.ft, 1300 sq ft., 800 sq ft & occasionally a repeat), I have ended up with stuff filling them. There must be a scientific law similar to filling a vacuum, no matter what the size of the house--we manage to stuff it with stuff.
NOW--I consider myself a minimalist----and still the stuff can get overwhelming. All you keepers (I will not call you hoarders), I do not know how you manage. My rule of thumb--if I have not used or worn it in a year, it is out of here. STILL it is a lot of stuff. My son and daughter in law love to go to estate and garage sales. I have enough stuff accumulated without taking on someone else's stuff!
I recently commented on a friend's post who had just down sized, I have thought about going into business helping people to do their down sizing. Quickly I realized I did not want to be universally hated by all the keepers, so one more how to make money scheme down the drain.
Having stuff is an energy drain. You have to take care of all that stuff, you have to stress over where you put one particular piece in your treasure horde. If you are not organized, that is a problem unto itself since there are no rules or method in your storing.
Where am I going--that stuff we drag around, think we cherish, seem to need---it does not add one iota of eternal consequence to your life. AND--it has been my experience after clearing out my mother's stuff and helping with my in laws, when they went to assisted living and then the nursing home, most of it---no one will want. Oh certainly there are some treasures, but the vast majority of it we take to the local thrift store. All that time and energy over all those years---and the stuff we cannot live without--no one wants. A sad commentary on where we place our importance. I am vowing with this move--to think long and hard about everything I put in my space. Do I really need it, do I want to spend my energy taking care of it---does it have eternal consequence? PLEASE HOLD MY FEET TO THE FIRE!
"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal.
for where your treasure is,
there your heart will be."
Matthew 6:19-21
Life can be simplified when we don't keep so much past "stuff" in the day-to-day. I hate to admit that I'm still trying to go through stacks of letters I took home that were written by my mother to hers over years and years. I have enjoyed them, but I don't think it's necessary to keep them all. Trying to whittle things down so someone else doesn't have to do it for me when I'm called home.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Lulu!
Oh, I so understand...we are still going through "stuff" after our big move...and still going through our late sons' stuff (we have a cargo trailer full of totes)...it's just hard as one is emotionally attached to certain things. But you know, it has been therapeutic just tossing things out, just keeping it real. Like, why do I need all these tablecloths? Place settings? Shoes...get a grip I tell myself. lol---I have no doubt Lulu you will come out just fine, smiles.
ReplyDeleteScanning is a solution for some things. One of the things I ask myself is will anyone else want this if I’m gone? Most of the time it is a hard NO. I really do “get” why it would be difficult to disburse your son’s stuff. As Scarlett so aptly said, “Think about it tomorrow.”
Delete❤️