Why We Have Stuff and Letting It Go

Why do we hold onto stuff? No doubt there are a myriad of reasons.

You can’t imagine our ancient ancestors accumulating an excess of things and thinking it was a bad idea...

NUKNUK: Why Zug have dead mammoth in cave?

ZUG: So Zug no die of cold or hunger.

Other ancestors might have had more complex reasons…

DEIDRE: I say, why do we have a stately home full of thingy things Archie?

ARCHIE: Well, it shows people we are rich and have a higher ranking in society than them dearest.” (This dialogue of wealthy Georgians is obviously a gross fabrication. None of my ancestors would ever be called Archie. And there is no swearing)

Moving along….

In either case we can understand that in times of plenty you accumulate right?

But what if you lived in a state of perpetual abundance where possessions and staples  were extremely  affordable?

 Well, then you end up with a house full to the brim of things you can afford to buy, and probably quite a few you probably got on credit because it was a bargain, was gorgeous or did cool things. And you can afford to pay that money back. More or less.

Your neighbour is in the same boat and so is the woman across the road. And so on in every street and in every suburb, in every state etc etc  Every nook and cranny in our homes is filled with stuff.

Our collecting suggests a fear of the future, one like my grandparents experienced in the Second World War.

For now thank goodness, war cannot be reason to stockpile but we can and have replaced that fear with future economic concerns, future climate concerns, future epidemic concerns etc

But if any of these were truly our motivation then surely we would all be investing in canned food, water filters, candles, medical supplies. Perhaps even gold ingots and vegemite (valuable trade items).

Instead we are collecting hundreds of DVD’s, CD’s (come on have you still got vinyl and cassettes and videos too?);  we have wardrobes bursting fashionable clothes going ‘out of date’ and enough extra trinkets strewn about to open a home wares store in our lounge room, a beauty salon in our bathroom and a carpentry/mechanical workshop in our garage. Do we each individually need to own all that stuff?

What are we doing?

 Against the ‘shiny new’ we have little willpower. (We’ve been trained so well by advertising). I know- I am no stranger to this malady.

 In my case it’s often the shiny old, but that makes it barely better since I am supporting the trade of secondhand. I’m not saying secondhand is bad as such, I’m just saying if there was no place to get rid of your gear (because landfill was bursting at the seams as it would and will) then we might all put considerable more thought in what we buy.

And very little of what we own can be traded as being much value. I know; I’ve sold on Ebay, Gumtree and had 10 garage sales. 10. I know!

I couldn’t even get rid of some perfectly fine things on Freecycle. A friend told me in Germany the Freecycle people arrive, look over the offered free item carefully and often say “Mmm, nein danke.”

Over the years I have noticed garage sale attendee are less and less people with 'need' and are more heavily peopled with collectors, some private, some business.

 Charity stores in my area pick over items and only take it if it’s ‘unmarked’. They get enough donations to pick and choose. Some have told me they were “not currently collecting’ as their warehouses are overflowing. And I have had the gaul to get angry with them! How dare they not take the overflow of my stuff away and replace my guilt with a good Samaritan glow?!

 The huge piles of curb-side rubbish pile tell me we have way too much stuff. How else can we leave perfectly good, but often dated furniture out on the street awaiting the rubbish collectors- in the rain.

Seeing and hearing that stuff being crushed in the compactor really tears at me.  How can we destroy good things, filling our tips with good items when so many people around the world do have less than they need?

Okay, it’s global problem but I’m panning back to me now, to my home, to the place I can begin to shave our personal excesses with my own hands. The process, I have to say is rather like making a matchstick from a redwood tree. With a pocket knife. From my nephews toddler tool belt.

 

But I've got to start somewhere and it has to be with me and I'm ready to start...

Putting each one of hundred of piles of items under the microscope and considering its true importance to us is exhausting and painfully slow.

 Well, that’s what you get for moving in a house half the size of the last and with no garage or shed!

But if I really want to feel free, I need to stop carting around this growing pile of possessions. I need to look at each item in turn and consider its true value to me: that is- whether it is it really necessary or useful or brings me great joy. And I’m not assigning the ‘great joy’ label to every other object in my house just so I can justify keeping it. I’m talking about the few items that are the salt and pepper to our home, the pieces that reflect us and make our home different from other peoples because although I love the concepts of minimalism, I am also a creative soul.

 I want clear spaces but I want my home to feel cosy and welcoming.

What I have to figure out is how to do this with what we already own (where possible, and I have a generous imagination for possible:) and make sure we have a space for all we need with passage through our home possible without ducking, weaving and crawling on your belly.

It’s the kind of creative challenge I love, but I have no doubt there are going to be headaches (whether or not any are mine remain to be seen;)

For this huge overhaul a gypsy vardo is the perfect template. Things around the edge, a place for everything, plenty of colour…it’s not impossible is it? Did I mention the mountain of stuff I'm going to have to rehouse; forty years of do-dads and 'dunno where to put its'....Urgghhh!

It’s time to start whittling…