Stuff Gets In The Way

One year ago I became interested in Sarah's efforts to organize her home by getting rid of a bag of stuff (ex. trash, unused, unnecessary stuff) each day for the entire forty days of Lent.  I kept tabs on her progress as she posted photos of her donation pile, trash bags, and nearly-bare storage areas.  It seemed so extreme and I was intrigued by her tenacity.  This year I was totally ready for it, and I have enjoyed Sarah's thoughts and tips along the way--she's a really good cheerleader and coach.

(Did you hear that, Sarah?  Sitting on the sidelines for all those soccer, basketball, lacrosse, football, and what-else-am-I-missing has turned you into a really great cheerleader and coach!  Did you have any idea that all that was leading up to inspiring us through your blog?)  

My personal goal was to get rid of half of what we owned.  I kept in mind the old pioneer saying:  "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" and I thought of that "do without" part a lot.  I approached each storage area with the goal to donate, sell, or trash half of what it contained.  Closets, drawers, boxes, basement, toys, books--everything was considered.  Going to Goodwill was glorious.  Tossing used-up items was refreshing.  Selling an item was a triumph.
  
All that time thinking about what I was doing was priceless.  These have been my musings and resolutions as I've been on my hands and knees or sitting cross-legged or up losing feeling in my arms as I've stretched up high in the tops of the closet.  This is a "note to self" for every time I go shopping or feel tempted to spend our resources.  I've included a few photos in loving memory of a handful of things we weren't ultimately that sad to give away.


1.  Unnecessary stuff just gets in the way.   Physically it blocks my view of good stuff, and managing unnecessary stuff is a real time- and energy-sucker.  It gets in the way of relationships.  Standing over my kids while teaching them to manage unnecessary stuff gets in the way of the things I should really be teaching them and that sucks the soul right out of me.  I can't tell you how many toys-with-a-million-pieces I got rid of because my kids just couldn't manage them.

2.  It's not that hard to get rid of stuff when you realize that someone else might have a real, pressing need for it or when you realize that the proceeds for it might fund something great.

3.  Stuff gets in the way of my priorities.  What I really want to accumulate in this life is positive experiences with my kids and my husband and people that are important.  I want to accumulate skills (like how to make my own tortillas and how to keep bees) but I really have to evaluate what the skills/stuff ratio is in each case so that the stuff doesn't get in the way.

4.  There is certain stuff that is charged with emotions but even those feelings are their own type of emotional clutter that get in the way.  This relates to all of of our baby stuff--that anxiety I feel when I handle them cancels hope and happiness.  Since 2011 is my year of not worrying about infertility issues, this is probably a good time to pass those still usable items onto someone who needs them now.

5.  It's really not that complicated to get stuff out of the way. The actual process is messy with lots of stacks of stuff being sorted, but this is mess worth making. I'm getting more efficient at the process and I actually look forward to going through everything again in six months.  

6. Keeping unnecessary stuff makes it pretty hard to teach J that he can't have a junkyard closet full of things he's found of the side of the road or buried in the backyard.  Hypocrisy in this area is very apparent to a child who's looking for reasons to hoard every interesting-looking thing for some unnamed date in the future.

7. Finally, I've realized the long list of blessings that is mine, and I've identified the stuff that I would have a hard time living without.  Taking inventory is a great lesson in gratitude.