All This Stuff 

Excuse the bad word here, but ever feel like this?  Yep.  I’m sure you have.  This is me right now.  The more I get marked off my “to do” list the good feeling that normally comes, is only replaced by more “to dos”!  The eternal inferno continues to clutter my mind!  One thing adding to my craziness is the attempt to clean out my house.  The older I get the more I dislike stuff.  It truly takes up space in my mind as well as my home.  I wake up in the middle of the night trying to figure more ways to get rid of more stuff.  It makes for sleepless nights.  

This article speaks of the many ways clutter stresses our lives.  My main problem is my house.  I love my house, but it has an ENORMOUS unfinished portion of the basement.  I have found that the more space you have the more clutter you accumulate and the more people tend to give you stuff because you have room for it.  But I don’t want or need an old compter, tires, extra weedeaters, MANY pieces of furniture, boxes of dolls, keepsakes, old photo albums of relatives I have never known, lamps galore and I am just giving you the tip of the iceberg.  None of this includes the actual good stuff, like Christmas decorations, ski clothes, cool toys I want to keep for  my grandchildren (I’m sure that I will have!), nice linens, serving pieces and books. 

I remember when we bought this house 10 years ago and my mother saw it for the first time.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning when she saw the basement storage area.  She would have filled that space in three days!  Since she doesn’t live here she has spent the last 10 years attempting to fill it anyway!  I have never visited her that she has not sent me home with some stuff.  I used to feel too bad to get rid of it.  Now I discreetly donate it unless I know it is something she will ask about.  This happens more often than you would think.  It can be quite the dilemma.  I am not sure if it is a generational thing or just a complete different set of personalities, or my attempt at rebelling at this part of my mother, but we are so very different in this area.  

I cleaned her house (my childhood home) out a few months ago and it was filled with 40 years of stuff.  Some great.  Some not.  I don’t think I ever remember my mother having a garage sale or making regular trips to Goodwill.  It was a very daunting job.  I made a promise to  myself then that I would not do that to my children.  (I hate I have now put this in writing because I will likely end up just like my mother!) 

I have learned that when I bring an item into my closet, I get rid of an item or more.
I shop much more wisely now.  I’m so tired of bringing a blouse home and never finding anything to pair it with!
I constantly clean out the boys’ closets and donate as much as I can.
I am sure I do have too many clothes.   My youngest son says I have far too many shoes and I have more hats than I wear, but I’m trying.
I have learned that I am not attached to nic naks.  Some have sentimental value but not all.  It is okay to have the memory attached to the thing or the person from who it came.  I don’t always have to keep every token. 
However, I still have so much stuff that I don’t know what to do with!  Sets of china and serving pieces given to me from cleaning out relatives’ homes.  I have unused furniture that I can’t use.    

It’s all weighing me down!  It is time for some more Spring Cleaning in my home and in my mind.  I’d love to hear any more tips or thoughts on ridding your life of so much stuff!